Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1895-07-10
ATE SAD FACED MEN.
THIS IS WHAT ONE or THE CRAFT
SAYS or DEEP SEA DIVERS.


nivcrs uave rad-A Close shave Parry
land on the Oceans bottom.
II suppose you sometimes see some
fearful sights in wrecks. said re-
porter 10 a veteran deep sen diver.
Yes, bnt you get used 20 'em when
yen have been in the business long.
When first started diving, was sent
down 60 report wreck Nobody was
supposed 10 have been drowned when
the vessel went down, but when went
into the cabin the first thing l saw was
| the body of n man seated at the table.
The water was very clear and magnified
| him until he looked about four times
| his natural size. His hand was upon the
shoulder of little boy, who was sitting
on his knee Ii was my first experience
with dead bodies. and it gave me
shock Now ! don't mind 'em at all
Most Of the tales you hear about groups
| Of dead people sittin round quite natural
i'm a cabin are lies. A body will rise aft
er being in the water a couple of weeks
and be found floating up against the
ceiling When they have their legs I'M
der table, they sometimes sit right
where they are until their bodies decay
away, because they are held down by the
table, which is usually screwed 10 the
| floor
IAN English diver knew once had
pretty nasty experience with sharks. He
was diving in a wreck which had been
loaded with live cattle. When she had
been down at the bottom fora month
or so. the BODIES of the cattle became
| light aud tioated mp against the hatch
ways AS sno.i as he started the after
hatch, the cattle began 10 float out and
mp to the surface of the water. The To-
cality was infested with sharks, and
| they soon began to gather ronnd the
hatchway, grabbing the cattle as they
came out and following them mp 10 the
surface, fighting among themselves.
| Some of the cattle had been tied, and
they foated out as far as their ropes
would allow The sharks gathered round
them and began TO tear them TO pieces.
Pretty soon they began TO fight, and poor
| Marsh--that was his name-was afraid
70 go up for fear he might be attacked
and afraid to stay down because one
snap Of q sharks mouth would have
severed his air hose in q twinkling. He
gave the signal to be hauled up In o
hurry and went biff among the school
of sharks and through them In going
through shark snapped at him and
took off his right hand, so that he had
! to give up the business"
What's the narrowest escape you
ever had?"
"Well, about the closest shave that
remember was when was putting some
| copper ON steamers bottom while she
was in dock. / took some plates down
with me and did some work on one side
of the hull, after which i wanted TO put
some plates on the other side. The ves-
sci was about three feet Off the bottom.
/ crawled underneath, dragging some
plates after me. When had been work
ing for some time, / noticed my air was
getting short, so / went to try TO get
under the keel again to be hauled up ]
| found the steamer nearly on the bottom
and squeezing my air hose between her
| keel and the ground. The tide was Civ
| ing ont, and she had gradually sunk un-
| til she was almost aground had for
| gotten all about the tide, and when j
pulled the hose found it would not
bulge an inch. can tell You scared is
no word for how felt
"If the bottom had been soft, il would
not have mattered so much, but it was
rock, and the hose was gripped like
vice. There was nothing to do but wait.
If she fell any lower, the air would be
entirely shut off, and l would simply
| have to die You can bet ] shall never
| forget those few minutes when / was
waiting TO see whether she rose or fell.
! My head felt as though it was bursting
and my nose and ears began TO bleed.
! Presently felt the air getting little
fresher. l took heart, and soon she be-
| gan TO rise with the turn of the tide
There was plenty of time for me to get
my nerve back before she was high
| enough off the bottom for me to crawl
under l didn't get it back, however,
| but Just stood there trembling until
could squeeze under her bottom and give
( the signal to be hauled up. For weeks
after that | was sick man, and my
hearing has never been right since
Sometimes, especially in tropical wa
I ters, the bottom of the sea is lovely
II
sight have seen forest Of kelp and
seaweed gently waving with the tide
which looked like fa.ryland The dim
light and the bright colored fish darting
about make it look all the more beauti-
| full A bit of seaweed on land does not
amount to much. but if you see regu
lar forest of it growing it looks very diff
| ferent
If You stand still for n minute, the
fish viii swim all around you and ex-
anime you Just as lot of human beings
would look at some strange animal AT
the slightest movement they whisk their
tails and not living thing is to be seen
1T takes the life out Of a man some
how. diving does. and ] never knew q
diver who did much smiling They are
all rather grave. sober faced men =
| New York Tribune
Constituents Parts Of Cord a: wood.