The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1895-06-10
ARE SAD FACED MEN.
THIS IS WHAT ONE OF The CRAFT
SAYS or DEEP SEA DIVERS.

Divers Have Had-A Close shave Fairy
land on the Oceans bottom.
II suppose you sometimes see some
fearful sights in wrecks" said a re-
porter to q veteran deep sea diver.
"Yes. but you get used to 'em when
you have been in the business long.
When l first started diving. l was sent
1 down to report wreck Nobody was
supposed to have been drowned when
/ the vessel went down, but when went
! into the cabin the first thing saw was
| the body Of a man seated at the table.
I 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
OH his knee 1t was my first experience
with dead bodies, and it gave me a
shock Now don't mind 'em at all
Most Of the tales you hear about groups
Of dead people sittin round quite natural
in a cabin are lies A body will rise aft
CT being in the water "A couple OF weeks
and be found floating up against the
ceiling. When they have their legs IN
! der a table, they sometimes sit right
/ where they are until their bodies decay
I away. because they are held down by the
/ table, which is usually screwed to 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 for month
( or so, the bodies of the cattle became
I light and fioated up against the hatch
ways As soon as he started the after
/ hatch, the cattle began to float ont and
mp TO the surface of the water The To-
cality was infested with sharks, and
they soon began to gather round the
hatchway, grabbing the cattle as they
came out and following them mp 10 the
surface, fighting among themselves
I Some Of the cattle had been tied, and
they floated ont 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
to go mp for fear he might be attacked
and afraid to stay down because ono
snap Of a sharks mouth would have
severed his air hose in a twinkling. He
gave the signal to be hauled mp in a
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 yuu
ever hady"
We'll. about the closest shave that
remember was when / was putting some
copper on "A 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 wanted to put
some plates ON tie other side The yes
sci was about three feet of the bottom.
l 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 yet
under the keel again to be hauled up l
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 SINK un-
til she was almost aground. Lad for
gotten all about the tide, and when
pulled the hose found il would not
bulge an inch. l can tell you scared il
no word for how | felt.
'If the bottom had been soft. il would
not have mattered so much, but il 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, aud I would simply
have to die. You can bet 1 shall never
forget those few minutes when ! was
waiting to see whether she rose or fell
My head felt rs though il was bursting
and my nose and ears began 70 bleed.
Presently felt the air getting a little
fresher. ! 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 of the bottom for me 10 crawl
under / didn't get il back. however.
but just stood there trembling until l
could squeeze under her bottom and give
the signal TO be hauled up. For weeks
after that / was a sick man, and nv
hearing has never been right since.
Sometimes. especially i'm tropical wa
ters, the bottom Of the sea is a lovely
sight have seen forest Of kelp and
seaweed gently waving with tho tide
which looked like fairylanC The dim
light and the bright colored fish darting
about make it look all the more beauti-
full bit of seaweed on land does not
amount to much, but if you see a regu-
lar forest OF it growing it looks very diff
ferent
If you stand still for a minute, the
fish will swim all around you and ex-
anime yoT Just as lot Of human beings
would lock at some strange animal At
the slig' st movement they whisk their
tails anG OF living thing is to be seen
:" 1t t'.-esl the life out Of a man some
how. diving does, and never knew a
diver who did much smiling They are
all rather grave, sober faced men -