Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-07-12


Veteran Tells Of Experiences He
and Other Divers Have Had-A
Close shave Fairyland on the
Oceans Bottom.
suppose you sometimes see some
fearful sights in wrecks" said . re-
porter to a veteran deep sea diver.
"Yes, but you get used to 'em when
you have been in the business long.
When / first started diving, was sent
down to report a wreck. Nobody was
supposed to have been drowned when
the vessel went down, but when
went into the cabin the first thing l
saw was the body of a 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. 1t
was my first experience with dead
bodies, and it gave me shock. Now
l don't mind 'em at all. Most of the
tales you hear about groups OF dead
people sitting around quite natural
in cabin are lies. A body will rise
after being in the water a couple Of
weeks and be found floating up against
the ceiling. When they have their
legs under 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 to the floor.
"An English diver 1 knew once had
. pretty nasty experience with sharks.
He was diving in wreck which had
been loaded with live cattle. When
she had been down at the bottom for
a month or 80, the bodies of the cattle
became light and foated up against
the hatchways. As soon as he started
the after hatch, the cattle began to
float out and up to the surface Of the
water. The locality was infested with
sharks, and they soon began to gather
round the hatchway, grabbing the cat
tie as they came out and following
them up to 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
to 60 up for fear he might be attacked
and afraid to stay down because one
snap Of a sharks mouth would have
severed his air hose in . twinkling.
He gave the signal to be hauled up in
. 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, 90
that he had to give up the business"
whats the narrowest escape you
ever had?"
"Well, about the closest shave that
l 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 I wanted to put some plates on
the other side. The vessel was about
three feet off the bottom. / crawled
underneath, dragging some plates after
me. When / had been working for
some time, l noticed my air was get
ting short, 80 went to try to get un
der the keel again to be hauled up
l found the steamer nearly on the
bottom and squeezing my air hose be-
tween her keel aud the ground. The
tide was giving out, and she had grad
ually sunk until she was almost
aground. I had forgotten all about
the tide, and when / pulled the hose l
found it would not bulge an inch. l
can tell you scared is no word for how
1 felt.
elf the bottom had been soft, it
would not have mattered 30 much,
but it was rock, and the hose was
gripped like Q vice. There was moth
ing to do but wait. If she fell any
lower, the air would be entirely shut
of, and I would simply have to die.
You can bet 1 shall never forget those
few minutes when 1 was waiting 10
see whether she rose or fell. Ny head
felt as though it was bursting and my
nose and ears began to bleed. Pre-
sently 1 felt the air getting little
fresher. 1 took heart, and soon she
began 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. 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. Fol
weeks after that l was a sick man, and
my hearing has never been right since
Sometimes, especially in tropical
waters, the bottom of the sea is love.
ly sight. have seen forest OF kelI
and seaweed gently waving with the
tide which looked liked fairyland
The dim light and the bright coloret
fish darting about make it look all thu
more beautiful. A bit of seaweed or
land does not amount to much, but j
you see . regular forest of it growing
it looks very different.
eff you stand still for minute, th'
fish will swim all around you and ex
anime you just as lot OF human be
ings would look at some strange ami
NAL. At the slightest movement the,
whisk their tails and not living thin
is to be seen.
at takes the life out of . maj
somehow, diving does, and I neve