Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1896-10-15
Deep Sea Diving.
THE LIFE ISN'T AN EXACTLY
JOLLY ONE.

There is something about the oc-
cupation Of diver that strongly ap-
peals to the Imagination of most
people. Some men, such as miners,
get living by more dangerous
work, but they are at least in their
own element. Twenty or thirty
feet below the surface of the water,
in semi-darkness, dependent upon a
rickety pump for the breath of life,
a Divers life is a precarious one.
A Tribune reporter made some re-
marks Of this nature to a well-known
deep-sea diver who was watching
one Of his fellows at work in the
East River.
Do you suppose that man ever
stops to think that a slight hitch in
the pumping arrangements on deck
will mean death to him 2" asked the
reporter
"Think i! He don't have to think.
That amt work that requires Think
ing"
The reporter ventured to suggest
that 1t was the general opinion that
the diver was always a cool, quick
witted man, or else he would be USE
less.
"Well, that's right when you
speak of diving. There's good
deal of difference between deep-sea
diving and grubbing about In the
East River after lost anchor"
Furthur conversation developed
the fact that deep-sea divers con-
slider themselves greatly above coast
ing or shallow-water divers. They
get paid at q much higher rate, and
of course have to do much more
difficult and dangerous work.
81 suppose you sometimes see
some fearful sights in wrecks"
Yes; but you get used to 'em
when youIhave been in the business
long. When / first started diving,
l 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 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 1t gave me a shock. Now
don't mind EN- at all. Most of the
tales you hear about groups Of dead
people sittin' around quite natural in
a 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, be-
cause they are held down by the ia
BILE, which is usually screwed to the
floor.
An English diver I once knew had
pretty nasty experience with
sharks. He was diving in q wreck
that had been loaded with live cattle.
When she had been down at the bot
tom for month or 80, the bodies of
the cattle became light, and fioated
up against the hatchways. AS soon
as he started the after hatch, the cat
tie 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 cattle as
they came out and following them
up to the surface, fighting among
themselves. Some Of the cattle had
been tied and they fioated out as far
as their ropes would allow. The
sharks gathered around 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 sharks mouth would have
severed his air-hose In twinkling
| He gave the signal to be hauled uT