The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1896-02-01
Under THE; SEA.
What Diver Sees Among the Broken Wrecks OF
$50 the Ocean.

~ ~ {" CoH VI rope SluOklHS lis pipe.
Mr.. Sullivan's helmet AMI diving suit
were laid out on the pier to dry, Mr..
Sullivan's boat was moored at the
wharf, and Mr.. Sullivan himself was
enjoying the placid luxury of the weed
after a hearty dinner. He had been
exploring the regions under the
bridge in search of teredo worms and
limnoria, and any other pile-eating
animal that might be skulking
around in the vicinity OF the recent
disaster. The tide was up, and Mr..
Sullivan could work no more till it
went down again.
Mr.. Sullivan talked. He had never
seen mermaid. He was quite posi-
tive on this point. Moreover, he
doesn't believe and diver ever saw
mermaid or anything that could be
constructed into a mermaid. Hehad
never seen one of those terrific mon
sters with a hundred arms that Jules
We're tells about in 100000 Leagues
Under the Sea-" and which the Ameri-
can theatre-going public have seen in
"Fantasma." In facthe had never be-
held any blood-curdling reptiles nor
gigantic sea monsters. He hadn't
even seen a shark.
Bat Mr.. Sullivan had seen a sword
fish, which divers dread more than
sharks. Everyone knows that they
have a sharp sword projecting from
their heads. Well, this fish goes
charging through the water with his
sword pointed dead ahead and he
goes it blind, turning from his course
for nothing short of a ledge or the
steel plates of an English ship. When
| he strikes a ledge he shifts his course
enough to glide up over it, but when
he strikes anything penetrable, like
| the bottom of an American mer-
chairman, he goes right through
it.
Mr.. Sullivan thanks his lucky stars
| that he never encountered but one OF
! these fish, and that he was only a
young fish, with a cartilaginous
/ sword. He saw him coming and pre-
|pared to ward him off with his axe,
! but the fish relieved him of all uneas-
| mess by veering his course before he
came within swords length.
4 As to the other. fish the diver sees
they are legion They swarm all
around him. Hideous sculpins peep
into his eye windows and grin horri,
bly,, and snake like eels glide over his
feet and squirm round his legs, and
crabs and Holsters claw at his cloth
ing and make themselves familiar in
cordial manner that would make
anyone except a stoical diver, go
out Of the water But it's the sim
pie, everyday perch, the little fish the
boys catch at the wharves that
bother the divers the most. They
seem to think his fingers are bait,
prepared by an over-ruling Provi.
dence for their special appetite, and
accordingly they nibble and gnaw
the bare flesh with the same persist
ency that they employ in devouring
angle worms sent down on fish
hooks. You see it is not fashionable
among divers to wear gloves when
diving in warm water. Gloves would
greatly decrease the delicacy of touch
which the diver examines the Shiny
pile in search of worms.
Yes, he goes by the sense of touch
entirely. He can see nothing when
he is under thirty feet of water. In
fact he can see nothing after he has
gone down half that distance into
the muddy depths ofthe Charles River.
In the open ocean or the limpid lake.
or the sparkling river he can see with
tolerable clearness some distance
ahead, say twenty feet, but down
under the pile bridge of the Fitchburg
Railroad it's as dark as the condensed
quintescence of anEgyptian midnight
A year or so ago Mr.. Sullivan was
clinging to the mast of a schooner
sunk off in the ocean some where
when the boat that was pumping
air to him dragged her anchor and
came pounding along on the waves
right over the sunken ship, and
thumped twice on the mast to which
he was clinging.
'If had been sitting on the TOP
of the mast, where l was second be.
fore, I should nave been paralyzed,' y
observed the diver, as he stirred up
the ashes in his pipe with his jack
knife, and knocked them out against
the side of the bridge house. ''The
first thing knew they were dragging
me through the water, and yanking
me UP over the side, and hauling me
all over the deck trying to get my
helmet off: They thought was dead
You see tie boss had lost a man Just
a day or t7o before, and was fright
ened most to death. Well, didn't /
! cuss them fellers when I got my he'll
met OFF,
q Mr.. Sullivan. aw4ied on one of the
Long Islands c|~u-.~~ steamers when
she was ashore somewhere. He was
obliged to work in the night down
under the sternpost He borrowed
one of the electric drop lamps from
the cabin and hung it up on the rud.
/ H.Ar r. oh ;,,c4 q 1,,.iorbt1v down