Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1898-10-21
STORY OF A DIVER.
PeriIous Adventures OF n Man whose
DaIIy work Is Under RIver or Sen.

Perilous Adventures OF Man whose
Daily work is Under River or Sen.
Diver Robert e. Case Of Portland,
in the course of his ten years employ
ment as a diver has had many interest
ing experiences and close calls from
death.
Chase is about 35 years Of age, stands
about feet 10 inches and weighs over
100 pounds, and is one of the pleasant
est men that one would care to meet.
He is very modest-seldom talking
about his own work, but while
ago the writer succeeded in getting him
to tell few Of his experiences.
Probably one Of the most important
Jobs upon which he ever worked, and
certainly one Of the longest, was the
laying of the water pipes across the
Kennebec River at Bath. This Job re-
quired the laying Of 5000 feet of big
waterpipe, with ball and socket join
in water, the average depth of which
was fifty feet. Sometimes the depth was
over seventy and at times down to
about thirty. The conditions that pre-
vailed at that point were such that the
divers could only work upon the tide.
and so 1t took from August until the
following April to complete the Job.
A few years ago Mr.. Chase nearly
lost his life while at work raising a
sloop which had sunk in Boothbay
Harbor. He got fouled with the cable
Of buoy which marked the location
Of the wreck, and was hung UP for
Nrs- al
caught In such a way that but very lit
tie air could get through It with the
pump working to It's best advantage,
but the pump was an old one and did
not work we'll. When he was finally
cleared and hauled to the surface he
was unconscious and black in the face
from the want of air. 1t was feared
that he would die, but he recovered,
and on the next day went down and
finished the work of raising the sloop
Probably the closest call that Chase
ever had was while using dynamite to
blow out the pilings of an old bridge
which had been torn down. His ten
der was a new one, who had never
worked for diver before. Chase went
down and placed the stick of dynamite
in position and started to come back to
where he would be hauled to the sur
face. He had covered part of the dis
tance when he discovered a pile that
would not have to be blown, but which
could readily be hoisted to the snrface
with a rope, and signalled the tender
to send him down a rope.
The tender misunderstood the signal,
and, turning to the man who was look
ing after the battery, called out;
Its all right, fire the charged"
Now 1t happened that the man who
was looking after the battery was an
old and experienced tender and knew
that it wasn't all right to fire the
charge while the man was under water.
He went to the side of the float and
took hold of the lifeline just in time to
receive the second signal for rope
from Chase. The rope was sent down,
but 1t was night before Chase knew of
his narrow escape. The tender who
came near ending Chase's experience
as diver only worked one more day
and then quit-he never came around
after his pay, either.
1t was while at work on this Job
: that Chase, together with his tender
and helpers, was blown up by dyna-
mite explosion. He had been down
and placed the charge, but the tide,
which was setting out strong, washed
: It down almost under the float Chase
: had Just reached the top and leaned
over the side of the float in the usual
attitude Of divers when resting, when
the charge was exploded. The shock
threw the float and all the men into the
air. and Chase must surely have been
, thrown into the water but for the
presence of mind of the same man who
saved him the other time, who caught
} him and held him on the float.
The wonder of this accident was that
any one came out of 1t alive, for upon
the float was a case Of 100 sticks Of
dynamite, which, fortunately. was not
exploded by the shock.
, Chase says the most disagreeable
part of his work is diving for dead
bodies. He has made several quick re-
coyeries of bodies during his career as
a diver. One OF these was in Lewiston
about two years ago, when he recover
ed the body of Bates College student
named Wells. In just nineteen min
utes from the time he dove he had the
body out Of the water upon the bank.
The deepest water in which he ever
t worked was off Egg Rock, near Bar
Harbor. Here he was down 100 feet at
: work upon the wreck of Gloucester
, fishing schooner.