The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-03
OCEAN DIVERS SEE
PERILS OF A STRANGE CALLING AS
TOLD BY THOSE WHO FOLLOW 1T.
Weird and GrewsOme Sights-Dan-
gers Lessened in These Mechanical
Days-Much of the Romance Gone.
Tew York Mali and Exnress.

l
1 the deep always have been associated with
! the perils which confront those whose for
! tune or misfortune it has been to so to sea
| in ships, and who are compelled to face the
storms and winds and waves which seem to
| unite at times TO carry death and destruc-
| ticn to all who come before them. But
| there is another peril of the deep, and in
! this instance it is the real depth in which the
| danger lies. 1t is not of those who 'go
| down to sea in ships" but of those who go
to the very bed of the ocean and mingl9 with
| the wrecks, the sea growths and the fishes,
| of whom the modern perils of the deep can
be told. 1t is the diver who stakes his life
| upon the actions of another, and who knows
| that at any instant he may be left without
| air to breathe and loaded down with heavy
armor, who nowadays has to face the ocean
depths ard bring to the surface the hidden
| things which lie buried fathoms below the
| sight of ordinary man.
The divers who were employed to go down
to the wreck of the Maine in the harbor of
Havana had about as perilous task as
any who ever went beneath the sea. Some
of them went for a CHASTITY object, to recov-
err the bodies of the unfortunate dead which
had been pinned down by the heavy beams
and great works of the handsome war ship
| Every one who has witnessed the body of a
| drowned person has had the picture of it
! brought back to him many and many
! time. But what of the diver who has had
to go beneath the waves, where everything
takes on a peculiarly gruesome look, and
wrest from the debris of mangled iron,
powder cases, coal bags and what not the
bodies of men which had lain for days in
water so vile that few fish are depraved
enough to live in it? One of the divers who
was sent to Havana this work returned
| to this city the other day. He VAS exceed
| ingly glad to get back to a harbor where
the water is comparatively pure and clear
| and the work of a diver not so fearful and
| repugnant.
! God only knows" he said to a reporter
| for the Mail and Express, that we will
| ingly would do anything to return to Amer
| lean soil for burial-and such a burial as
| they desarve-every one of the poor boys
| who went down off the Maine; but let me
tell you, it would be question of national
| such job this one was. You can hard
| ~ imagine the. condition of Havana har-
mackerel would live there, it is so filthy
and vile. If the Maine had sunk in ordi-
| nary water the task of removing the bodies
| would not have been so hard, bad as it is at
\ best The water is foul and Shiny, and it
made one shiver to look down at it without
| considering what might be found there
| wreck? That cannot tell you until after
the report of the board of inquiry has been
| that are officially sacred now
THE PERILS ARE MANY.
The perils of the diver are many, and the
wages paid them in these times are not at
all commensurate with those perils which
| they must daily undergo. When the first
| diving armor was used diver was as much
a curiosity as a successful flying machine
now would be. Nearly every country-born
man can recolleet when some bridge was
to be built across river near his home
| town, and a diver from some seacoast city
was brought there to see to the laying of
the foundation stones, what a sensation it
created. Every one for miles around went
| to the scene of the bridge building to watch
the diver don his strengthening costume
and slowly and heavily step down the ladder
beneath the water. Almost every one in
voluntarily Shvered Just as we do when
we see a person baptized in the water and
held their breath just as long as they could
expecting something awful to happen Ali
that was left of the strengthening thing
winch, with appropriated head of gigan-
rubber pipes and rope. But they also no.
uced that the man at the pump kept at
work with surprising regularity, while an
other man held constantly to the rope.
once in awhile they would observe that
the rope moved with short jerks in the
They were told that this was the way the
man in the water talked with the one who
| held the rope and was in charge of that
| near the ladder, came a boiling and bub-
| bling Of the water, which soon was followed
| by a strange and weird-looking object,
| more fearful in appearance than ali the hob
| COLLINS, gnomes and boyle men of childish
fear and reverence: Children had Mysteries
| ana women looked frightened and uncon-
| sciously held closer the infants in their
| arms. 1t was always occasion of much
| surprise and considerable disappointment
| too, to see step from the surroundings of
| copper and rubber as mild a hammered man
as ever bought schoolboy goodies or car
a 1crGfo ON hfc n1Iy
ness of the clothed monster and the meek
ness of the man never could be satisfactorily
| leconciled.
There is great difference between the
| experiences of the fresh-water and the salt
water DIVERS said John ID. Mccormick
| an old and experienced diver of the great
! lakes. While the water of the lakes is
much clearer to work in than salt water,
| there IS something about it which wears
| the diver out sooner than work in this
| part of the world. Yes, / have seen some
| things below the surface of the lakes, just
| had their experiences. When l was a young
! man Lake Erie diving was not much
ago p got into Ta ba g gcodent many years
| most of US take up our trades and pro-
| LESSONS. There had been a. big storm on
| the lake and u steamer bound from Buffalo
| to Duluth had gone down near shore. NV
| boss was laid up with rheumatism the
| time, but the steamer people wanted a man
right away, for there were good many
prominent people on board the ship, and in
/ the purSer'S room was a safe containing
1
| ONE MANS EXPERIENCE.
| cit was late in the fall I remember and
my boss wanted to know if could go down
| to the wreck and look her over and see
what could be done toward raising her
and getting out the money and the bodies.
| hadn't been down many times, but L said
/ that could do it all right, but the boss was
| a little bit scary of it, for he said just as
| L left his room that ought not to try it If
/ wasn't certain I could succeed. Just the
| top of the masts showed out of water where
| the boat lay when we reached her in a big
scoW and anchored near by. The boat had
] gone down quickly, and it was supposed
| that almost all the passengers had been
! caught in their rooms which ran along the
| entire length of the ship on both sides. /
went down to the upper deck and struck
1 the pilot house all right. Then sgnaled TO
| the man at the rope to give me more pipe
/ and started down alongside, hanging on to
/ a line.
/ Il carried with me a small ak with which
4 to open the windows and | went down
/ / got ii ready for use. ] never before had
( been in such job as this, and my stomach
/ was mighty qualmish | was only part way
/ down when passed the window of state
! room and there, staring me right In the
/ face with eyes wide open and hands on the
| window was a young woman. 1t gave me
/ Fearful ShOck looked so lifelike. /