Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1898-11-26
STORY OF A DIVER.
PeriIous Adventures OF . ssn whose
Daily work A. Under River or Sea-


Daily work A. Under River or Sea-
Diver Robert E. Case OF Portland.
In the course of his ten years employ
ment as 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 won ld care to meet.
He is very modest-seIdom talking
about his own work, but a while
ago the writer succeeded in getting him
10 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
Kenretec River at Bath. This job re-
G red The laying OF 5000 feet of bis
waterp're. with ball and socket join
in wa,ey. the average depth OF VIZ
was fifty feet. Sometimes the depth Was
over seventy and at times down 10
>-about thirty. The conditions that pre-
vailed at that point were such that the
divers could only work upon the tide.
and so it took from August until the
following April to complete the job.
A few years age Mr.. Chase nearly
lost his life while at work raising n
sloop which had sunk in Boothbay
Harbor. He got fouled with the cable
OF a buoy which marked the location
of the wreck, and was hung up for
forty minutes. His air hose was
caught in such a way that but very lit
tie afr could get through IL with the
pump working to its best advantage.
but the pump was an old one and did
not work well. 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 a 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
lance when he discovered n pile that
would not have TO be blown. but which
could readily be hoisted to the surface
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 il happened that the man who
: was looking after the battery was an
old and experienced tender and knew
t that it wasn't all right TO fire the
charge while the man was under water.
5 He went to the side OF the float and
: took hold of the lifeline just in time TO
! receive the second signal for rope
e from Chase. The rope was sent down.
i but it was night before Chase knew OF
] his narrow escape. The tender who
= came near ending Chase's experience
q rs diver only worked one more day
/ and then quit-he never came around
4 after his pay. either
A 1t was while at work on this job
q that Chase, together with his tender
I and helpers. was blown up by dyna-
a mite explosion. He had been down
and placed the charge. but the tide,
which was setting out strong. washed
1t down almost under the float, Chase
: had just reached the top and leaned
over the side of the float in the usual
d attitude of divers when resting, when
the charge was exploded. The shock
threw the float and all the men into the
a air. and Chase must surely have been
thrown into the water but for the
Il presence of mind of the same man who
saved him the other time, who caught
him and held him on the float
a The wonder of this accident was that
any one came out of it alive. for upor
the float was a case OF 100 sticks Of
. dynamite, which. fortunately, was mo-
= exploded by the shock.
. Chase says the most disagreeabl'
: part of his work is diving for deat
bodies. He has made several quick re
coveries of bodies during his career a:
a diver. One of these was in Lewiston
ie about two years ago, when he recover
= ed the body of a Bates College studen
named Wells. In just nineteen min
k utes from the time he dove he had thu
ct body out of the water upon the bank.
IS The deepest water in which he eve
worked was of Egg Rock, near Ba
Harbor Here he was down 100 feet a
NJ work upon the wreck of Glouceste
fishing schooner.
Facts Ters~ly Told.