The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-03

place in the life of a diver Hard work
raling I9un h' Tor piers Tor bridges
or taking down dynamite to blow up the
hulls of boats that are not worth the
raising or that could not be raised If it was
tried. Once ] came mighty near being left
down below for good We had man at
the rope who. was all right. but was q
dreamy sort of chap and sometimes would
forget all about the signals unless one
pulled very hard.
A MOMENT OF DANGER
Il was down one day in about thirty feet
of water to examine steam yacht that
had run across an unknown rock and stove
big hole forward had taken out pretty
nearly all the pipe that we had on the pump
and several times had called for more. He
had answered that the end of the pipe was
reached. waited awhile where I was to
make good survey of the hole, to see what
could be done to raise the yacht, when /
suddenly felt the air grow heavy. I knew
at once there was something the matter
with the pump or the pipe, and signaled
immediately to be hauled up. There was
nailed.
The. air became heavier every second,
ana knew l was suffocating. l gave an
olHer frantic signal and probably keeled
oyer The man at the rome thought all
along that l was asking for more pipe.
ana knowing that had been told there was
no mere TO give me, went to dreaming l
suppose 1t was the man at the pump who
saw that something was wrong and took
mold and tried to signal me. OF course I
did not answer, and they hauled me up i'm
q hurry This time it was several hours
before knew where I was and some weeks
DeIore had the strength to go below again.
You can bet that / fired that man.
one OF the best known of the divers
aroGnd New York harbor is Louis +. ITEM
me- Although comparatively young. he has
nad much experience beneath the surface
of salt waters, Mr.. Tiemmen said to a re-
porter:
Much of the romance of the diving bust
ness has been removed since / have been in
II. 1t used to be thought that the work
n ne wat ie had tendency to shorten a
man lie. l suppose that if a man had
weak lungs the pressure on his chest would
cause him more or less suffering and soon
err or later compel him to give up the bust
ness altogether, but properly regulated and
carefully managed there is no more danger
in working under the water than there is in
there is as much.
WHERE THE DANGER is.
The only dangers lie in the men at the
rope and the pumps and the possibilities of
slipping down the hatchway of a ship and
drowning before you can be pulled up
Getting out a cargo is one Of the meanest
jobs diver has Generally two of them
are sent down together and they have to
work with q great deal of care so that
their pipes and lines do not get mixed UP
and make confusion above. Before the days
OF the electric light the diving business was
considerably more difficult than now When
we went INTO the hold of a ship then we
nad 10 do practically everything by feel
ing. II used TO give one g. bad shock too
10 grope around in the water in the hold
OF a ship and suddenly run across the: body
OF some poor devil of a sailor stoWaWav
VINO mad been caught under the cargo
inen, 100, every communication had to be
by signals. If a man at the rope on the
fa1t or scow, misunderstood the signal or
ttoIsot ms code serious results to the diver
below might follow.
NOW, however, the diver has light with
Wnlch to see what he is doing He need
not Tear the shock of running unaWares
upon some human body. The electric light
VIII snow at a considerable distance throIIgh
almost any kind of water The diver either
can carry 1t in his hand, just as a man who
- exploring cave would carry a light
vi NE can wear 1T ON the top of his helmet
as miners do their lamps. All that he must
look out for is that the wires do not get
tangled up with the ropes and chains used
IN hosting the various objects found below
u 70 1ne surface. The diver nowadays also can
nave a telephone attachment to his helmet
ana De at all times in constant communion
uon with those who are running the ma
emery, and, of course, can more readily
ulFect them in their work than he could
IN the old days, when signals had to be de-
pended upon.
Formerly, too, there was something rnvs
ferrous about the occupation OF a diver. bur
Cldl mas disappeared in a great measure
owing, suppose, to the frequency with
Which they are employed There are a
uozen men now at work as divers where
formerly only one could be had. All the bic
WrecKlng companies, like the Merritt Il
chapman and the Baxter and the dredgino
and bodybuilding companies have a MINI
per OF professional divers in their employ
Inc naV1eS of the United States and IF
Treat Brltain have their own divers, so
after all, they are getting to be a ra the3
NTnnlnNOG