Evening star., 1899-09-30
DIVING. FOR SPONGES
An Occupation That is Beset With Many
and Grave Perils
Scores of Lives Lost In Encounters
with Sharks and Devil Fish
Other Submarine TerrOrs.

From the New York Sun.
Dreadful stories are told Of divers en-
counters with sharks. Off Bengasi diver
named Skoumbourdi signaled danger after
having been down only moment He
was instantly pulled in and the men at the
ropes found him grown strangely heavy. AS
he neared the surface the watchers saw him
in the grasp Of big shark, which had hold
of his waist. AS he reached the surface and
men on the boat attempted to rescue him
the shark turned on its side, gave tre-
mendous pull, cutting him in half, and dis
appeared.
because known to hold fortunes in sponges.
One coral tree in Rhodes alone has cost ten
lives. Ordinarily sponge divers do not trou
Ole about coral, but this tree was known to
be especially valuable, and the sponge div
ers have tried in vain to secure it. OF
nine no trace was ever found But of the
tenth the shark who guards 1t allowed the
head and chest to get away from him and
it was pulled to the surface.
Off Bengasi John Cataris. a plain fisher
started on a dive holding the marble slab
in his hands. When about fifteen fathoms
down, as the rope foated loosely the men
at the rope began to haul back. 1t stuck
and hauled tight for a second, then be-
came loose again. and Cataris was pulled
to the surface with his flesh hanging in
shreds, if lacerated by rows of sharp
knives. Cataris declared that he dived
head first he suddenly passed into dark
hot place, then was hurled backward. fol-
lowed by the marble He had dived head
first into the open mouth of a shark. and
the fishers maintain that the marble struck
the sharks stomach with such force that
1t caused him pain and he expelled the
whole load. Cataris is still a diver and
has been fishing again this season of the
same Bengasi; but he wears now on his
breast a tiny crucifix and likeness OF St
Nicholas, to whose protection he COM
rnits himself before each dive Indeed. in
all the kaiques there is an image or pic
ture of the patron saint of Greek fishers,
ST. Nicholas
Next to the sharks the divers dread the
octopus and his deadly grasp. 1nnumerable
stories are told of encounters with them
Themeli has a brother-in-law. Michael
foremost diver of them all. Only two sea-
sons ago off Crete he had been diving, and
when he came up the anchor was tangled
One man was sent to disentangle it. He
couldn't find it, and a second was sent
When this man did not come up, third
was started down. He also did not some
up, and realizing then from the signals
what the trouble probably was, six divers
with knives went down to their aid. The
two were held fast by one octopus. Warn
ed by the expectation of the fate of their
comrades and guided by the position of
the ropes, the six discovered their plight
and managed to cut off the tentaces by
which they were held and bring the two
men to the surface. One had been held by
died from strangulation, but the other re-
covered.
Besides sharks and devil fish, there are
still ether enemies among the things that
swim the sea and call it home There are
swordfsh that have been known to do royal
battle with a diver, and vai or 'sunfsh"
with a spiked tail. quite as formidable
and only a trife less in size than the
weapon of a swordfish. In fact, every fish
that has been provided with weapons for
it's defense turns them in attack upon the
plain diver.
Even the sponge itself is the home of a
deadly enemy Often in the sponges there
is a. curious worm. The instant the sponge
is placed in the net bag which rests on the
divers chest this worm faStens itself upon
the divers body. 1t bores and swells and
it's attack is described by Themelis, who
carries a scar from it like sword thrust.
After receiving this thrust the plain diver
waits for nothing, but rapidly reaches the
kaiQue, and his first action is to cut out
with a sharp razor. kept always for that
purpose, as much of the wound as possible.
Then another man with a mouth full of
oil applies his lips to the wound and ex-
tracts as much as possible of the poison.
man has been known to linger before
dying was ten hours For years this worm
carried off a startling number of divers.
Then a victim was taken to the doctor OF
a French man-of-war which was in the
neighbor hood. The doctor had been in
terested in the worms poison. and, after
obt aiming some of the virus from the wound
and analyzing it, he was able to supply
to the sponge fishers an ointment or Salve
which has since saved as many lives from
the worms bite had been lost before.