The morning news., 1899-05-24
A. woman Diver.
From Pearson's Weekll

From Pearson's Weekly.
The artistic who performs the feat of div
ing daily al the Royal Aquarium from
hight of ninety feet into a tank of water
having a depth of only six feet has been
relating her aerial and aquatic expert
ences to +. w.
Miss Annie Luker is the one particular
star in her own exclusive ornament. and
she claims that she has no parallel
Am l nervous or fearsome? No, not
now. / was so at first for as soon as
took the dive / used TO feel a peculiar
sensation that | was not going in the
right direction or falling in the proper line;
/ folt that I was descending in line out
of my proper range and. Notwithstanding
that the descent only takes perhaps two
seconds, or thereab bouts. The strange feeling
that / was going wrong brought In It's
trend many disagreeable thoughts crowd
ing into my mind, making me very nerv-
Gus and seeming to prolong the dive but
that feeling has passed off now.
Can l control my body in midar? oh.
yes, quite easily. I keep my eyes open
just TO see where l am going. This is
how l take my dive: I stand at the ex-
treme edge of diving board, which is a
small plank admitting me and an attend
ant standing upon il. ! throw my arms
up in a line with my body palms OF
the hands turned outward, and as soon as
the inspiration comes and whispers into
my ear TO go, | hold my limbs ana
body rigid and allow myself to fall out
of the perpendicular, leaving the board
when l am at an angle of about As de-
grees.
Il know by the sensation when I have
dropped about ten feet at which distance
from the board / find myself in an almost
horizontal position. ! now join my hands
and throw my head on my chest, a move
ment which propels the upper part of the
body in a forward or downward direction.
within about ten feet of the tank l
find myself In a straight line, and in thar
position l enter the water with terrific
force
THE very second that my hands toucn
the surface of the water l turn sharply
round and thus avoid conclusion with The
floor of the tank. Oh, It's so very easy"
added the daring lady with hearty laugh
81 have regularly dived twice daily for
over five years. but setting aside a possi-
BILE non-appearance or two l compute
have performed my diving feat now 5000
tlmes-equal to 10000 total feet dived, or
just over hfty-one miles.
"Those figures only represent my work
here at the Aquarium. / am now % years
of age, and have been swimming since 1
was 5. / am the daughter of Prof Luker
of Tunbridge Wells who Is, but was more
particularly In his younger days, cele-
brated aquatic performer He Is the old
est swimmer In the world
81 have often mounted the diving board
suffering from a sever attack of neural
gia or from headache. but the dive has
completely cure either ] am unable to
account for 1t. Whether 1t is through the
sudden shock of diving into the cold
water, for II is always cold or the quick
flight through the air, or the presence
of the public or not, l cannot say, Jlt
the fact. nevertheless remains that my
diving cures me of pain.
My first high dive? At Capt. Boynton's
at the EarIs Court exhibition a few years
ago. II was a forty-foot dive-I was much
younger then-but the performance was ex-
cellent for a girl of my age.
"Can | hold my breath during the de-
scent? One has TO do that. but am gem
orally careful before / take the dive 10
satisfy myself that my heart is beating
normally, and that my lungs are supplied
with plenty of fresh air. / take the final
long breath when my arms are uplfted,
and | am ready for the descent.
Supposing a diver did not observe these
precautions? If a diver did not exercise
care. why, of course, in the event of an
accident there would be no one to blame
but himself.
Il have dlved off the top girders OF the
Blackfriars railway bridge into the Thames
DenNdlnt WHEN the ilNth was at NV tihts
and when ] was 16 l swan in the Thames
from Kew 10 Rothernithe, a distance Of
nineteen miles"
Miss Lukers energies seem to overlap
one another, and an effort is made 70 re-
strain them. She is engaged by the Lon
don school board TO mold In her spare
time the swimming character Of no fever
than 1000 pupils, principally located in the
north Of the metropolis. and besides filling
the position of lady professor of SWIM
ming to a large number of private clubs
she has swum for all the best clubs.
Some of her pupils are ladies over go, but
the smartest of them all is little girl,
who at the age of 5, took to the wate~
nike duck, and al gave, in conjunction
with Miss Luker a surprising exhibition
performance at a public entertainment.