The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-05-24
STORY OF A DIVER.

gave it to me to handle.
STORY OF A DIVER.
PeriIous Adventures Of q Man Wheso
Daily Work IL 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 IS years Of age, stands
about feet 10 inches and weighs over
100 pounds, and is one Of the pleasant
est men that one would care to meet.
He is very uodest-seldom talking
about his own work, but a while
ago the writer succeeded in getting nim
to 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
Kennebec River at Bath. This job re-
quired the laying Of 5000 feet Of big
waterpipe, with ball and socket join
in water, the average depth Of which
was fifty feet. Sometimes the depth was
over seventy and at times down to
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 tc complete the job.
A few years ago Mr.. Chase nearly
lost his life while at work raising
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 Tor
forty minutes. His air hose was
caught In such way that but very lit
tie air could get through it with the
pump working to its best advantage,
but the pump was an old one and dld
not work well. When he was finally
cleared and hauled to the surface ne
was unconscious and black in the face
from the want Of air. 1t was feared
that hs 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 new one, who had never
worked for 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
tance when he discovered a pile that
would not have to be blown, but which
could readily be hoisted to the surface
with 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:
cts all right, fire the charged"
Now it happened that the man who
was looking after the battery was an
old and experienced tender and knew
that it wasn't all right to hre the
charge while the man was under water.
He went to the side Of the float and
took hold Of the lifeline just in time to
receive the second signal for a rope
from Chase. The rope was sent down,
but it was night before Chase knew OF
his narrow escape. The tender who
came near ending Chase's experience
as a diver only worked one more day
and then quit-he never came around
after his pay, either.
It was while at work On this JOB
that Chase, together with bis tender
and helpers, was blown up by dyna-
mite explosion. He had been down
and placed the charge, but the tue,
which was setting out strong Wasneo
II down almost under the float. Cnase
had Just reached the top and leaned
over the side Of the float IN the usual
sttitude of divers when resting when
the charge was exploded. The shock
threw the float and all the men into the
al and Chase must surely have been
thrown into the water but for the
presence Of mind Of the same man who
saved him the other time, who caught
him and held him on the float.
The wonder Of this accident was that
any one came out OF it alive, for upon
the float was a case Of 100 SUCKS os
dynamite, which, fortunately, was not
exploded by the shock.
Chase says the most Gsasreeao's
,art of his work is diving Tor oeao
bodies. He has made several quick re-
coTeries Of bodies during his career as
a diver. One Of these was in Lewiston
about two years ago, when he recover
ed the body Of Bates College student
named Wells. In just nineteen min
utes from the time he dove ne mao the
body out of the water upon the bank.
The deepest water in which he ever
worked was of Egg Rock, near Bar
Harbor. Here he was down 100 feet at
work upon the wreck OF Gloucester
tist!a. schooner.