The times., 1899-08-07

picturesque characters and the diving pro-
fesslon one of its most famous members
with the retirement of John Conklin. For
more than thirty years "Old Conk,'' as he
is Familiarity known to his neighbors, oc-
cuDied a loft in one of the old buildings
on South Street facing the river and in
the shadow of the bridge pier. He took
UP his quarters there shortly after the war
and few days ago gathered together his
belongings and left the old place, as he
said, because l am too old to work under
the water any longer and l want to spend
the rest of my days with my family up the
State
Nearly fifty years ago he entered the
service of the Government of the United
States, when his father also a diver, was
employed in the navy yard. His first en-
ployment was in holding the signal rope
and air tube for the men who worked
under the water. There is no part of the
rivers and harbors around New York that
ne does not know, and his reputation is
known in every shipping district in the
country. He was one of the first men Sc
lected to work for General Newton in pre-
pairing to blow up Niger Head Rock at
Hell Gate. He was also employed in plac-
ing the torpedoes and mines in the rivers
leading to Washington during the war, and
he served with distinction in many of the
naval battles from 1861 10 1865. When
ever diver was needed to examine the
hull of warship arriving at the navy yard
he was sent for, and there are few of
the vessels, especially the older ones, that
ne does not know thoroughly.
AS a rule, the old man is reticent and he
seldom cares to speak of his experiences.
few days ago reporter climbed the rickety
stairs TO the old low -ceiled and dingy loft
occupied by Mr.. Conklin. He was at work
getting ready to send home the apparatus
and curios he had not sold The floor was
strewn with pumps, helmets, fgureheads
taken from lost vessels and coils of rope
1t was like junk shop. 1t may have been
because he was leaving the place that ne
was willing to talk.
i am going TO stop diving and go home,''
he said. MY first experience below the
water was SO long ago / can scarcely re-
member how l felt or what l did. 1t has
since become an History with me, and my
memory is none too good. am getting
TO be an old man. as T viii be seventy-slx
next month"; A smile crept across his
wrinkied face as he looked up to see the
effect OF his words. "I,frst went under the
water at the navy yard across the river.
had been down in diving bells many times
before that My father and | were the only
divers employed in the yard at that time
1t wasn't much of a place then, mostly
swampy land, and the water was very dirty
and black. One Of fhe old wooden ships
had arrived from a foreign station, much
the worse for wear. Nobody on board could
tell what the trouble was and the ship
needed docking. Father was too sick to go
down and the job fell to me-
AT first / was nervous, for I had never
put on rubber suit. When the helmet
was made fast / thought | would suffo-
cate. There was a ringing in my ears
and l was dizzy. Father held the ropes
and nodded to me as looked out from
the glass in front of the helmet. Here
the old man stopped and looked along the
floor. Picking UP an old copper helmet,
he continued This is the same old bon
net. l don't use it any more but have
just kept it as reminder of the old days.
Well, | let go the ladder and was soon
on my way to the bottom. / examined
the hull and it was good thing 1t was
done before that vessel was docked. Over
100 feet of the keel had been torn away
and was dragging. The vessel had struck
something that caused the trouble. If the
same thing had happened one of the
modern vessels she would never have
reached port. After that diving was easy
for me and ] have been down many times
since then and have seen more strange
things.
Once l was called on to go to wreck
off the Long Island coast. A vessel with
a valuable cargo had come To grief I had
been working two days before the acci-
dent happened which nearly ended my
career. Just how it occurred no one will
ever know. / had been looking over the
hull and started to move away when I was
brought to by a sudden jerk. Then the
air seemed to give out, and ! thought the
tube had been severed by a large fish. l
pulled the signal rope for more air, but
there was no response. l grew faint, and
all the blood in my body seemed to start
toward my head and there was G. queer
buZZipg sound in my ears. ] must have
become unconscious and fallen from the
deck, for / knew nothing more until I
found myself lying on my back on the
pump boat looking into the startled and
anxious faces of my friends. / remember
asking what had happened. Joe Carter
who held the ropes, said he felt the signal
to haul up. That signal must have been
given when I fell and / always believed
that that fail and Providence saved NE.
Sharks never bothered me any, al
though l have killed several Of them.
While we were doing some work for the
Mexican Government in the Gulf l saw
lots of what they call man eaters. They
seemed to be very inquisitive. They would
watch us for hours at time. 1t was very
uncomfortable, but when they came too
close we could knife them
Il have been to many wrecks along the
coast from Maine to Hatteras. There are
some / would not go into again for any
amount There is one l will tell you about
that happened early in the seventies. 1t
was my worst experience with dead people
and l have seen many OF them. This case
CleenlpSC niphtG and de-
stroyed my peace of mind for many days.
| was called on to 60 down near the Della
| ware capes to a ship that had foundered.
We left New York on tug and found the
vessel with only her masts out of water.
| / had done considerable deep sea work and
| it didn't take long 70 get to business.
There was considerable money on board
| her and | was to be paid handsomely, but
| l wouldn't do that work again for any
amount l hadn't landed on deck before
met a grewsome sight. | opened the pilot
house door and found the skipper with the
wheel in his death grasp. AS the water
| moved he swayed from side TO side. 1t
makes my blood run cold when | think of
| it After sending him up / went over the
side to examine the hull. About midships
| / found a big hole. and came to the con-
| clusion she had been struck by another
| boat and must have sunk Immediately. l
| thought ! was prepared for anything, but
what I saw few minutes later completely
unnerved me- / opened the door leading to
| the cabin and the place seemed full of bod
| les. They seemed to come from all drec-
tions. / counted thirty-two. / was hauled
up half exhausted and wanted to give up
my contract then and there, but the people
| | was working for wouldn't have it. Those
| poor people went to their graves without
minutes warning We worked there