The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-04
NEW YORK DIVERS.
THE EXPERTS STORY OF THINGS
SEEN UNDER THE EAST RIVER.
limiting for Copper at the Bottom OF
Lake Erica Novel Method OF

From the New York Evening Post
There are divers and divers. Some reach
,beir limit of efficiency at thirty-dve fee.
below the surface. while others will work
NJ anywhere from seventy to eighty-iive
ar rinetv feet. One sort of diver does only
the drudgery of the trade. He is merely
nut to piHng up rocks or doing the plain
work mapped out for him. where blasting
has been done or deep foundations are TO
he laid This divers work differs little
from that of the bod-carrier or coal-heav-
or ashore, except that it is conducted I'M
der wafer and his movements are some
what hampered by his heavy dress. The
valuable diver is the one with Judgment
and technical knowledge. He is sent down
to strutinize the abutments of bridges AMI
sea walls, and the foundations of water
side structures. and decide as to whether
they need repairing. He has mastered the
principles of building and stone masonry
before he undertook diving. The diver
of first rank examines and repairs YES
sells without docking, RECEIVERS sunken
property, and constantly does work that
is educated and alive to the value of new
inventions. He reads the best journals on
engineering and scientific topics and
watches all new developments with keen
interest.
somewhat curtailed the opportunities Of
the Individual in business for himself.
The paying undertakings, such as the
raisings of a great liner or removing of
some prominent obstruction, all go to the
organized companies, but there is still
much work that demands individual care
and tact, and the diver of recognized
ability is kept busy. There are several
New York divers who have gained a COM
potency in the prime of life, and have re-
tired from the business Some of these
are still to be found for few hours each
day at their old South street offices, hay
ing set up in the boat business or some
other waterside occupation. They know
the underwater ways of the harbor and
rivers as Familiarity as their neighbors
know the city streets, and when there is
an accident or a new enterprise that de-
mands divers services they amuse them
selves by planning the methods to be pur-
sued.
The divers and the divers attendants
working for the wrecking companies are,
for the most part, foreigners, many
Swedes and Norwegians having embark
ed in the calling. Every diver has man
to dress him and attend his signal-rope.
There are hundreds of such workers kept
ready at a minutes notice, night and day
to respond to calls. The divers who are
in business for themselves are most con-
servative and responsible 1t is a business
that appears to run in families, and the
son of an expert diver nearly always
trains for the profession. Such youth
will, at the proper, age, be entered at the
government training school for divers, at
Newport. After serving an apprenticeship
in local waters he will go on voyage
round the world in United States YES
sci. Much knowledge is handed down
from father to son. The father who has
been successful is proud of his trade rep
utation, and as much at home in the wa
ter as on land. In such a family, living
down in one of the slips by the East riv-
er, there have been three genera ions to
wear the rubber suit.The grandfather was
an expert diver in old Dublin port for
wears before he knew this harbor. The
wrecks that he worked a and the OBJ
iects he rescued then were vrey different
from the ships and the contents that are
rescued now. His old living-drass and
bonnet are kept as curiosisties, and there
is picture of the antiquated diving bells
in which his small boy, father of the
present diver, used to be taken down to
view the wonders of the sea. The records
of this family are interesting. The old
Dublin wrecker is dead But his son is in
active work and keenly interested in the
career of his Oldest boy to whom he has
given every advantage and whom he has
trained to his favorite pursuit The young
man enlisted in the late war, scraped
the bottom of the Indiana, and on return
ing 10 New York did similar work on two
captured transports.
On days when it is bitterly cold or I'M
usually windy the divers do not work, be-
cause their attendants cannot stand the
exposure. The weather would not hinder
the diver perhaps. He would not feel the
cold in his stout armor under wafer, but
for the man who holds the signal-rope and
for those turning at the atr-pump ana
attending to matters on shore or on the
divers boat it is a serious ordeal 1t is
on such days, when the master-diver Is
cementing patches on his suit or liking
up his books by the hosptable office stove
that he can be prevailed upon to relate
his expert noes. One spoke of a rec ent trip
No the East rivers bed climbing over ca
hles that hang seven, eight, and ten feet
from the bottom. This trip was in quest
Of some car-wheels that had been lost
off of a flat-boat. There were thirty-four
wheels missing. They were valuable,and
might be found anywhere between Twen
ty-third street and the Battery, so the
whole distance must be covered. The ca
bles hung so high that the diver might
have wa ked under them, but that would
have interfered with his lifetime. So he
climbed over every one, and the man hold
ing the signal-rope in the boat had to eX-
. else great care. There are weird tales
OF dead bodies discovered by the diver in
startling attitudes and tales of hair
breadth escapes when the signals refused
70 work or the air gave out suddenly.
Not but what it's good life" the mar
rator declared 1--WE always had the best
Of health and occasionally considerable
fun out of the business. The most conf
cal experience came to me in Lake Erie
when l went hunting for copper in four
teen fathoms of water 1t was a private
loh promising good ray. The copper, go
tons of it, had been lost for thirty years,
according to the man who employed me
TO hunt for it, He was an inventor and
crank on the subject of lost cargoes. He
came to New York to engage me, and
said that the instrument he had invented
was warranted to show the exact spot
where the copper lay. All l had to do was