Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-24
AN INTERESTING CALLING
The Work Of Diver From Day to
Day.
Some of the Difficulties and Hardships
That Reset the Explorer
of the Deep.
From the New York Evening Post.


There are divers and divers. Some reach
their limit of efficiency at thirty-five feet
below the surface. while others will work
at anywhere from seventy to eighty-five or
ninety feet. One sort of diver does only
the drudgery of the .trade He is merely
put to pling up rocks doing the plain
work mapped out for him. where Blasting
has been done or deep foundations are to be
laid This divers work differs little from
that of the hodcarrier or coal HEAVIER
ashore, except that it is conducted under
water and his movements are somewhat
hampered by his heavy dress. The valua-
BILE diver is the with judgment and
technical knowledge. He is sent down to
scrutinize the abutments of bridges and
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 vessels
without docking, RECEIVERS sunken proper
ty and constantly does work that demands
fearlessness and persistence He Is edu-
Gated and alive to the value of new in
ventions He reads the best journals on
engineering and scientific topics. and
watches all new developments with keen
interest.
The large wrecking companies have some
what curtailed the opportunities of the m
divdual in business for himself. The pay
ing undertakings. such as the raising OF Il
great liner or removing of some prominent
obstruction. all go to the organized COM
panes, 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 competency in the prime OF
life and have retired from business. Some
of these are still to be found for few
hours each day at their old South street
offices, having set up in the boat business
or some other waterSide occupation. Ihey
know the underwater ways of the harbor
and rivers as Familiarity as their neishbors
know the city streets. and when there Is
an accident or new enterprise that de-
mands divers services they amuse them
selves by planning the methods to be pur-
sued.
working for the wrecking companies are,
| for the most part. foreigners, many Swedes
and Norwegians having embarked in the
| calling. Every diver has a 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 conservative and
responsible. 1t is business that appears
| to run in families, and the son of an expert
| diver nearly always trains for the profess
| sion. Such a youth WILL at the proper age,
| be entered at the government training
school for divers at Newport. After serv-
| ing an apprenticeship in local waters he
| Will go on voyage round the world in
handed down from father to son. The
father who has been successful is proud of
| his trade reputation. and as much at home
| in the water as on land In such family,
| living down in one of the slips by the East
river, there have been three generations to
wear the rubber suit. The grandfather was
an expert diver in old Dublin port for years
before he knew this harbor. The wrecks
| that he worked at and the objects he res
cued then We're very different from the
| ships and the contents that are rescued
now. His old diving dress and bonnet are
kept as curiosities, and there is a 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 in
| teresting. The old Dublin wrecker is dead.
But his son is in active work and keenly in
terested in the career of his oldest boy, to
| whom he has given every advantage and
whom he has trained to his fayorite pur-
suit. The young man enlisted in the late
war, scraped the bottom of the Indiana,
| and on returning to 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
posture. The weather would not hinder the
diver perhaps He would not feel the cold
| in his stout armor under water. but for the
man who holds the signal rope and for
those turning at the air-pump and attend
| ing to matters on shore 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 fixing up his books
| by the hospitabe office stove, that he can
| be prevailed upon to relate his experiences.
One spoke of a recent trip up the East
| rivers bed, climbing over cables 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 fiatboat. There
were thirty-four wheels missing. They
were valuable, and might be found any
where between 23d street and the Battery,
| so the whole distance must be covered. The
| cables hung high that the diver might
have walked under them, but that would
have interfered with his life line So he
| climbed over every one and the M
ing the signal-rope in the bog, :. no o.l
| ercise great care The are weird tales Of
dead bodies discoysd nv the diver ia cl
| e enms a'utoa~ and tales Of hairbreadth
| az - nen the signals refused to work
| " -.ie air gave out suddenly