The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-05-07
MEMORIES OF VAN TASSEL,
EATEN BY SHARKS OFF OAHU

..I,ba next instant / heard the signal
sbot from the professors revolver. My
hand went out in search of the cut-on
rope. / clutched it, then let it go again
NV heart was in my throat. Just one
null said my brain. Again my hand
went out. Again i hesitated. Only
little tug and then, what? Well. if
had had any idea of how long it took
the old style chute to open | would
never have plucked up courage enough
to pull that cord. My heart was beat
ing a tattoo in my breast, and it was
about all that / could do to hold on. l
cautiously tried the rope. 1t seemed to
be working. Then I cut loose.
ct was clear drop of several hum
dred feet before there was any staying
of the downward momentum. A sick
ness that seemed mortal possessed me.
A drowning man, they say, sees his
fife pass before him in review. | saw
nothing, / felt everything. My only
recollection is of horror, a terrible
black shape crouching just above me.
I did not even think to look at the
chute I simply held on and fell fell.
Then just before Inconsistencies
came, just as / had made up my mind
that the thud was coming the next
moment, I seemed to awake from a
dream to find myself sailing slowly, oh.
50 slowly, it seemed, down to earth
again, although really at the rate of 100
feet second. The change came so
swiftly that it did not seem real
But there before me was, the pref
test and most wecome sight I had ever
seen-the lake the mountains. the tiny
human specks on the beach Off to one
side l saw the big balloon just topping
over for it's drop. A minute later
struck the beach with a suddenness
that Jared me almost unconscious.
THE next moment a half score of
boatmen were pulling in my direction.
A special prize of $25 had been offered
| the man who picked me up if landed
| in the lake, and the nearest man was
hurriedly shouting to me, promising to
| divide. | thought too much of my new
| tights, however, and then the profess
sor came up beaming his congratuia-
| tons 1t seems / had really made a
star ascension. While 1 had sat study
| ing whether to pull or not to pull the
chute had followed the balloon out of
sight, and when l came down it was
a veritable tumble from the clouds.
"Since then 1 have made hundreds of
Heaps, but | have never entirely lost the
/ feeling Of dread my first journey gave
me. The 'chutes in use now open al
most at once after they are cut loose,
and man gets no such nervous shocks
as the old ones with their slow, steady
openings gave.
| The descent formerly was toe rapid
| for calculation. and no man could have
/ the least sensibility of what was going
on about him. He simply held on and
hoped for the best. IL the chute did
not open he would never feel the inn
pact with the earth. He would be dead
| to all feeling long before he reached it.
Danger? No, not so very much. If
a man kept his gear in good shape the
chute always opened. Several times
men have been killed by it's failure to
| do so, but it was because they did not
watch their gear.
THE cutting loose was done by pair
of knives placed like scissors over the
connecting rope between chute and bag,
and If the lever did not work, all man
had to do was to wait until the air in
side the bag cooled off and lost its hoist
ling powers. Then the descent was more
perilous, because of the balloons
weight, but not much, as the air gem
orally held out till the earth was reach
/ ed. THE Sunday Call