Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-02-01
THE PERILS OF DIVERS
TERRIBLE RISKS Run BY MEN IN
DER THE SEA.
A Man Courageous Enough to Follow
This Calling is Also Apt
to he ycrfrrcsome.


But there is assured.y one 10. m of sea life
of which little indeed Is unders God; a voca-
ton Infinitely more fraEght with risk than
other ocean calling. And This is that of the
diver.
A fitting illustration Of the truth of this
lies before me as writ in the shape OF a
brief newspaper paragraph recounting how
Diver J. Deasy went down off the coast
Ireland in twenty five IA hons of wa,er 10
recover Il lost torpedo. was brought to the
surface again. and upon having his helmet
removed dropped dead upon the deck, suf'
located with compressed air. A little
tragedy In four lines of type, which the eye
OF the average reader would mechanically
scsn ere passing on 10 a3other column
Into the still Cold Depths.
But let US pause for moment and muse
upon the weird fancy Of that silent and
mcouth figure. as he steps off the SIDE
ladder of the ship and sinks into the green,
translucent dep MS with the serpentine coils
OF rope and tube writhI Z upward like end
less sea snakes emer g.ng from his cumbrous
headgeav.
The chill OF the November water strikes
through his veins as the ripples close over
his vanishing helmet. Down he settles
through the wall-iike Darkness, the twi-
light deepening as he goes. For lhe nrsl
ten fathomS so the descent causes MN
he continues gliding on, slower and yet
slower there begins to steal over him a
vague indefinable sense Of oppression. his
Iead-soled shoes touch the bo,to SO lgh'iy
that his footballs make no impression upon
the OoZe. An irTes sIible Ing OF buoy
ancy seems ever strivir g to shoot him mead
long to the surface: dull. crushing weight
to be ever bearing him dow.
One hundred and fifty feet beneath the
surface of the seal If you would realize
what the pressure of the water is at that
tt Iii eylx-h rnJ h
home to you by a very old sailors trick
Take a stout empty bottle. cork it securely,
attach line to the neck of 1t, and weight
that will cause it TO sink. BY the time you
have sounded ii twenty-five fathoms you
will bring it up full of salt water.
The Divers Risks.
And now that | come to deal with the
practical aspect of the risks run by divers,
may say that 1t will be matter Of some
thing more than surprise to those familiar
with submarine work that the poor fellow
Deasy should have been sent down twenty
five fathoms upon a matter Of such compar-
alive unimportance a missing torpedo.
For the risk of sending any man into
such soundings is so very considerable that
only the greatest urgency could justify it.
Divers have told me that they have seen
men pulled UP dead, from tho effects of
compression out OF no greater depth or
water than Deasy descended.
The quality of courage which causes
man to become a diver Is apt also to rem
der him venturesOme. He knows full well
the peril he courts by descending beyond
certain depth, but Notwithstanding he
seldom stops to count his chances when he
is hidden to submarine quest. And thus
II Is that the risk of death by the pressure
of water forms one of the most fruitful
menaceS of the divers life.
remember a Whitstable diver telling me
of experience which gives a good Illus
tratiOn of the danger following any mishap
to the air-tube. y vessel with cargo of
rum sunk somewhere off the kentish
Knock. Her freight was a valuable 1ne,
worth the cost of salving; divers were en-
ployed. my friend among them. He and
another man descended, and succeeded in
raising the matches of the wreck.
Terrible Situation.
The casks lay plain in view for the vessel
was in great depth. and they entered
her hold to break them out. No sooner
were they disturbed, however. than they
came floating up. and the Whitstable diver
told me he found that his air-pipe and life
line were pinned between one of the huge
barrels and the deck beams above.
In such a situation, with the knowledge
that his helmet held sufficient air to keep
him alive for two minutes, and that II was
impossible for the pump on the barge
above to force more through the fouled
tube. man needs all the presence of mind
that heaven give him. 1t a life
or death touch. but his only chance.
The coils of his lifeline hung In sinuous
folds around him. Whipping out the shea tn
knife which every. diver carries upon his
hip, he cut the rope, and with the frenzied
haste OF doomed man got hold of the
slack of II beyond where 1t was plnioned
by the rum cask. Then. drawing his knife
through the air tube he gave the ulx
vigorous tugs at the line which is The
divers signal that he is foul of the wreck.
Had those on the barge failed to notice
the jerking rope. or been careless In at
tending to that mute appeal. my friend
could never have come to the surface alive
As II was he was half-fainting when
dragged inboards by dozen willing arms.
have given this little experience merely
by way of indicating the character of the
peril which the diver is ever confronted
with In the pursuit of his calling.
The Diver at Home.
Ny Whitstable friend. to whom I have
Just referred. used to hold deeply in
terested listener for many an odd half-hour
as he talked OF those realms that few men
ever see Most things have their humorous
aspect. and the one that used to tickle my
fancy was the description of an angry diver
being helplessly swung about by a heavy
ground swell My companion told me that
he has been buffeted against a sunken
wreck like a child's ball, striking her side
so lightly. owing to the buoyancy of his
costume that he scarcely felt the blow.
1 once asked him whether divers could
Converse under water. He said yes II they
understood the method of doing it, Two
mon might stand close together THAT
their uDcouth heads almost touched, and
yet the one might yell himself hoarse with
out the other hearing a word. But let
them lie down upon their faces, and they
could talk easily as though they were
IN room ashore.
He told me that the light under water
varied very considerably. If II We're a
bright day the misty sunbeams would Of
ten reveal the bottom at many fathons
deep as clearly as landscape viewed
through glass On another occasion all
would appear like dense fog but few
feet beneath the surface.
The divers IL indeed u romantic calling
but chiefly Is Ii perilous one. man
needs a stout heart to strap a cumbrous
helmet over his shoulders and step off into
the chilly depths, with but two minutes to
1--we III the least mshap befalls his air
tube. And he needs an iron nerve tco
when he sinks to view the terrible spec
tacle which he knows his descent to the
scene of a tragic shipwreck is sure. to .e-
veal There is no dramatic heFoisrn about
the death OF poor Deasy; but there is that
quality OF noble devotion to duty which
renders the tribute OF the naval bonors
with which he was buried but a feeble re-
turn for the life he gave.