The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-05-11
Philadelphia Inquirer.J


Il walk the bed OF the sea as easily
and fearlessiy as + walk the streets on
land said Alfred Phalberg, who has
spent more than $4,000 hours of his life
at the bottom Of the ocean. Il use no
searchlight but the eyes God has given
me, and opticians tell me they are re-
markedly strong. When you first
strike the bottom Of the sea" he ex-
planned. Its like entering a dark cav
ern; airs densely black. Gradually
shapes are defined and soon everything
grows distinct, il not familiar. I pre-
fer 10 dive az night. rs better for the
eyes Sudden passage from the dark
of the deep TO the light OF day Is in
furious 10 the sight The moment a
diver raises his helmet a bandage is
put over his eyes for some moments.
otherwise he would soon become blind -
A bright. clean-skinned, clear-eyed.
sparseiy-built man Of "A is this diver Of
unrivaled record.
At years Of age he put out to sea
from his Norseman home. While yet a
boy he was a sailor on a schooner
wrecked i'm Long Island Sound. The
schooner was bringing stone 20 build
the Brooklyn bridge. That was in 1872.
went TO the bottom with the schooner. I"
said Phalberg, IAN order on the pay
master for S160-sH the money that I
had earned in the new world, and
which / had planned to take back with
me 10 my mother in Sweden.
Bring UP the order, captain" 1
cried to the master diver as he was
about 10 leap into the sound in search
Of the sunken steamer. You'll find it
in the inside pocket of my coat hang
ing back of the door in the aft"
The old diver chuckled at, the men,
orr of his bOyish ignorance, for well he
knows now the pranks the sea plays
with the insides of sunken ships.
Doubtless his old coat served the waves
for a golf ball, and some shark cashed
his order on the paymaster,
Phaiberg made his first professional
dive at Race Rock lighthouse when the
bed rock was being laid.
Il stayed down an hour and a half, %
he said. "Tt seemed a century. I was
scared to death. 1t felt like being
smothered between two feather beds.
I wanted to come up at once, but pride
kept me down. I knew that my com
panions would laugh at me and call
me a coward No NOrseman could
stand that The second day ! stayed
down a little logged and at the end
Of a week l could hold my own with
the best OF them"
Two hours is the average time that
a diver can stay under water without
coming to the surface. Frequently
Phalberg has worked seven hours IN
der twenty-five feet of water. without
being hauled up. He knows only one
diver who has OutdOne him-his mas
ter. the captain. who has been down
seven hours and a half.
To raise wrecked vessels. repair them
while under water. recover drowned
bodies and lost treasures. and blast
rocks that threaten destruction to wa
ter craft or Obstruct the building of
bridges are the work Of the diver. Il
am ready" said Phalberg. ito 20 down
at any hour. day or night. in storm or
calm"
Once the iron helmet. which weighs
forty pounds. Is fastened tightly down
over the shoulders Of his rubber suit:
his waist encircled with the lead belt
of sixty pounds weight, his feet en-
cased in solid iron shoes Of twenty
pounds each. the lifeline adjusted 10
the pipe in the back OF the helmet, and