Sunday Washington globe., 1902-05-04

l walk the bed Of the sea as easily and
fearlessly as l walk the streets on land, +"
said Alfred PhalberR, who has spent more
than $4,000 hours Of his life at the bottom
OF the ocean. II use no searchlight but the
| eyes God has given me, and opticians tell
men they are remarkably strong. When
you FIRST strike the bottom of the sea-" he
| explained, tits like entering dark cavern;
/ all's densely black. Gradually shapes are
! defined, aud soon everything grows dis
tlnct, If not familiar. prefer to dive at
night. It's better for the eyes. Sudden
passage from the dark of the deep to the
light of day is injurious to the sight The
moment diver raises his helmet ban
dage is put over his eyes for some moments,
otherwise he would soon become blind"
A bright, clean-skinned, clear-eyed,
sparsely built man of 81 is this diver Of un.
rivaled record
AT seven years of age he put out to sea
from his Norseman home. While yet boy
he was a sailor on a schooner wrecked in
Long Island Sound. The schooner was
bringing stone to build the Brooklyn
Bridge. That was in 1872 II had in the
pocket of my coat that went to the bottom
with the schooner" said Phalberg IAN
order on the payfnaster for $16o--all the
money that had earned in the new world
and which had planned to take back with
me to my mother in Sweden
Bring up the order Captain, F" I cried to
the Master Diver as he was about to leap
into the sound in search Of the sunken
steamer. You'll find it in the inside
| pocket of my coat hanging back Of the door
| in the aft"
The old diver chuckled at the memory of
his boyish ignorance, for well he knows
now the pranks the sea plays with the in
/ sides of sunken ships. Doubtless his old
coat served the waves for golf ball, and
so shark cashed his order on the pay
master!
| Phalberg made his first professional dive
at Race Rock Lighthouse when the bed
rock was being laid,
II stayed down an hour and hall, " he
said. 1T seemed a century was scared
to death. 1t felt like being smothered be-
tween two feather beds, wanted to come
] up at once, but pride kept me down. I
! knew that my companions would laugh at
/ ME and call me a coward. No Norseman
could stand that. The second day stayed
dowu little longer, and at the end Of a
week / could hold my own with the best Of
| them"
Two hours is the average time that diver
can stay under water without coming to the
surface Frequently Phalberg has worked
seven hours under 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 half
To raise wrecked vessels, repair them
/ while un4er water recover drowned bodies
and lost treasures, and blast rocks that
threaten destruction to water craft OF OBJ
struct the building of bridges are the
work of the diver. II am ready" said
Phalberg, to go 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 en-.
circled with the lead belt of sixty pounds
weight, his feet encased in solid iron shoes
of twenty rounds each, the lifeline adj
justed to the pipe in the back Of the helmet,
and he takes the leap into the sea, his every
heart beat is in the hands Of the man at the
lifeline.
For eighteen years, " said Phalberg, my
! lifeline was handled by the same man. He
was quite an old fellow and had been all his
life pearl diver He knew the sea by
heart, and was always alive to his awful re-
sponsibility. Since his death, said the
veteran diver with careless smile, II let
anyone handle my lifeline who happens to
be about"
Equally indifferent is Phalberg to his
diving suit, picking out one at random from
the varied assortment that hang, like grim
specters, in the dressing room of the master
divers wrecking wharf.
Curious is the fact that il is through the
sense of touch rather than sight that divers
identify objects at the bottom Of the sea-
Before diving in search of lost vessel the
diver learns the class to which she belongs
The expert is familiar with every detail in
the construction of all kinds OF water craft.
He carries in his minds eye TO the bottom
the picture Of the sunken vessel, and when
he reaches her be measures every part TO
tell upon which side she lies and whether
she struck fore or aft and the extent Of her
damages. Every fact he records in his
memory. He has no other tablet When
he signals to be hauled up he has as de-
tailed as accurate an account to submit to
the authorities as If hours had been spent
figuring it out on paper.
II have never got over the childish habit"
laughed Phalberg, of putting my finger,
wher hurt 1t, into my mouth Often in
blasting rocks ! strike my finger, and to
ease the pain at once raise il to my mouth |
only to be reminded that it's we'll hid be-
hind the iron-barred glass window at the |
front of my helmet, through which the |
eyes alone look out. The heavy gloves we |
are obliged to wear from October to April /
are very cumbersome and make work slow
and awkward. It's always cold at the bot
tom Of the sea in winter Before I put on /
my diving suit dress IN heavy hannels, as
II were about to strike for the north pole. |
We never know at the bottom when there is
a storm on top. The deep remains unrufied.
No, sharks have ever troubled me
smiled Phalberg. Excepting the lobster
have found the inhabitants Of the deep
peaceful, law abiding citizens. / have
talked with divers all over the world and .
/ never met but one who had trouble with
a shark that man was forced to hide two
hours IN the cabin of a sunken shin TO es-
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