Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-06-11
THE LIFE OF A DIVER
PERILS CONSTANTLY MENACE HIM
WHILE HE IS AT WORK.

The Sensations He Experiences When
Under Water, Incased In His Hid
eous ArmOr-Four Hours q Day Are
the Limit of His Endurance.
The dangers of the divers life are
little realized by the world on land IN
ill one is killed. Some fifty divers are
at work almost every day II the wa
tiers of New York harbor, yet as long as
they perform their tasks successfully
they remain as obscure as their dim
haunts- While securing off barnacIes
from ship bottoms or patching holes
in sunken bulls or mending pipes IN
der the East river their work, even if
visible, is too commonplace ito point
moral or adorn tale" Even when
there is a wreck and lives are lost few
think Of the patient, plodding diver,
who gropes through the watery sa-
looms of the steamships and brings
to the surface the pallid corpses.
When the diver is initiated into the
mysteries OF the deep he is extremely
cautious. Then he appreciates far
more than after he has become accus-
toned to his strange surroundings the
perils of his new life. As soon as he
has donned his armor, whose very
hideousness would seem to indicate the
terrors lurking in that unnatural ele-
ment into which he ventures, and has
sunk beneath the surface every sense
begins to act in a weirdly distorted
fashion. He thinks he sees objects
within reach which in reality are far
remote. He claps his hands with diff
Guilty and hears no sound, yet knock
on the side of q ship with his knuckles
gives the ring of bell. His body has
an unusual lightness, so that a little
leap Will carry him over vast spaces.
His sense of smell has been annihilat-
ed. The air which puffs into his he'll
met and then, leaking out through the
escape valve back of one ear, bubbles
up to the surface as If out of the
snOut of a porpoise at first bad the
scent OF machine oil. In a few min
utes it becomes utterly Odorless.
There are still buried treasure ships
whose exact situations are known to
mariners, but which are inaccessible
because of their great depth. Divers
equipped with the present brass and
rubber uniforms cannot 90 deeper than
200 feet, and even at this depth only a
few can remain more than five min
utes. One hundred and twenty feet is
the limit for most MIXERS of the sea,
for at this depth they are under a
pressure Of four atmOspheres.
For the reason that man can venture
only few feet down into the sea the
diver of these practical modern times
has abandoned his hunt for treasure
and has become skilled laborer at 50
a day. Though his wages are larger
than many kinds of workmen earn.
nevertheless they are less regular, and
the diver who earns $50 n month is
regarded lucky. He is indeed fortu-
nate IL he can obtain a steady job in
the dock department, for the city en-
ploys eight divers at So a day through
out the year, with only four hours of
labor in the twenty-four and S1.25 ex-
ira for every additional hour.
In preparing for his work the diver
must serve a long and tedious appren-
ticeship. For the reason that he will
be called Off to do the work of various
trades, such as those OF mason, car
penter, iron worker, plumber and mar
liner he must master the principles of |
serves three years as a member Of a |
wrecking crew, and in addition to ev- |
erything else he studies the character |
OF the waters, their depth and cur |
rents, in which he will one day work. I
He learns 10 be a divers tender, the |
man who holds the life line and air |
tube of the diver, and these are some |
OF the signals with which he becomes |
familiar:
One pull OF air hose-more air.
Two pulls OF air hose-less air.
Three pulls OF air hose-pull IT up.
One pull OF life line-haul up working |
rope.
TWO pulls of life Ine-lower working |
rope.
Three pulls Of life line-haul up diver.
AS the pressure OF the water in |
creases on the divers suit at about the |
rate of one pound for every two feet |
the apprentice must learn how to man. |
age the air pump. He must memorize |
the following table and see that the |
gauge of the air pump tallies TO it as
nearly as possible:
Depth Pounds Depth Pounds |
OF diver pressure OF diver pressure |
In feet So. inch. in feet So inch. |
% ............... 81 so ................ 34S. |
30 ................ IN % ................ 80
20 ............:-. IN loo ................ 4Slz /