The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-10-30
EXPLORING BED OF OCEAN.
STRANGE AND EXCITING ExPE-
RIENCES OF DIVERS.

Closing Door OF Flooded Tunnel
-Subterranean Minlng-Ftght WITH
shark Under Water-Imprisoned Eel.
1t IL with the romantic, not the tech
meal, side OF diving that propose to deal
In this article. From time to time some
curious things have happened to divers,
says the Wade World Magazine. and some
very plucky descents have been made. l
am indebted to the good offices OF Messrs.
Siebe, German Il Co., the we'll known sub
marine engineers, for their kindness In en-
abling me to secure the striking narratives
which follow.
A diver needs good supply Of that men.
tai courage known as presence OF nina IN
order to deal with the unforeseen emergen-
cies which may at any time arise, threat
ening, perhaps, to destroy him. As an in
stance Of this let me relate a. thrilling ex-
perience that befell WhitstaPle diver
named s5affrey, some little while back. A
vessel had gone down not far from the
Kentish Knock. Her cargo consisted OF
rum, which was considered well worth
salving. The wreck lay In somewhat shall
low water, and divers were engaged TO de-
scend and bring up the cargo. among them
being Saffrey He made descent in the
ordinary way and, arriving upon the ves-
SELL deck, proceeded to remove the matches
This, Of course. took him some considerable
time, as working below water Is much
slower than similar labor on dry land;
divers movements are necessarily delib-
crate, incumbered as he is with impede
ments and working among formidable
distractions.
The matches being removed. the cargo OF
rum casks lay in view. Saffrey next de-
scended into the hold, in order TO get the
casks in readiness to be sent to the sur
face Then came the catastrophe. The
removal Of the matches and the motion
caused by the descending diver created
some displacement OF the cargo, and as
the diver climbed down, several big casks
foated upw ard. Suddenly Saffrey made
horrifying discovery. His life line and his
air tube were both damned between one OF
the barrels and the deck above his head.
The result OF this of course, was that
no air could reach him from above, and
that which was already in his helmet was
sufficient to last him only about two min
utes. 1t was just one of those appalling
situations where absolute ccolness and
quick witted resource alone can save one
life What did Safirey do? Hastily whip
ping out his sheath knife he severed his
life line above where it was pinned by the
barrel, and did the same with his air tube,
thus releasing himself. Then he gave the
: tx pills on lis life line which indioate
above are to haul Up u ickly. Ibis was
done, but only j. st in the nick OF time,
for when he ARR, ed at the surface the
diver was in half fainting condition,
PERHAPS one Of the most thrilling and
dangerous exI editions ever undertaf en- by
q diver was that OF Messrs. Siebe and Cor
man s head diver, Ale ,ander / ambert,
in connection with the severn Tunnel. IL
was a deed of tremendous pluck, and de-
serves to rank with the most valorous acts
The worL ings Of the Severn Tunnel were
flooded, and there was sixty feet OF water in
the 10 foot shaft The flood was tearing
through a doorway. the iron door of which
was OF en-. from the main Il nnei into smaller
tunnel about eight feet wide and the same
height. This u mel was distant about a
ou arter OF a mile from the bottom of the
shaft and was nearly full Of water and
deoris. The task that had to be erformed
was for somebody to mai g his way to the
iron door and close it, thus stol ing the
inrush Of water. 1t was task that many
stout hearted man might be exec sed
for refusing to attempt But Lambert
volunteered to do 1t.
he was e,,llPI 81 WIN al orouaiy CIV
ing dress. exoeit that lie had neither air
tube nor life line; the latter, in fact, would
have been quite Useless. In place Of the
former he carried with him supply OF
oxygen in a small reservoir and crowbar.
lie descended the 200 foot shaft, through
the sixty feet Of water, and then made
his way along the eight foot t. mel for
q, arter of mile, the whole time batting
with all kinds of obstrL ctions, but finally
reaching the doorway in safety. amlert
found that the door was held fast by some
stolt iron rails, which called for pretty
hard work to release them. He attack ed
the task with considerable energy, being
anxious to COMP lete it and retLrn
victorious.
The diver became so absorbed in what
he was doing that he quite forgot for the
time being the exceptional conditions I'M
der which he was working and gave no
thought to his SUPP y CT oxygen. Then 81 d.
denly it flashed across his mind that the
precious gas must be getting pretty low,
and as it would have to last him during
the journey back he decided to return at
once and leave his work for the present
unfinished SO he set or as quickly as
he could. now stumbling over pile CT
Ce1ris now battling with seirling eddy,
and hoping against hope all the time that
the oxygen would not give out and leave
him to perish miserably in that flooded
tunnel.
He succeeded in reaching the top Of
the shaft in safety, but when his air tank
came to be examined it was discovered
that there was only sufficient oxygen
left to have lasted for another two or three
minutes. Thus. almost by a miracle. his
life had been preserved. One would sup
pose that such q narrow escape would have
daunted a man from making a further
attempt but Lambert knew no fear. Again
he descended the shaft, iourneying through
the sixty feet Of water and along that peril
Gus quarter mile OF tunnel to the doorway,
where he completed his task and returned
triumphant.
One OF the most remarkable mishaps
ever heard Of happened to a diver named
Quick He was working at the Penarth
Docks and descended to repair an injury
to the bows Of vessel which had had a
hole knocked in 1t by an anchor. The hole
had been filled up with cotton waste, and
Quick went down to fix plate over it.
Powerful pumps were at work above emp
tying the vessel OF water. While busy be-
low Quick inadvertently knocked out the
cotton waste, and the tremendous suction
caused by the pumping drew the diver in
bv the elbow and held him fast and help
less. His first and principal anxiety was
to release himself, 30 he struggled vio-
lently, but this only made matters worse
and landed him further into the hold Of
the vessel Then he tried to get at his life
line, but, owing to his peculiar position,
he was unable to reach 1t, being securely
ninned on both sides Even sliDposinp he