The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-06-21
4: 4
OF DI Err
sP.RlLS CONSTANT MENACE
HIM WfiIE HE. IS ATBWORk.

The Sensations He ExperiencesN when
t1nder Water.!Incnsed In His Hid
eous Ar1aor-Four Hours1a Day Are
the; Limit OF His End nrnnce.
The a dangers of the divers life are
little realized by the world on land un-
It'll one is killed. Some fifty divers are
at work almost every day in the va
ters OF New y ork harbor. yet as long as
they perform their tasks successfully
til ey remain as obscure as their DIM
haunts While securing Oft barnacles
from ship bottoms or patching holes
in sunken bulls or nenGtns pipes I'M
der the East river their work. even if
visible is too commonplace TO point
a mora, or adorn q tale Even when
there Is, a wreck ana lives are lost few
think OF tie patient. Flooding 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
narils Of his new life. AS soon as ne
has douned his arnOr, whose very
hideousneSs would seem TO Indicate the
terrors lurking in that unnatural ele-
-uent into which he ventures, and has
sunk beneath the surface every sense
begins TO act in weirGiy distorted
fashion lie thinks be sees objects
within reach which in reality are tar
remote Z claps his hands with dltt1-
Guilty and hears no sound, yet KNOCK
on the side of q Ship with his knuckles
gives the ring of Il bell. Els body mas
an unusual lichtnesss. so that a little
leap will carry him over vast spaces.
His sense OF smell has been annthiiat-
ed The air which rutfs into ms neil
met and then, leaking out through tA@
escape valve back Of one ear buboles
up to the surface as II out or the
snout of a porpoise at first had the
scent of machine oil. In few MIN
rtes it becomes utterly odorless.
There are still buried treasure ships
whose exact situations are known 10
mariners, but which are inaccessible
because of their great depth. Divers
equipped with the present brass ana
rubber uniforms cannot so deeper than
200 feet, and even at this depth only
few can remain more than i've min
utes One hundred and twenty feet Is
the limit for most miners of the sea,
for at this depth they are under q
pressure of four atmospheres.
For tie reason that man can venture
only few feet down into the sea the
diver of these practical modern tunes
has abandoned his hunt for treasure
and has become a skilled laborer at 80
day Though his wages are larger
than many kinds of workmen earn.
nevertheless they are less regular, ana
the diver who earns $3.50 month is
nate if be can obtain u steady job III
the dock department. for the city en-
ploys eight divers ut So Il day through
out the year. with only four hours or
labor in the twenty-four and Sl.2o eA-
ira for every additional hour.
In preparing for his work the diver
must serve long and tedious nppren-
ticeship For the reason that he will
be called on TO do the work of various
trades such MS those of mason car
penter, iron worker. plumber and mar
iner he must master the principles of
all these vocationS- He generally
serves three years as member or q
wreckng crew, and in addition to ev-
erything else he studies the character
of the waters. their depth and cur
rents. in which be will one day work
He learns to be 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-u1ore air
Two pulls of aSr hose-less air
Three pulls Of air hoSe-pun II up
One pull of life Iine-haul up working
rope.
TWO pulls of life Uncover 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 tailies to it as
nearly as possible:
of diver pressure of diver pressure
In feet. So. inch. in feet. So men
20 .........-..... 81 50 -..-......-. ga
40 ............-..- 17h 100 -.--..-........ i5!*
60 ..........-.-... 2sA 10 ..--..........-- 52a4
a diver may be killed or his life
shortened many years if the air is not
given him at the right pressure. On
the surface of the water the atuloS-
phere presses against all parts Of his
oho TO = the