Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1906-04-04


and more diffuse1, and the sun
viewed through tile mass of superin-
cumbent water appears like a reddish
Opaque globe, but-and this is some
what strange-when sheltered from
the rays of the sun (behind a rock.
for instance the stars become visible
even at midday
One day, just about noon, I saw a
never to be forgotten sight at a depth
of I29 feet The sun was right al
the zenith. The bottom upon which
l stood consisted of fine white sand,
and the reflection of the light upon
the snowy carpet gave me the inn
preston OF standing upon plain OF
molten gold At a depth of 226 feet
the obscurity is complete at 327 feet
the darkness is impenetrable, and it
is necessary to have recourse to
electricity for purposes of vision.
use electric lamps of 10000 camille
power, but even these cannot diffuse
their light beyond radius of ninety
feet, A most tragic spectacle is then
presented by sunken vessels. broken
boats, spllntered hulls, gaping decks
and broken masts."
No scenes of horror can be sur
passed by the awful panoramas OF
death and disaster which have been
witnesser by Engineer de Plury in
the course of his professional expert
ence as a diver.
In the vicinity of Ostend, he re
lates, Il was requested once u exam
inc the wreck of a vessel which had
sunk not long before This was the
occasion upon which | was assailed
by a veIitable horde of those giant
crabs of which l have already spoken
They were at the time busy devour-
ing the corpses of the dead sailors.
One of these monsters seized me by
the leg, which would have been
crushed, as if squeezed by a jaw OF
steel, had it not been protected by
the powerful armoring of my diving
dress. / had kind of sword in my
hand, with which succeeded in kill
ing two of these monsters; the shells
I still possess.
"All objects at the bottom OF the
sea are covered with kind of curl
Gus powder, and a terrible gloom and
silence prevails. What a scene Of
melancholy, The floor of the ocean
is strewn with bones. not few of
them of human origin. A very singu-
lar fact which have observed is that
the sea for a certain period of time
keeps bodies in perfect state OF
preservation. once visited the
hull of a Vessel which lad gone down
with all hands.
The crew was mostly asleep at
the moment when the disaster &C
Cured, and had thus practically
passed instantaD eously from sleep to
death. So far they had not been
bitten or gnawed by any fish. as most
of the hatchways were closed. The
men still appeared as if asleep.
There they lay, wrapped in a calm
and mysterious SUMMER. APP
preached. and climbing. down to the
hatchways, touched one of the corpses
with my hand the flesh seemed to
dissolve and vanish under my hand.
leaving nothing but a grinning .skele-
ton!
And the treasures of the seas,
Millions alone are engulfed not far
from Nigo Personally, I have new
er been there, but one Of my men
once went down there clad in the old
diving dress. The unhappy man
died almost directly he reached
the surface again, but he had had
time to see several galleons lying at
the bottom, with the masts still
standing and the timberwork still
sound. These. of course, were some
of the famous treasure ships, but
do not think it would be possible to
recover them. All metals would
have been destroyed by rust by now,
as they have been below water ever
since 1907
81 have seen personally the vessel
which about 1908. was conveying
Napoleon's treasures to Holland, but
it was wrecked en- route and sank
with 100 ,00O.000f of gold on board
OF these. 56,00o,0O0f have been re
covered. but the remainder, as I have
said is still in the bottom of the
ocean. The Prince of Monaco states
that he has found near Cyprus a gal
ley still full of objects of art at the
bottom of the sea This is where
submarine boats will have such a
great future before them, as, by their
aid we shall one day be able to ex
plore unknown deep sea grottoes. rich
in unknown forms of life, vaults full
of untold wealth. and the tomb of
many a poor sailor"
TRoLLEYiNG FOR $50 MILES.