Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1906-01-05

| '"uos''y oAoh OCCpCA duu uCSpCi
while the formidable pressure to which
they are subjected 10 an increasing in
tensity soon smashes all their bones
and finally crushes the corpses quite
fiat. But enough; suffice it to sa.
that this awful spectacle is scarcely
visible after depth of 80 feet.
"One curious fact attending thes,
submarine explorations is afforded by
the light, which forms strange blent
of green and violet light, the colo
being little similar to that of tn,
caverns which are to be seen in ice
bergs. At a depth OF 80 yards th,
light begins to get more and mon
diffused, and the sun viewed through
the mass of superintendent water ap
pears like reddish Opaque globe
but-and this is somewhat strange
when sheltered from the rays of th.
sun (behind rock, for instance) tn,
stars become visible even at midday.
zone day, just about noon, saw a
never -be-fOrgotten sight at a deptt
OF l29 feet. The sun was right at the
zenith. The bottom upon which
stood consisted OF fine white sand, ant
the reflection Of the light upon the
snowy carpet gave me the impression
OF standing upon a plain of molter
gold. At depth of 226 feet the OBJ
scurity is complete; at 1927 feet the
darkness is impenetrable, and it is ne
cessary to have recourse to electricity
for purposes OF vision. l use electric
lamps Of 10000 ca ndle. power, but even
these cannot diffuse their light beyond
q radius of 80 feet. A most tragic
spectacle is then presented by sunken
vessels, broken boats, splintered hulls
gaping decks, and broken masts."
No scenes OF horror can be surpassed
by the awful panoramas OF death and
disaster which have been witnessed by
Engineer de Plury in the course of his
professional experience as driver.
"In the vicinity of Ostead," he re.
lates, II was requested once to ex.
anime the wreck of a vessel which had
sunk not long ago. This was the oc-
casion upon which was assailed by a
veriiable horde of those giant crabs OF
which l have already spoken. They
were at the time busy devouring the
corpses OF the dead sailors. One oil
these monsters seized me by the leg
which would have been crushed, as il
squeezed by jaw OF steel, had it no,
been protected by the powerful armor-
ing OF my diving dress. l had a kind
of sword in my hand, with which !
succeeded in killing two OF these mon.
sters, the shells OF which 1 still possess.
All objects at the bottom of the sea are
covered with kind OF curious powder
and q terrible gloom and silence pre-.
walls What q scene OF melancholy
The floor of the Ocean is strewn with
bones, not q few OF them OF hui
man origin! A very singular fact
which have observed is that the sea,
for q certain period of time, keeps
bodies in q perfect state OF preserva.
ton. once visited the hull OF a ves-
sell which had gone down with all
hands. The crew were mostly asleep
at the moment when the disaster oc.
Cured, and had thus passed practi.
cally instantsneously from sleep to
death. So far they had not been bit.
ten or gnawed by any fish, as most oI
the hatchways we're closed. The men
still appeared as if asleep. There they
lay, wrapped in a calm and myster'
ious slumber. l approached, 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 grinning skeleton!
"And the treasures OF the seas
Millions alone are engulfed not fal
from Vigo. Personally, I have never
been there, but one of my men ono.
went down there clad in the old diving
dress. This was before I had invent tee
my present dress. The unhappy mar
died almost directly he reached tn,
surface again; but he had had tim,
to see several gal!eons lying at the bot
tom, with the masts still standing
and the timberwork still sound. These
OF course, were some OF the famou
treasure ships; but l do not think j,
would be possible to recover them
All metals would have been destroyed
by rust by now, as they have been be
low water ever since 17O7.
II have seen personally the vesse
which. about 1908, was conveying Ma
poleon's treasures to Holland, but il
was wrecked en- route and sank witt
one hundred millions Of gold on board
of these, fifty-six millions have beer
recovered, but the remainder, as
have said, is still in the bosom of tn.
ocean. The Prince of Monaco state.
that he has found near Cyprus galley
still full of objects of art at the bottom
of the sea. This is where submarine
boats will have such great future be-
fore them. as, by their aid, We shal
one day be able to explore unknown
deep sea grottoes, rich in unknown
forms of life, vaults full of untold
wealth, and the tomb OF many poor
sailor"
0A9ToREA.
Bs.n tho H1hs Kind You Have Always oa1sl
''':'''' = &>HZzzx