Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1906-03-29

which they are subjected in an In
creasing intensity soon smashes all
their bones, and finally brushes the
corpses quite fisE But enough; sui
flee it to say that this awful spectacle
is scarcely visible after q depth oil
thirty feet.
Zone curious fact attending these
submarine explorations is afforded by
the light, which forms a strange
blend OF green and violet, the color
being a little similar to that of the
caverls which are TO be seen in ice
bergs. At a depth of thirtytwo
yards the light begins TO get more
and more df4used, and the sun
viewed through the mass. of saperih-
cumbent water appears like reddish
Opaque globe, but-and this IS some
what strange-when sheltered frem
the rays OF the sun {behind a feck.
for instance) the stars become visible
even at midday.
Zone day, just about noon, / saw a
never TO be forgotten sight at a depth
of 129 feet. The sun was Tight at
the zenith The bottom upon which
1 stood consisted of fne white sand,
and The reflection OF the light upon
the snowy carpet gave me the Sm-
preston of standing upon plair of
molten gold. AT "a depth of 226 feet
the obscurity is complete; at S27 feet
| the darkness is limpenetrable, and ii
is necessary to have recourse to
-S'--tricity for purposes of vision.
\ use electric lamps of 10000 candle
power, but even these cannot diffuse
their light beyond radius OF ninety
feet. A naost tragic spectacle is then
presented by sunken vessels, broken
boats, spliEtered hdlls, gaping decks
and broken masts"
/ No scenes of horror can be- suY
passed by the awful panoramas OF
death and disaster which have besu
witnesser by Engineer die Plury III
the course of his professional expert
ence as diver.
i I'm the vicinity of Ostend, he ne
lates, Il Was requested once to exam
inc the wreck of a vessel which mac
sunk not long before. This was The
, occasion upon which 1 was assaIlet
by verItable hordee0f those -gian
crabs of which I have already spoken
They were at the time busy devour
ing the corpses of the dead sailors
One OF these monsters seized me b,
the leg, which would have fsseer
crushed as II squeezed by jaw, o
steel, mad ii not been protected b.
the powerful armoring of my 'divins
dress I had kindis0f sword III m,
hand, with which succeeded in kill
ing two of these monsters; thes Shells
stin possess.
All objects at the bottom of til,
sea are covered with a kind 'ofrcnri
Gus powder, and a terrible gloom ant
silence prevails. What a scene O
| melancholy! The floor of the ocea,
is strewn with bones, riot a few o
them of human origin. A very singu
lar fact which I have OBSERVED is tina
the sea for a certain period of tim,
keeps bodies in a perfect state 20
preservation. 1 once visited TIL,
hull OF a vessel which had gone dows
with All hands.
The crew was mostly asleep a
the moment when the disaster oc
CURED, and had thus PRACTICAL,
passed instantafleously from sleep t.
death. So far they had not beer
bitten or gnawe6 ny any fish, as mos
of the hatchways were closed. The
men still appeared as If asleep
There they lay, wrapped in a calm
and mysterious slumber. APP
preached, and climbing down TO the
hatchways, touched one of Che corpses
with my hand, the flesh seemed tt
dissolve and vanish under my fIand
leaving nothing but .grinning esAele
ton!
i "And the treasures of the se6s!
Millions alone are engulfed not fsi
from Vigo. Personally. 1 have nes-
4 er been there, but one Of my meE
once went down there clad I'm the OLD
diving dress The unhappy maj
died almost directly he reached
the surface again, but he had had
time to see several galleons lying al
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.
Il have seen personally the vessel
which, about 1908, was conveying
Napoleen's treasures to Holland, but
| It was wrecked en- route and sank
with 100,000,000f of gold on board.
OF these, 56,000.000f. have been re.
covered. but the remainder, as l have
said, is still in the bottom of the
ocean. The Prince of Monaco states
that he has found near Cyprus gal
ley still full of objects of art at the
bottom of the sea. This is where
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