The Washington herald., 1907-03-17
SLEEPING UNDER The WATER
Divers Find It Very Peaceful Be
meath the Ocean Wave.
Nothing to Disturb Their SIumbers
In the Bed of the Sea-Easy
Money in IL, Too.

Sleeping sickness has developed among
the divers employed in the Mediterra-
mean and the Leyant to such an extent
that it has seriously affected the reve-
nues of the wrecking and salvage com
panies-that Is. the divers say II is sleep
ing sickness but their employers have
another name for 1t.
The companies do all their business by
contracts with the owners of the wrecked
steamers, and the divers are paid accord
/ ing TO the time they are under the water
at work, says the Philadelphia Ledger.
/ Wages are regulated by the number Of
hours the men can stay down. A diver,
| for example. who received S. for the first
hour, would get $40 for the second hour
and $50 for the third.
Capt, Samuel Ridge. who passed through
Suez irecently on his way to Alden TO
scuttle a steamer which had been on fire
for two weeks. spoke very freely on the
subject. His salty, weather-beaten coun-
tenance resenbled Mercator's Projection
with its lines of latitude and longitude
when be related the fondness Of divers
for sleep at the bottom of the sea.
1T is quite true" said Capt. Ridge.
that divers spend the greater part of the
time under water in comfortably snooz-
ing instead Of doing their work. have
been down myself and found fourteen
men asleep in the cabins on board a
wrecked steamer. They prefer TO get
inside the wreck because the ground
sharks cannot knock them. about with
their tails and try their jaws on the
copper helmets. In the Levant there is
danger from the big devilfsh which
swarm around the coasts. and divers have
been frequently carried off some little
distance before these huge monsters dis
covered their mistake and dropped them.
Diving appliances are so perfect now
adays that il is a pleasant experience 10
go down any easy depth and walk about
with an electric lamp along the sandy bed
of the sea Good divers can easily re-
main under water for three hours If the
depth is less than ten fathoms. The
greatest depth I have seen men go down
is twenty-three fathoms, and they only
remained Tor twenty minutes. as the
pressure was so great"
Asked why it was that divers had de-
velOped the submarine sleeping habit.
Capt Ridge said:
1eT the water which is most soothing and
almost irresistible. The most fractious
baby would be instantly lulled If it was
placed carefully In the bed of the ocean.
have felt the influence myself. and have
had to refrain from going down to any
more wrecks, in case I should get the
sleeping habit myself. ] can only de-
scribe the sensation as one of Peace.
beautifUl' peace There are no cars. no
crowds. no subways and no street hawk
ers or flies to bother you
Strange looking FISH peer into the glass
of your headdress and dart away when
you fash your electric lamp on them.
These new powerful lamps enable divers
to see as well as II they were above
water Many Of the wealthier divers
have the habit Of sleeping under water SO
badly that they cannot sleep en- land. I
know two men who have recently retired
and bought a big diving outfit between
them, so that each man can go down and /
have three hours below while his mate
sits in the boat above and sees that he
gets his supply Of air.