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-Ensy
Money in IL, Too.

Sleeping sickness has developed among
the divers employed in the Mediterra-
mean and the Levant TO such an extent
that it has seriously affected the reve-
nues Of the wrecking and salvage COM
panies-that is, the divers say 1t is sleep
ing sickness" but their employers have
another name for it.
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
Weges 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 SO for the second hour
and so for the third.
Capt. Samuel Ridge, who passed through
Suez trecently 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 resembled 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 7 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
copper helmets In the Levant there is
a danger from the big devifsh which
swarm around the coasts and divers have
been frequently carried Of some little
distance before these huge monsters dis
covered their mistake and dropped them
Diving appliances are so perfect now
adays that it is a pleasant experience to
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;
mere IS q SOiJ, unduidting mollOn IN
der the water which is most soothing and
almost irresistible. The most fractious
baby would be instantly lulied if 1t was
placed carefully in the bed of the ocean.
7 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 I can only de-
scribe the sensation as one of Peace.
beautifur peace. There are no cars. no
crowds. no subways. and no street hawk
ers or flies to bother you
Strange e-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 if they were above
water Many OF the Weather 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"