The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1909-12-14

SAN FRANClSCO, GAL, NOV 10
Buried under the weight of nearly
600 pounds OF blanket fish. ]. Roach,
one of the best-known submarine div
ers on the Pacific coast, recently
fought the battle of his life in 80
fathoms of water off the coast of the
Mexican port of Manzanillo. The dali
ing diver has Just arrived from the
South. He is still suffering from the
shock of his awful experience down
at the bottom Of the sea, and it is
doubtful if he will sufficiently re-
cover to resume his hazardous occu-
patton for weeks.
Diver Roach was given the contract
for blasting the coral out of the har-
Dor at Manzanillo, and was engaged
in this task when he met the most
thrilling experience in all of his ~
years OF labor under the sea. He has
fought shars and swOrdfsh; taken
chances of having playful whales sew
err his air tubes and has even had to
cut his way to freedom through the
crushing arms of the octopus, but
never in all of the years that he has
been engaged in his profession, has
he ever, he says, felt so near his fin
ish as he did when attacked by the
blanket fish of the Mexican coast.
"You know the blanket fish, or
Mantha, as the scientific men call the
in pnl 10 o.
his experience, grows to mammoth
dimensions and sometimes weighs
thousands of pounds. They are not
aggressive, like the shark, but they
hover over you in the water, allow
their giant fins to settle over you, and
there is not one chance in thousand
to escape them.
Down off the coast of ManzaniIlo
where | have been worlling-there
are many of these sea monsters, and
while l had often noticed their pres
ence in the water near me. | was
very careful and never ran aioul
one until l had nearly completed my
contract. | was more worried by
man eating sharks chat swarmed
about me in hundreds. / was just
| about to signal to be hauled to the
surface, when l noticed what seemed
to be an immense cloud lowering over
me. Looking up, | was Mortified to
see the Shiny fins of the giant within
about foot of my head
81 tried to get from under, hut the
mighty fish had spread of fin that
must nave covered so feet square. The
| bottom of the sea about me was as
black as night and slowly the mass
! settled upon me and l was firmly PIN
toned to the coral bottom of the bay.
every moment the air hose con-
Meeting me with the life giving
tanks in the launch above threatened
to be Larted. l was powerless to give
a signal to my assistants in the
launch, and had l been able to signal
them, any attempt to relieve me
would have proved fatal, for the lines
would have parted before could pos
sibly have been raised. I want to
tell you that did some of the most
rapid thinking of my career.
within a great effort, managed
to reach my sheath knife. There
seemed to be just one chance in a
thousand for relief would hack
away at the huge bulk with my knife
until could infiict a sufficiently
painful wound to get the great fish
in motion.
while I was hacking away for
dear life, the blanket fish started a
violent agitation of the water and
thought my knife play was begin
ming to tell. The giant fish moved;
the water seemed to be- blood red;
I began to look about for the cause
of the trouble for knew I hay not
done such frlghtful execution with
my knife.
Suddenly I discovered what haa
come to my rescue. It was the man
eating sharks They had attacked