The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1909-11-25
DIVER TELLS OF FRIGEITFUL
BATTLE, 80 FATHOMS DEEP
Especial Corrcspondence.l

SAN FRANCISCO. CAL, Nov.
22.-Buried under the weight of
nearly 5000 pounds of blanket
fish, Jack Roach, one of the best
known submarine divers on the
Pacific coast, recently. fought the
battle. of his life in 80 fathoms
of water off the coast of the Mex
lean port of Manzanillo. The dar-
ing diver has just arrived from
the South. He is still suffering
from the shock of his awful ex-
perience down at the bottom of
the sea, and it is doubtful IL he
will be sufficiently recovered to
resume his hazardous occupation
for weeks.
Diver Roach was given the con-
tract for blasting the coral out of
the harbor at Manzanillo, and was
engaged in this task when he met
the most thrilling experience in
all of his 80 years of labor under
the sea. He has fought sharks
and swordfish; taken chances of
having playful whales sever 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 profess
sion has he ever, he says. felt so
near his finish as he did when
attacked by the blanket fish of
the Mexican coast.
You know, the blanket fish,
or Mantha, as the scientific men
cali the sea monster" said Roach,
in relating his experience,
grows" to mammoth dimensions
and sometimes weighs thousands
of pounds. They are not aggres-
sive, like the shark, but they
hover over you in the water, al
low their giant fins to settle
over you, and there is not one
chance in a thousand to escape
them.
Down off the coast of Man
working-there are many of
these sea monsters, and while II
had often noticed their presence
in the water near me, l was very
careful and never ran afoul one
until had nearly completed my
contract. l was more worried by
man-eating sharks that swarmed
about me in hundreds. I was just
about to signal to be hauled to
the surface, when / 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 a foot
of my head.
II tried to get from under, but
the might fish had a spread of fin
that must have covered so feet
spare. The bottom of the sea
about me was as black as night
and slowly the mass settled upon
me and / was firmly pinioned to
The coral bottom of the bay.
Every moment the air hose
connecting me- with the life-giving
tanks in the launch above threat
ened to be parted. l was power
less to give a signal to my assist
ants in the launch, and had been
able to signal them, any attempt
to relieve me would have proved
fatal, for the lines would have
parted before / could possibly
have been raised. l want to tell
you that l did some of the most
rapid thinking of my career.
with great efofrt, I man
aged to reach my sheath knife.
There seemed to be just one
chance in a thousand for relief.
I would hack away at the huge
bulk with my knife until l could
infl.ct 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
l play was beginning to tell. The
giant fish moved; the water
seemed to be blood red; 1 began
to look about for the cause of the
trouble, for ] knew I had not done
Isuch frightful execution with my