The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1909-11-26

SAN FRANCISCO. Cal. Nov. 20.
buried under the weight OF near.
~ 5000 pounds OF blanket finh.
Jack Roach. enc Of the bestkuown
Hnhmarlpe divers on tho Pacific
cpaia. receutly fought the battle Of
his life Ia 30 fathoms Of water Off
the coast Of the Mexican port ~
Manzauiilo Tho daring diver has
just arrived from the South. lie ~
attn suffering from the shock Of
hts awful experience down at the
bottom Of the sea. and II Is doubt
Dol II be viii be sufficiently rccoy.
cred 20 resume his hazardous oc-
cupatlun for weeks.
Diver Roach was given The con.
tract Tor blasting the coral ont Of
She harbor az MauAanlllo. and WAS
eugaEed Ia this task when ho met
the muft thrilling experience Ia all
~ his 30 years " labor under the
sea ile has fought sharks and
swsrdfNh: taken chances 81 hay.
luFfIfisTul whales sever hts air
~ a. Send has oven bad 10 cat his
ohY ~ freedom through the crush.
lug arms of the octopus. but never
IN till ~ the years that he has been
easaged IN his profession. hiss be-
ever. he says. felt va near his finish
~ be ala when attacked by the
hHnksfs fish 90 the Mexican coast
You know the blanket fish. or
Manthn az the scientific men call
ne saA monster said Roach. IN
u.fmFfss. fsfa 80 49,. "a s.4sa.. asss.ssssa IA
mammoth dimensions and nomef
timea weighs thousands " pounds
/. y - 80 not aggressive. IKE the
gf'4tfk tni they hover over you iri'
thmrwateF allow their giant nna ~
HsNla over you. aud there iH not
one chance In a thousand 80 ossape
them
Down or The coast Of Manzanil-
lo-where have been working
there are many uf these SEA mon.
STEERS. and while ! had often noticed
their presence ln the water near
mn. Z was very careful and never
ran afoul one until had nearly
completed my contract. was more
worried by man eating sharks that
swarmcd about the In hundreds
wna Just about 10 signal 70 be haul
"a to the surface. when I noticed
what seemed 70 be an Immense
cloud towering over me. Looking
Pp | was Mortified to see the Shiny
fins % the giant within about
foot OF my head
4 tried to get from under. but
The mighty fish had a spread Of I'm
that must have covered SO feet
spare The bottom Of the sea about
mo vas as black az night and SLOW
ly tho mass settled upon me and
vas firmly pinioned to the coral
bottom of the bay
Every moment the air hose con.
Meeting me with the lie giving
tanks IN the launch above threaten
cd "a hc parted I Was p0wcrleas
To give a signal 20 my assistants la
the launch. and had been able 20
signal them any attempt Ia relieve
mo would have proved fatal. for
The lines would have parted before
could possibly have been raised
want 10 tell you that did some Of
the most rapid thinking of my
career
with great effort ! managed
20 reach my sheath knife There
seemed 30 be just one chance IN
thousand for relief ! would hack
away ~ the huge bulk with my
knife until ! could inflict suffi.
clontly painful wound To got the
great fiah IN motion.
while I was hacking away for
dear life. the blanket fish started
a viAicht agitation OF the water and
] Thought my knife play was begin
ming 90 tell The giant fish moved
the water seemed 10 be blood red
began 20 look about Tor the causo
of fNa tfOuhlp for 1 know I had MOI