Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1910-04-21
OPENING Up
PEARL NARD0R,
Incidents Of Building Great Ea-
val Stallion IN Hawaii.
DIVER WHO FIGHTS SHARKS.
Lund, While Laying the Blasts, Now
Them Away-New Concrete Dry
dock to Be Large Enough For Any
EattIcship.


dock to Be Large Enough For Any
EattIcship.
w. +. Dillingham;, who is In charge
Of the work of developing Pearl Har-
Dor, Hawaii, which the United States
government expects to make one of
the finest naval stations in the world.
arrived at New York recently from
Honolulu on his way to Washington.
Mr.. Dillingham; is the manager of
the Hawaiian company which is dreds-
ing and opening up the harbor and
the resident manager in Hawaii Of the
bridge company which is building the
drydock.
"The contract for the harbor dredg-
ing was let in December, 1908, and
calls for the removal of 100000 cubic
feet of coral rock and sand from the
reefs which project into the harbor.
making the channel too tortuous for
any but small vessels to get in," said
Mr.. Dillingham; to an interviewer.
1.-The harbor basin now has an area
and a depth of water sufficient to float
all the navies of the world. Up to
date no machinery has ever been de-
signed for digging coral in seaway,
and there are about 100000 cubic
yards Of it at Pearl Harbor that comes
out in the reef suction, where it is eX
posed to the surf.
Cften tsas to Fight Sharks.
GLOW is the work done? Well. prin-
cipally by means of divers. high grade
powder and blasting gelatin. We have
two experienced divers, one native
Hawaiian and the other an American.
The latter has had good deal of eX-
perience on the Pacific coast and also
in Hawaii. And his work requires not
only skill, but bravery. His name is
Martin Lund. He is giant and in
his diving suit must weigh close on to
800 pounds. Lund works eight hours
day and sets off about eighteen blasts
in that time. Sometimes he carries on
his work with sharks all about him
He often has to fight them.
You see, the blasts kill large num-
bers of smaller fish in the waters, and
every day as soon as the blasting
starts The sharks come around looking
for food. Sometimes you will see as
many as twenty of them at one time
The whole QUEER section of the har-
Dor has been laid out like checker
board, and we shoot in squares. Lund
or Olepan, the Hawaiian, lays the pow
der or gelatin on ledge and fixes the
electric connections. No boring is nee
essary when the pressure of thirty to
thirty-1ive feet of water keeps the
blasting material in position. When
there are only two or three feet of
water above it is blown up from 400
to 500 feet in the air. but at thirty feet
there is hardly lift of the surface
Of the water.
"NVhen Lund had his first battle with
the sharks he was armed only with a
knife. He had told some Of the div
ing crew that there were lots of sharks
about, but they thought he was only
trying to make it appear that he had
particularly dangerous job. One day
they felt jerk at the line and hauled
quickly. and there was Lund slashing
away at something near his feet
When they had hauled him in dead
shark came up to the surface. Then
Lund had spear made. l was rath-
er afraid that he would decide that he
didn't wish to continue the job, but
when l spoke to him he grinned and
said that as soon as he got his spear
he wouldn't care how many sharks
there were about All he wanted was
something to keep them away from
his feet. He has got so that he pays
no attention to them unless they come
right down at him.
Larger Drydock Planned.
about three weeks ago Lund was
laying charge Of powder and was
wiring 1t up for blast when some
thing made a turn around above him,
and, looking up, he saw big white
belly overhead. He picked up his
spear and attacked it, and 1t rose to
the surface. The crew in the boat
were startled to see the shark appear
near them, but they threw line over
Its tail and hauled it aboard dead.
Lund had aimed at the right spot.
1.-THE drydock as designed and con-
tracted for was to be 620 feet long
but 1t has practically been decided to