The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-09-02
Some Thrilling Experiences of
 John Olsen
BOSTON NORSEMAl
During His Forty Years Work Along ,the Dangerous Coast of the Att Iantic Ocean-Fears of the
 Novice
From the Bostou Globe.

From the BostoU Globe.
 One of the best-known submarine div CTS of not only New England, but of the United States. Is Captain John Ol- sen of Boston. A descendant of the hardy Norseman, he comes quite natur- ally by his love for old ocean on and un- der which he has lived the most of his days.
 For nearly 40 years, in storm and sum shine. in winter and summer, Captain Olsen has been raising wrecked ships, bringing up valuable cargoes from ves- sells lost, recovering bodies of drowne people and lost treasure. blasting sunken rocks and ledges that were a menace to navigation, laying or repairing large water mains-in fact. performing all manner of submarine work Captain Olsen. who is native of Nor way, took to the sea while a boy, follow ing the life of a sailor boy for many years, until finally. just as he had reached manhood. arrived at Philadelphia az one of the crew of square-rigger
 He left the ship there. and after putting in couple of years on coasting schooners he came to Boston in 1872 and settled himself to become diver. Captain Olsen's first dive was made in the Penobscot river at Bangor Maine on a blasting job. 'I stayed down an hour
 seemed like a year to me-" he says in telling of the sensations he experienced on that occasion. And I was just lit tie bit scared. too. I don't mind telling you
 When I started down and saw the great wall of water closing over me I thought that 1t was going to overwhelm and drown me. l forgot, you know, that I was looking at 1t through the thicx glass of the helmet that was keeping me safe.
 "I felt as if I was being smothered and wanted to come right up again long before I got to the bottom But as I didn't care to be laughed at and called a coward by the mates screwed up my courage and stayed down. The second day I remained down longer, and by the
 end of the week was all right and a
 full-fiedged diver, with all the fear
 knocked out of me-
 It was s4 years ago that Captain Olsen performed his first important piece of | work as a diver, when the Reading Coal company's steamer, Leopard, was wreck
 ed on a ledge off Thacker's island while coming up Boston harbor with a large cargo of coal He worked a number of days on the sunken steamer finally sur ceeding in raising her and sending the ship to Boston.
 Soon after that schooner loaded with water pipe to be laid in Newton was
 wrecked during a bad storm near High
 land light. off Cape Cod. Captain Olsen | was engaged to raise the cargo and the
 vessel and succeeded in accomplishing | both
 l More than a quarter of a century ago,
 when the steamer City of Columbus
 foundered ofr Gay Head in a terrible
 storm. resulting in the loss of about 200
 lives. Captain Olsen was the first diver
 to go down to the lost steamer. He was | engaged to make a thorough examination
 of the wrecked ship. and to recover what
 bodies he could With but a few hours
 respite he was under water at that time
 for 24 hours working on the wreck, not | getting a wink of sleep.
 Another notable diving job performed
 by Captain Olsen was in Boston harbor something over 14 years ago The steamer
 Venetian of London. while heading for
 her berth at the Hoosaic docks in