The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1910-04-22
Opening UP Pearl harbor.

or the work or developing Pearl Har.
Dor, Hawaii, which the United States
government expects to make one OF
the finest naval stations in the world,
arrived Mt New York recently from
Honolulu on his way to Washington.
Mr.. Dillingham; Is the manager of
the Hawaiian company which is dredg
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 1900, 900 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.
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 II seaway,
and there are about 100000 cubic
yards OF it at Pearl Harbor that comes
out in the reef suction, where 1t Is ex-
posed to the surf.
Often Has to Fight Sharks.
How 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.
4 IN la m of
| 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 a giant and In
his diving suit must weigh close on to
900 pounds. Lund works eight hours
| a 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 outer section of the har-
| board. and we shoot in squares. Lund
or Olepan, the Hawaiian, lays the pow
der or gelatin on a ledge and fixes the
electric connections. No boring is nee
esSary when the pressure of thirty to
thirty-five 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 a lift of the surface
of the water.
when 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
a particularly dangerous job. One day
they felt a jerk at the line and hauled
quickly. and there was Lund slashing
away at something near his feet
When they had hauled him in a dead
shark came up to the surface. Then
Lund had IA spear made. | was rath-
er afraid that he would decide that he
didn't wish to continue the job, but
when | spoke to him he grtnned 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 Drydoek Planned.
about three weeks ago Lund was
laying charge Of powder and was
wiring 1t up for blast when some
thing made turn around above him
and, looking uD. he go h0 white
belly overhead. He picked up his
spear and attacked It, and it rose tc
the surface. The crew in the boat
were startled to see the shark appear
near them, but they threw line over
it's tail and hauled it aboard dead
Lund had aimed at the right spot.
THE drydock as designed and con
tracted for was TO be $40 feet long
but it has practically been decided to
lengthen it 100 feet and possibly 1870
Negotiations are now on between the
| SONN anu Nllt 'Ohll d'lulS,
it is expected that the dock to be final
| ly decided upon will be large enough
to take In any battleship of today as
well as to meet requirements for years
. to come The dock will be of concrete
The excavation for the smaller dock
is well under way, ard two cargoes OF
lumber for the false work have beer
received at Pearl HarbOr. The two
vessels which brought this were the
, first of their size 20 enter the harbor
the work already done having mad,
that possible"