The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-06-17
FROM
GULF SHARKS


Ever since Aristotle's time, when
two men descended into deep water"
il kettle" diving has been a dan
gerous affair The divers dangers are
threefold: he is in danger descending,
for then he may be literally "swal-
lowed by the pressure of the internal
air; and he is in danger ascending.
for then he is subject to the bends
which, if the exact opposite, is exactly
as bad; and, if neither swallowed
nor bent" by the atmospheric pres
sure, he is frequently in danger of
both from some passing whale or man.
eating shark The modern diver is
rugged up with telephone apparatus,
which serves him in good stead, but
up to few years ago the diver had
been forced to depend wholly upon
tugs at the lif line to communicate
with those above. This was true in
the case of George Means, whose
story is told in The Scientific Ameri-
can. He recounts:
1t was in the Gull of Mexico, and
had to go down to look up the condi-
ton of the Bella Marta, sunk two
years before, and supposed to contain
a good deal of coin. The water was
| only nine fathoms, and l did not eX-
pect much trouble, but l got it. | had
a good man on the line, and thought
my pump was all right, yet from the
first | experienced difficulty in getting
air 1t was found out afterward that
there was a leaky valve. | pulled for
more, and for a while it came better;
then | got to work n earnest. The
water was as clear as a bell, and
didn't have any difficulty at all in find
ing the hull, although she was half
covered with sand. But | had all
| thoughts of her scared out of me in
short order. l had crawled through
some of her rigging and wreckage to,
&c down in the hold-dangerous thing
tC do, but l couldn't help it. l was
getting along nicely, and had the
hatch almost broken through, when l
saw a shadow about fifteen feet long
above me. | knew it was a shark and
] was a badly scared man. OF course,
commenced working my way back as
soon as possible, but l wasn't quick
enough. The brute saw me and came
at me slowly, jaws open wide and
wicked eyes cleaning like sin. And |
couldn't get out because the way III
had come was the way to his jaws
he. was on the wrong side for me. II
was in mortal terror lest he go at my
tube, but he had eyes for bigger game.
There was but one thing to do, so |
drew my knife-luckily it was a good
ten-inch blade-and waited. 1t was
my first experience with sharks, and |
was nervous, but the thought that my
life depended on no one but me kept
my head clear He came at me sud
denly, with a rush, and turned almost
on his back, so as to give his scissor
jaw chance. That was my chance,
and | gave it to him twice in the
throat, slashing as much as ! could.
The water was red in minute, and
as l threw myself on my face | just
prayed he would swim off to clear
water. He did, guess, because things
were quiet for a while, and as soon as
my heart stopped pounding long
enough for me to get my breath, |
commenced to feel my way back again |
through the maze of woodwork, spars, |
wreckage, and old cordage through |
which had crept to get at the interior
of the hull 1t was slow work, and |
hazy red as the water was, | was !
afraid of cutting my own line. About |
this time the air got scarce again, and |
l was in a desperate hurry, l tell YOU
| did finally manage to get clear and,
all unnerved, l gave the signal to haul
up, when-see this here stump of a |
leg? Either that shark or another !
one came along just then and got the
rest of it. hauled with all my might;
and the man at the line, feeling |
wrong, hauled, too. came