The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-09-02

twenty feet out to the spot where tn,
surface OF the sound bubbled anC
Eoamed This was an easy day FOL
the head diver; his understudy wal
doing most OF the work, thanks to N,
captains having been jammed in som,
wreckage the day before and badly
bruised. Occasionally, however, he
had to don the great iron pot, with IL
plate-glass windows, and descend Il
the aid of his assistant, and then
there would be two patches of foam
instead of one, and a great commotior
below water would testify to the cap
tains energetic solution of whatever
difficulty might be waiting him.
During one of his spells of idleness
he spoke suddenly, nodding as he did
so, toward the foaming water.
THAT seems like easy work, doesn' I
it? That's the way it used to look to
me when ! first became an under.
water man. ] was afraid every one
else would see what a fine thing I
had and would crowd in and ruin the
business. Then woke up.
1T was in connection with the
wreck of the cannery bark, Billy Jen-
kins, which you probably remember.
She ran head on into a barge loaded
with structural iron, and bark and
F5arge went down in a pile in nine
fathoms of water. There were no
lives lost, but at first it looked as If
both cargoes were gone. The boats
didn't amount to much. The Billy
jenkins was so old and rotten that
she couldn't even be brought to the
surface; but she carried a hull and
deck cargo of canned salmon, and our
company finally took the contract of
salving all of this that hadn't been
smashed or washed away l was to
do the work with a scow and tackle
working above me.
"The worst part of the whole bust
ness was to free the matches from the
mass of twisted and tangled iron rods
that had come about them. / worked
at this nearly a week, and then was
ready to begin taking out the cargo.
You've seen the net used for this kind
of work; pretty much the same thing
the stevedores use in handling pack
age freight. 1t was a slow job sort
ing out cases in the blackness of that
hold, and by the time / had sent up
from two to half a dozen loads the
pressure and the cold would make me
break cover for the top, TO thaw out
bit.
Il had to work carefully, too, be-
cause the wash of the tide brought
packing cases and junk of all kinds
round me, and if my air-pipe had been
caught, there might have been a new
diver drawing my pay at the end of
the month.
'By the thirteenth day we had lift
ed all the cargo I could handle from
the main hatch, and / began to work
forward. The boxes were smashed
worse than those farther back had
been, and after I'd removed the ones
that were totally wrecked l shifted
some of the rest nearest the open
hatch, so that l could handle them
pretty fast. had been down quite a
while and was getting pretty cold,
but I thought l would send up one
load, and then follow for a bit of air
ond sunshine.
Il was just tipping a case toward
the open net, which I had spread on
the tilted inner side of the hull, when
realized that there was something
moving near the open hatchway. You
soon learn, under water, to know how
much of the disturbance about you is
due to your own motions and how
much of it is caused by something
else.
81 approached the opening eau
tiously and was about to peer out,
when there came across the square
of Opaque light long, wavering arm.
I shrank back, then threw myself for
ward and half-closed the sliding graf
ing beneath the hatch. I didn't want
any visitors, especially when they
happened to be visitors with eight
arms of unlimited strength, directed
by a sullen disposition.
"The year before one of our men
had been caught under water, and
had been held a prisoner there until
he was nearly dead with cold and
fright He had been caught at the
foot of pier by an octopus, which
had wrapped one arm about the post
and two or three more about him.
1.-THE man hadn't dared to signal to
the boat above to be hauled up, for
fear the devil-hsh might be strong
enough to crush in his ribs or iniure