The farmer and mechanic., 1915-04-27
274 FEET BELOW IS THE MARK
Tide Was Swrlng Swiftly Through the Race But Gunner
Stillson Coupled Torpedoes' Air-Flasks to Hose
and Drelshak Dove Where Man
Had Never Lived

|
that when she returned to the Brook |
lyn navy yard. the worlds pennant
Tor the deepest dive would be nailed ;
to the mast
Under the supervision of Gunner
Stillson, the naval divers from the
Newport school have been perfecting
themselves in compressed-air work
under water, at pressures SO great
that the actual going down to the
bottom OF the sea is a treat. The
navy has spared no pains. The ex-
perlmental station has tested the en-
durance Of its divers in steel tanks
fuil Of sea water and charged with
air pressures varied to correspond
with the oceans depths. All that re-
Tnalned was to give a full-dress re-
hearsal on the bed of the sea-
For days and days this winter the |
destroyer steamed up and down Lonfi |
island Sound, hunting bottom deep |
enough to please the divers The |
Wake anchored off Orient Point, |
called at New London. rode before |
Newport, then back to New Haven, |
and over to Eaton's Point, feeling out
the Sound bed all the time. OF ORR
ent in ninety feet of water, all the
i divers went down. Even Stilison
/ took his turn. Dreliishak stayed on
the bottom five minutes. stillson fif-
| teen. Nelson sixteen. Crilley TWEEN
| tytwo, and Anderson tWenty-four.
1t only took from one to three min
| utes to drop to the ICED of the Sound
but the divers took from twelve to
twenty three minutes each to come
up.
1 The two big dangers in deep-sea
| diving are the compression away
down below and the de-compression
coming up and out. Divers used to
believe it was the waters weight
above them that would smash out
their lives. On the contrary, the pres
surn of deep-sea water is as great
on the sole of your feet as on top OF
your head. It had to be learned that
the diver must be charged like a
siphon bottle as he sank. Every
thirty three feet down he must get
another atmosphere OF ozone, dupH
, cate Of that we breathe. At the depth
: of sixty-six feet he needs two atmos-
> pheres to keep his lungs and blood
: fed. If he could descend $50 feet
! (and the men at Honolulu expect to
I do that, he would require ten at
> moSphereS.
Carbonic acid gas Is the trouble
maker The air We breathe has only
q five-sixths of 1 per cent. of that ele-
e ment. When one gets headache il
h close room, that means too much
e ICO2. And when the diver fails tt
: get a whole fresh atmosphere fol
q every thirty-three feet he descends
: he is breathing poison, he gasps fo1
II breath, and becomes ne1pleSS anu ul
l. conscious.
X If the diver did not get that re
lr quisite pressure OF air forced down
If into his helmet, to be aSSimilated b.
1t his system through his lungs, hi
body would not be fortified by the in
4 ward resistance to Withstand the pres
"a sure Of the sea. Not alone the pres
,e sure above him, but all about hin
N and below him, squeezing his body
= his legs his feet, and his hands. Tn
!. helmet is tough enough to stand en-
~ ormouS pressure, but his body canno
~ be encased in such an armor an
- allow freedom of action. His hand
= must be free Most divers wear n
IS gloves at all, their sleeves termina,
ing in close fitting elastic cuffs. Un
. less the extra pressure forced dow
into the divers helmet got into h
-, system through his lungs. and wa
no absorbed by his blood and flesh. th
al relentless pressure of the sea wate
SO at great depths would squeeze him
ne death. It would actually tend
eu force his unarmored body up into h
us armored helmet.
er Hand Pumps Not Enough.
The old fashioned method of d'
da pending on hand pumps has kel
10 back the art of sea diving. 1t toe
,or thirty-six Englishmen to man the a
1ly pumps that kept the divers alive
ch the bottom of Loeb strlven. The
trampled on each others feet
ers making their five-minute shift
ors turning the Windlasses.
ish r,,,,,ar St;,1cor attached the a
'er hose to the ships compressed q
,ck ua also connected two to
me aNa;. fIorLs with a canacity
i'd aleyen cuhic feet at 400 poun
ex- pressure The United States Ma
OH took no chances. It wanted t
ma worlds pennant for deep-sea divin
lel and wanted our gunners mate
come back alive.
the That disposed of one danger. 1
NY. diver had plenty or air TO pfedt
yer and plenty of pressure to keep t
and waters Of the Race from squeezi
in him to death. Ihe otnef dahseI
the that of decomposition. More dive