The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-05-05
SOME DIFFICULTIES
Of DEEP7SEA DIVERS

ken submarine, F-4, yet the general
readers have but little conception
of the difficulties to be encountered
and overcome by the men who 60
down in the leaden suit5. The
United States navy has been putting
its divers thru a scientific course of
training, and it is fact that these
men have set the worlds record for
deep sea diving. Up to 1906 the
record was held by the British navy,
one of it's divers having gone down
210 feet. Last winter a United
States navy diver went down 274
feet. Mr.. Alvin McCaslan, in the
New York Post, recounts these feats
in diving by our naval experts, and
in the story gives some entertaining
information relating to the business.
The two big dangers in deep sea
diving, he says, are the compress
sion, 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 pressure of deep
sea water is as great on the soles
of your feet as on top of your head.
1t had to be learned that the diver
must be charged like siphon bottle
as he sank. Every 33 feet down
he must get another atmosphere of
ozone, a duplicate of that we
breathe. At the depth of &c feet
he needs two atmospheres to keep
his lungs and blood fed. If he
could descend $50 feet he would re-
quire 10 atmospheres.
If the diver did not get that re-
quisite pressure of air forced down
into his helmet, to be assimilated by
his system thru his lungs, his body
would not be fortified by the inward
resistance to withstand the pressure
of the sea, not alone the. pressure
above him, but all about him and
below him, squeezing his body, his
legs, his feet, and his hands. The
helmet is tough enough to stand
enormous pressure, but his body
cannot be encased in such an ar
mour and allow freedom of action.
His hands must be free. Most div
ers wear no gloves at all, their
sleeves terminating in close-ftting,
elastic cuffs. Unless the extra
pressure forced down into the d.
ver's helmet got into his system thru
his lungs, and was absorbed by his
blood and flesh, the relentless pres
sure of the sea water at great depths
would squeeze him to death. It
would actually tend to force his un-
armored body up into his armored
helmet.
The air pressure may be perfect,
and man may 60 into a caisson
quickly and stay for hours, or a
diver may go down to the bottom
in a few seconds and stay long,
without any harm. But he must
come out slowly! The fearful pres
sure of the compressed air satu-
rates his system with the nitrogen
that forms 79 per cent. of pure at
The oxygen he assim-
ilates without harm. The nitro
gen fills his blood and tissues with
millions of gas bubbles. These
must escape gradually. He is like
a charged siphon that must not now
be exposed. If the diver comes up
quickly from a great depth, his
system loaded with these bubbles of
nitrogen, his reward is divers palsy,
the bends, caisson disease, and
death.
Drellishak arose from the bot
tom of the sea to the lowest rung
of the Jacobs ladder (from a depth
of 274 feet to that of S0) in five
minutes. That was safe enough.
The enormous air pressure he was
still under prevented the excess of
nitrogen in him from escaping too
fast.
Under instructions from the su-
pervisor, Drellishak foated up from
the 80-foot rung to the 70-foot
stop and rested four minutes, at