The Cordova daily times. [volume] (Cordova, Alaska) 1914-1947, 1919-03-19
Diving FOR
DOLLARS IN
CORDOVABAY

chanics there is rather fantastic tale
by William Fleming French, which
contains just enough truth for the
foundation of story and sufficient
exaggeration to make interesting read
ing, as follows:
1T wasn't so bad during flow tide,
but at. ebb, when the sold currents
swept out from Prince William Sound,
carrying with them the icy waters
from the Chugach mountains, my
nerve oozed right out through my
diving suit. Many time I've come
up into the bright warm sunshine,
half paralyzed with cold While work
ing close in to the shore we were well
protected, but when we worked out
into the strait to pick up anything that
the ebb tide might have carried back,
it was like jumping into cold plunge.
And other times, when the sun was
out of sight and the wind favored us
with a Whit from up Hanagita valley
way, we'd get chill straight from the
klondike, l believe. Anyhow, it was
tough, and we'd never have stuck if
the pickings weren't worth it."
This from one Of the adventurous
divers who were diving for dollars off
Cordova, Alaska. A half dozen OF
them there were, and they had
reaped large rewards for their daring
for diving in treacherous Alaskan
waters is no gentle pastime- The mil
lions of dollars worth of unsalvaged
ships and cargoes that lie off the
rocky shores of the CULTS, bays, and
sounds of Alaska prove that.
, One small diving boat, operated by
two men, cleared 81 400 in three days
at this work. Others did almost as
well. They were not diving for pearls,
nor for gold, but for copper.
Because of the dangerous nature of
the Alaskan waters, and because of
the great ebb flow of the tide at Cor
dova (due to the fact that the two
islands that lie just off Cordova form
q sort of natural runway through
which the receding tide must race)
the loading of copper from the great
mines thereabout, onto the ships that
carry it to the States, has been a
risky business. AS a result thousands
of bags of copper were lost between
the edge of the loading dock and the
boats These small, cube-shoped bags,
weighing in the neighborhood of fifty
pounds each, were at one time tossed
from the wharf to the ships, later
swung in by loading crane, but now
are loaded by protected device
whose nets eliminate the chance of a
repetition of these losses.
But the harm has been done and,
according to the estimates of one ship
ping agent there, over fifty tons of
good Cordova ore lay on the bottom
Then the prices began to soar, and
in early 1916, when the allies were
paying over 80 cents pound for it.,
the 10 and 12-cent ore that had been
lost few years before looked like a
gold mine to the mining and shipping
interests of that territory. So steps
were taken to reclaim the lost ore. A
diving crew was employed and set to
work.
This seemed to have the effect of
the good old-fashioned gold rush. In
diviuals started diving-and specializ-
ing in pneumonia. Then up from Sc
attic came couple of diving outfits,
and another appeared from down
Sitka way. More followed, and soon
quite little feet was operating Not
always exactly within the law, per-
haps, but certainly with great enthusi-
assn.
The ore lay mostly close to the
docks, and this, Of course, was salv-
aged by it's legitimate owners. But
hundreds of sacks had been forced
up the narrow passage to the north
SeboL Ny IAO lACOAA1A6 tluC, VI. 0ASc
dragged out into deep water by the
outgoing waters. This, then, was the
natural game" of the private diver.
Due to the constant milling of the
sand, many Of these bags were buried,
some at great depth, and, according to
one diver, could never be recovered
The bags Of copper were found, in
some instances, miles from the docks;
and in one case, half dozen bags
we're found on a bar just on Hinchin-
brook island, fully twelve miles from
fCordova.
Just how much of this ore, in dol
ls.rs and cents, has been reclaimed, no
one seems to know, but an estimate,
that is generally accepted as fairly
reasonable, sets 1t at about $4,000.
ST. JOSEPH CATHOLIC CHURCH