The Washington herald., 1920-07-25
HOURS ON THE OCEANS FLOOR MENACED BY MONSTE
Trapped Failing of
Rescued BY His Companions Who Realized His He to Signal

LEW men ever have had as narrowing an
experienCs as Captain John r. Turner,
Philadelphian, who in a diving suit spent
twenty-sev agonizing hours imprisoned
within the hold of a sunken monitor, many
fathoms below the surface, leered at by
hideous monsters of the deep and with
munger, unappeasable even IL food had been
within reach, gnawing at his vitals.
Csptain Turner is a professional diver.
de has followed this calling twenty three
years, and, strange to say, he is not able to
swim and says he has an insurmountable
dread Of deep water. He claims to hold the
record for deep diving.
hs frishtful experience In the hold of the
toundered vessel occurred of the coast OF
bermuda The monitor, which belonged to
the British navy, had been sunk In navy
target practice, and, sold for Junk, wa, being
salved BY the purchasing COMPANY.
captain Turner says he felt strange fore
Uouinss "nhe preparing for his descent that
day.
Somehow couldn't get rid Of the ,ssI,,r
tnat something disagreeable was soinr 70
nappen' he said, but 1 tried To sb,ks "A
enis teeling as but another manifestation, -
tne chronic dread which have alwsvs b.d
Of the ocean. Always ma
put on my rubber suit and prsnsr.d
get INTO the water. / tripped and n.srIv
ih' ana thls served only to add q .;n,...,
warning which almost made me cb.,,.
mind about going down. But I ovs,c,m.
this fear. 0'ereame
., S0Inins unusual happened after that
~ reached the monitor and went
tnrousn the hstchway into the intsrio, -
the vessel. interior oil
nao not proceeded more than ts, ...
rom the companionway when the ia =. 49,
naun crossed and fouled my signal Tro
tnat II became useless. The air trb. =.
tunateIy, was not injured iof-
al hrst, although badly scared dis -.
~ nn 'nst L would have much trouble for,;ns
.ne nd oack. But when tried to do :. Is
touna 'nat It would not yield BY so nros
.ne breadth or hair, even when 7 r..,
long par OF steel, which tapered r. -
IKE edge at the end, it occurred 70
l was more than eighty feet baIo-
surface, the weight of the water rrh;Nr 'ne
a. Nv Ua''ened down was equivalent -
~ -, pOunas pressure on every SQUARE i,,h
was seized with frenzy Of To- u .s
tne weight would eventually press toa..na
'ne ar tube, and that wourd he -
Gated 10 prevent this wedged in -
Oer Oh pieces OF metal, fastening tba,.
securely tnat they became, so TO sne.L
corporated with the very shin itssIt
tact' was by the almost nir.,,,,.
plugging In Of piece Of loose timber -.
WIS noauns out of the hatchwav ss
tered, tnat the air tube was NOT crr.h..
tosetner at the very outset, But Will -.
umoer mad done me this service 10 -,
dentally, It had, on the other b,,5 -
the signal line and put it out of Co..
sion. '0inils-
After the first paralyzipr ,ttsoL
oesan 70 look around my prison
my electric nash lamp enabled me to ger
fairly good view of everything witbin
radius Of twelve or thirteen feet from -.
loot OF the companionway. The length of tbs
air line left me no greater circumference n
get around in; for l was afraid To trv ~
the air line, dreading that it might spring
leak, as even with all the wedging. II was
tightly caught in the hatchway.
Now and then / thought l could discern
a shadowy something, which my imagination
clothed with a hideous form, floating bv
just beyond the reach of the rays of INV
1sshlght. l would SHAKE the bar at the
shadow and gradually it would recede out of
sight. l never discovered just what this
sruesome shadow was. But it sure did haunt
me and filed me with fears which were al
most as gripping as those which were born
Of the feeling that my air line might any
be crushed and leave me to suffoca-
tion; or be cut by a swordfsh and con-
sign me to drowning.
IT thought Of the folly of my having stuck
to calling which brought me into constant
association with an element which 1 had
always dreaded. I had always considered
that was engaged in it in a sort of tenn
porary way, just to get enough money from
Il TO enable me to get into some other still
more profitable business. But now it flashed
upon my mind that this interim sort of living
was, after all, the substance and web and
woot itself of my life. And that's the way
most of US live. We think We'll do our real
work at some future day, when we have ac-
luired what is necessary for engaging in it.
And, 10 when we stand at the end of our
,areer and look backward, we discover, too
ate, that what we considered merely pre- =
,aratory was in reality the very thing we
we're living for.
II tell you there's nothing so calculated
o make one philosophical as being pent up
n the hold of ship, way down on the