The Washington herald., 1921-11-06
DIVER GIVES DATA
ON lST TRIP DOWN
Scow Sank With Rocks
Whereupon Apprentice
Boy makes Good"

TIL never forget the first time I
ever went down." chuckled big John
Carroll. who has been diving and
salvaging wrecks of boats and help
Ing to build bridges and cleaning
the beds of big docks. for about
fifteen years
| tending the ropes and air pump TOR
an old diver while he cleaned stone
out of the bottom of the river. As
he would bring the stone up it was
being dumped into a heavy scow.
For some reason We allowed the
scow to get too full and down she
sank. 1t was late Saturday-Quit-
ting time, almost-and this old
diver refused to go down under the
water again and take some of the
stone out of the boat so IL would
come back up. But says he to me
Il was just youngster. about 10
then-'but,' says he. how about
you?
We'll, / was surprised. I'd never
been down. but I'd been paying
pretty strict attention and knew
just about how to do it. so. says,
All right
They fixed me up in the big heavy
canvas and rubber suit, put on the
copper head piece. strapped on the
heavy metal shoes. put the Weighted
belt around me. tied on the ropes
and fixed the air hose. and down I
went
Let me tell you I was shaky. I
felt short of wind. I could see just
a little way ahead of me at first,
but the water became dark and soon
1 couldn't see hardly at all. Finally
touched bottom. The bottom of a
river is muddy, you know-the
ocean floor is hard and sandy,
though-and 1 sunk in pretty deep.
1t was about thirty-five feet down.
But my outfit, while it weighed
twice as much as 1 did, was sur
prisingly light in the water, due to
the pressure.
We'll, I dragged along and felt
my way and finally / found the
scow with it's load of rocks.
climbed to the top of the pile and
began tossing the rocks off.
Il was pretty much excited, you
see. this being my first trip down,
so didn't think a great deal about
the fact that the more rocks I tossed
off the lighter the scow became.
Slowly she began to rise to the
surface of the water. When We
bobbed up on top 1 guess it must
have been a pretty funny sight.
But anyhow 1 cleaned out the
scow.
Next Monday morning 1 came
down to work as usual. but when 1
got there 1 found a new divers out
flt had arrived. Yep, It's for you.
son. the boss says to me. Climb
into 1t and get to work diving like
the rest of u.s. And I've been at 1t
ever since"
John Carroll in fifteen years has
become one of the best known div
ers in this country.
When he finished telling about his
first time down he eot out his div
ing outfit and showed it to me. 1t
weighs complete about 400 pounds.
The metal shoes he mentioned weigh
each about twenty-five pounds.
- In winter. when the water is icy,
the diver wears heavy gloves. COM
posed Of canvas and rubber. Mr..
sweaters and a heavy sheep-skin
vest, 1t gets pretty cold in the
deep water.
The suit is water-tight.
Diving affects the uninitiated Gu
riously. For about a week after
the first time down the divers ears
will be out of order. The pressure
Of the air affects the ear drums.
And what happens If you don't
get enough air?" 1 asked Mr.. Car
roll
WELL" he replied. you may meet
death. One time a tender let me
down too fast and the air didn't
reach me soon enough. I thought
was gone sure. My forehead felt
as though 1t was bursting. When
they pulled me out of the water,
my ears and nose were bleeding.
I wasn't able to be on the job for a
couple of weeks"
There's more danger in diving
than a fellow thinks. But" says
Mr. Carroll, we're used to It." So
] ! guess they don't mind.