The Ely miner., 1929-08-30
ION Aaie Gels nedaiofRonor

best be judged from the fact that when
the Commandant was endeavoring last
fall to bolster up the force of divers,
which was then inadequate, by hiring
civilian divers, the best offer he could
get was the loan of four divers by a
commercial salvage company lat the
rate of $1,000 per day for the four
men. or in other words, $1,000 for the
use of one man for four days. Such
an offer was, of course, declined. 1t
is interesting to observe that the ex-
pedition had the services of diver
who is believed to be without a peer
anywhere in the world for period of
three months at practically the same
cost as one ordinary commercial diver
for period of four days.
Yes, Tom Eadie "likes diving" He
first enlisted in the navy in 1905 and
during his second enlistment of four
own request, in the profession which
he has followed ever since. When he
says in his casual way that in that
profession "any one of a lot of little
things may in an instant reduce a
divers chance of seeing his family
again to one-to-ten shot" he is un-
derstating the case about as far as
it can possibly be done.
Here is one incident in his career
when he had gone down to salvage
torpedo which had gone to the bottom
during torpedo practice. He writes:
One Gay found the torpedo I was
hunting for standing on the bottom on
end. | had to climb up on it to make
the strap fast for hosting. The thing
was thoroughly creased of course, and,
as | was working up it, my foot hit
the starting lever and we were off for
the surface.
OF course, if l let go the torpedo
would go up, and as the propellors
reached me they would rip me open all
the way to my breastplate. So l hung
on with my arms around it, slipping
back toward the propellors all the
time, and managed to stay with it till
l came to the surface. Then it floated,
and / was safe.
Another time, he records:
When you have to go down into the
mud for a torpedo you wash it clear
of its bed with stream of hose wa
ter One torpedo ] salvaged was %
feet down in the mud. . 1t had
gone down on a slant, and 1 unwisely
Undertook to charge the hole round it
rather than wash away the immense
amount of silt over it. / did this, of
course, to shorten the job, but it came
near shortening my life. l worked
well down on the torpedo, hosing
round it, and all of sudden the mud
caved in on me. -. kept my
head, for 1 realized that 1 had the
means of my own salvation in my
hand-the hose. / was pressed down
into as little space as possible, but
found l could bring the nozzle up close
to my helmet alongside my escape
valve. l knew I must get and keep
that clear of mud or the air would
| build up in my suit
Then l worked the nozzle slowly
| back and forth in front of me, cutting
away at the mud overhead to give my
self every chance. 1t was long and
| slow but / finally cut through to the
open water and back along my lines.
| They knew on the topside that some-
| thing was wrong, of course. But they
| didn't haul me, luckily for me: the line
and the hose wouldn't have stood the
| strain they would have put on me, to
| say nothing of the chance that they
| would probably have hauled me apart
| They signaled to ask if / were all
| right, of course, but with my line
| buried in the mud 1 couldn't feel their
signal. I didn't signal to be hauled
| UP either you bet. AS soon as I was
| clear, / went to work again, and this
| time 1 didn't try to make any short
| cuts, but hosed the whole thing out. /
finished that job the long way.