The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1929-08-30

diver. hero of a hundred desperate
adventures under the water and IA
nous for his work during the raising of
the sunken submarines, S-4 and S-51,
which won for him the Navy Cross and
the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Tom Eadie likes diving. He says
SO in book which he has written,
published recently by the Houghton
Mifflin company. Its title is Il Like
Diving" He starts off the story of
his career thus:
/ like diving. There is always
thrill in it. ! felt it before / ever
made dive, and l feel it now when
/ have been diving for nearly twenty
years. You have to like it, or you
don't stay at it, for it is no boys play.
There's heap to diving besides put
ting your head under water. 1t means
the hardest kind of work-real manu-
al labor-under the most difficult con-
ditions, and sometimes under condi-
lions of great distress.
Take a Job when the ocean water
is down to the freezing point Of fresh
water and when you can't do work in
gloveEss TO get an idea OF ii, just sit
in q Ssat In your warm overcoat and
-srtt7k-y0uT gne
salt waters re min
utes in that ND then
try to think whA Gel like II
you kept It there al
1t isn't easy to expisin the thrill
you get out Of diving. 1t isn't exact
ly the love of adventure, though every
dip is an adventure, or may be one
before q man comes to the surface
again.
Certainly it isn't the thrill of facing
danger, though a divers life is really
in the hands of the man on the top
side tending him, and any one of
lot Of little things may in an instant
reduce a divers chance of seeing his
family again to a one-to-ten shot.
Certainly it isn't the thrill Of just
new experience. One dive would sat-
isfy that craving. There is something
more that makes men keep at 1t and
pened to be one of those men that
have that something more. though
sometimes it seems to me as II !
couldn't be anything but a diver.
Whatever the thing is, 1t makes div
ing a profession instead of a trade
for I take it that a profession is an
occupation where the work Is more in
teresting than the pay. Not that the
pay isn't good-for some divers at
managed to acquire good home of my
own; j have q car, and live along
with the other millionaires and navy
men in Newport.
1t is apparent that, despite the f.
nancial reward which he mentions,
diving means much more to Tom
Eadie than just the money it brings.
Perhaps the traditions of the United
States navy in which he served for a
score Of years has something to do
with it. Rear Admiral Philip Andrews,
who wrote the introduction to Eadie's
book, has this to say about it: "Eadie's
story Of dangers and difficulties over
come carries a lesson to all readers,
this is what it has meant to him: Do
your best and give your best to the
task in hand. believe can say that
this is the spirit of the navy"
And if money had been the main
end for Tom Eadie, Commandant G. P.
Plunkett of the New York navy yard,
in reporting to the secretary Of the
navy concerning Eadie's work in sal
vaging the S-51, could not have writ
ten these words:
The Commandant desires to call at
tention to the fact that for his serv.
ices as diver during the spring, oper-
atoms, period of about three months,
Eadies entire compensation was $500.
The amount that the government saved
In money alone by Eadie's services can