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

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 q
commercial salvage company at 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-
petition had the services of a diver
who is believed to be without a peer
anywhere in the world for a period of
three months at practically the same
cost as one ordinary commercial diver
for a period of four days.
Yes, Tom Eadie "likes diving" He
first enlisted in the navy in 1905 and
during his second enlistment of four
years he received instruction, at his
own request, in the profession which
he has followed ever since. When he
says In his casual way that in that
.nvafasliar ssnsy orre Ut a lot Of little
things may In an instant reduce
divers chance Of seeing his family
again to one-to-ten shot" he is un-
derstating the case about as far as
1t can possibly be done.
Here is one incident in his career
when he had gone down to salvage n
torpedo which had gone to the bottom
during torpedo practice. He writes:
One day found the torpedo I was
hunting for standing on the bottom on
end. / had to climb up on 1t to make
e. mi l.
was thoroughly creased of course, and.
as I was working up it, my foot hit
the starting lever and we were off for
the surface.
OF course, IL 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 hung,
on with my arms around 1t, slipping
back toward the propellors all the
time, and managed to stay with it till
came to the surface. Then it f1oated.
andTI was safe. =
Another time, he records:
When you have to go down into the
mud for a torpedo you wash 1t clear
of its bed with a stream of hose wa
ter. One torpedo 1 salvaged was 90
feet down in the mud. 1t had
gone down on a slant, and ! unwisely
undertook to charge the hole round it
rather than wash away the immense
amount of silt over 1t. did this. Of
course. to shorten the job, but it came
near shortening my life. worked
well down on the torpedo, hosing
round IL. and all of sudden the mud
caved in on me. I kept my
head, for I realized that / had the
means of my own salvation in my
hand-the hose. I was pressed down
into as little space as possible, but ]
found could bring the nozzle up close
to my helmet alongside my escape
valve. i knew I must get and keep
that clear of mud or the air would
build up in my suit.
Then I 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 couldn't feel their
signal. I didn't signal to be hauled
up either you bet. AS soon as I was
clear. 1 went to work again, and this
time didn't try to make any short
cuts, but hosed the whole thing out.
finished that job the long way.