Evening star., 1934-06-24

softly huns a sea ditty is a deep
sea diver. Wicked-looking catfish poke their
whiskers at the windows in the helmet and get
fouled in the airhose and lines in their fright
ened effort to escape. Silvery bubbles escape
from the air valve of the monsters head and
race upward, like ladder of gistening pearls
to burst on the waters surface, beside the
United States Navy diving boat Cri;ley.
wondering audience clusters along the sea-
wall of the Washington Navy Yard. 1t gapes
at the spot where the diver disappeared beneath
the waves Bubbles boil and pop around the
lines and hoses. Minutes orag by. The air
compressor pump, aboard the Crilley looks like
an old-fashioned groce.'s coffee mill. 1t Is
being whirled around and around by two sea-
men. They are intru-ted with the duty OF
feeding breath" to the diver
Sudden tension aboard the diving boat. An
officer speaks into a telephone connected with
the divers helmet. He turns to give the slgnal
"Heave away!" Several men leap to grab
line then like fishermen about to land giant
sea monster they heave and strain on the block
and tackle.
Slowly, the stage" or divers platform, is
lifted First helmet appears. cleaning IKE
great turtles back. Then bloated creature
seemingly fallen into the sea from another
whirling planet emerges into full view. The
air pump is still spinning its wheels and chug-
ging and wheeling.
THE fearful creature Is swung ONci Vic
! Crilley's side and onto the deck. Several
attendants leap to detach the lines from the
helpless thing standing upright like tightly
stuffed sawdust doll The air pump is stopped.
The helmets face glass is unlocked. then the
round head is unscrewed from the breastplate
and removed.
A mans grinning face appears-to smile at
the cheers of the people on the seawan
"Phew that was a bit stuffy." he remarks to
r.; no ic lad In seat in fllll view
of the crowd. The attendants remove his
loaded 12-pound shoes. His waist is stripped
of "a pounds of lead weights on belt Then
he is peeled out of the rubberized diving suit
and steps onto the deck-an ordinary sailor In
dungarees. Jaw shucks!" exclaims a small boy
on the seawall Il thought they caught some
deep-sea monster-and now look-hs only
man in Halloween suit!"
Amid applause the diver is led below the
deck of the Crilley- Il sank feet into the
mud" he is telling his shipmates, "and when
YOU pulled the line I shot out like cork
from a bottle then Topped over on my face to
rest from that awful wiggling around to
escape"
Almost every time a diver goes down some
thing new happens to him-somethlng worth
relating Either some accident slaShes open his
rubber suit and sends the precious air BURST
ing out into the water, necessitating hfe-and-
death race to the surface; or battles with fero-
cious creatures inhabiting tropical seas. For
tunately most denizens of the deep sharks in
cluded. are usually frightened away by the
strange phosphorent glow of bubbles sizzling in
a steady stream from the escape valve on the
divers helmet. Sometimes divers with presence
of mind have struck the steel hull Of Sunken
vessel with a heavy sledge hammer And the
sound reverberating sharply under water has
served to frighten away dangerous sharks.
Grim stories pass around, also. OF divers
with tangled air hose who cut the rubber tube
in an effort to escape to the surface-and were
drowned. A tragic story concerning how the
bones of one veteran diver lie incaSed in full
regalia, plugging leak in the wall OF dam
Brave men these, who prowl under water!
Bored persons derive new and exciting sensa-
tions by watching the divers and hearing the
yarns they spin so well.
Seamen training to become United States Navy
divers undergo a six-month course in the use
of diving appliances and underwater tools for
salvage and repair work. They are taught how
to lift sunken submarines, cut through the
hulb of wrecked ships and salvage whatever
valuables such as gold, guns or treasure the
steel hulk may harbor.
PROFESSIONAL divers have pumped coal
I from sunken barges, via suction pipes They
have swept" thousands Of tons Of wheat from
foundered freghters-then dried it In ovens,
for sale. They often endure real torture, when
they cannot scratch tickling nose or face. One
diver almost leaped out Of the water after a
period Of great distress. He found June bug
buzzing around in his helmet. He was COM
pletely powerless to stop the insects parade
over his features.
Modern diving equipment permits diver to
communicate by telephone with his fellows on
the surface vessel. Yet some "old timers" adj
here to the "tap and jerk" method Of signal
ing, via hammer blows and pulling on the life
lines.
Few people realize divers difficulties After
being safely installed in his rubber suit, he is
strapped, buckled. piped and screwed together.
His body moves heavily and clumsily, wrapped
in tho 10S Mounds If anirrnapt Then ho ctey,c