Show I GROPING UNDER THE SEA SOME REMINISCENCES OF AN OLD DIVER A Desperate Dash For Life A Mang Shark That Needed Scratching A Ghastly Encounter BY GEORGE H WESTLEY Captain Phil Dacey and Old Tom Allen are as congenial and comfortable a I pair of housemates as you could find In a weeks walk They are both divers by profession or rather they were for they I have now retired from active service and fettled down to the quiet enjoyment of theIr hardearned javirgs When I called at their home a few jiays ago Old Tom was out but I received a most cordial welcome from Captain Phil whom I found seated in a cozy arm chair smoking his pipe Adventpres said Captain Phil Well yes I have had my share of em I reck on It would be a strange thing if I liadn t met with some odd and startling experiences in thirtyfive years of groping around on the ragged old floor of the ocean I remember a nasty half hour I once had of it while I was working on a wreck In the Wet Indies She was a large steamer that had struck on a reef and then slipped off into deep ater taking down the mails and a valuable cargo with her though luckily all the passengers and crew were saved Well there was some papers as were particularly wanted and I was in the chart room order the bridge looking for them when suddenly as I turned I saw the wicked snout of a big shark close to me Nice fix for any one with delicate sort of nerves to be In wasnt it pinned in a corner of a little square room and a big brute between you and the door I went creepy all over but I kept still and so did he I got my knife whicn we carry screwed In our belt loose Id make a Tight for it if the gen tleman began any little game So there we were each staring at the other and each wafting for the other to make a move At last I stared him out of countenance I suppose Leastwise he slews himself lound and 1 see him drift towards the far ride so I begin to sidle for the door As ron as I begin to move he gets uneasy Maybe mv tube touched him or the all bubbles frightened him anyhow he makes a rush for the door and I respectfully I 1 I I I Li t I I I i4tL I f Iji = = 2 I Was Kept There a Full Half Hour uScratdiing That Muug Shark makes way for the flourIshes of his tail ettyifvel6 was cff I was off Up too IJrtt lively They say sir all animals have a fear of man but sharks dont seem to recog I nize a man in a divers costume They often come poking around and smelling I at us like so many great dogs The greatest danger about the critters is that 1 they might get too curious about the air I tube and sample it with their teeth and that you see sir would be a settler for the man sure enough I caught one opening his jaws for this purpose one time and gave him a clip on the nose wit t my crowbar He went off like a shot and never bothered me again Another time an immense brute came alongsides where I was working and I stops and steps back quietly to let him pass But he didnt He came nearer I wasnt particularly anxiou for his com aPso I kept getting out of his way Hut the shark kept on and soon I found 1 couldnt go a step farther for he had me jammed up against a rock I was re lieved to see that the critter didnt open his jaws however but contented himself with rubbing up against me I had a Prongshaped iron in my hand and I put I this between my body and his for the sensation was just about as pleasant as I that of having a cow rub herself against you But these sharp iron points seemed I to be just what he wanted He took It I like a great pig bending his body and turning over on his aide so as to present s a fresh place to the scrat her Would i you belIeve It > sr I was kept there a j I full half hour aspratchlng that mangy shark and I suppose the operation must I have done him good for at last he moved away and I didnt see him again till the next day when he returned for another application That was the only time I had the Job of scratcher to a shark I think sir the greatest shock I ever got from a shark was one time when I was blowing up a reef of rocks so as to enlarge a little harbor on the coast It was my work to make a hole to put in a charge of dynamite Vhen I went down I every morning I would go over to a cer tain ledge which was always a good rest ing place for lobsters Morning after morning I used to find two or three of I these crustyshins as a well eudicated friend of mine calls them and send em up aloft in a basket Well one day I talked straight up to this ledge as usual land ran my hand carefully along its low sr side I was surprised to find my hand scraping along what I supposed to be a rock but I was surprised still more when I discovered that my precious paw was groping within six inches of the mouth of a big shark which had retired to rest in the cavity The brute must have been as much alarmed as I was for it made one spring from its resting place and disappeared In the dark wall of ocean You can just bet I let lobsters alone after that and attended strictly to business Bt sharks and such critters are not tIomly danger You see sir when we move about a wreck the air tube and the line follow us and we have to be mighty careful always to come back the same way we go because you see if we pass anything on the way or gO around a mast or under b companion ladder and come back tother side of it the tube and line kink round it and bring you up all standing and you have to go back and follow your tube the way ou come Sometimes you have been down c good Ish while and moving about a lot you get mixed anil forget your bearings and are In a pretty fix Why once I remem ber I was over an hour following my tube like a puzzle before I could find my way up out of the engine room In which I was working If it happen that a man cant noways t l i > I 0 > c free himself and Its all touchandgc with him if hes only got a clear way above him he has one last chance and a desperate one it is He goes to work and knocks off his back and chest weights shuts the escape valves which lets out the usedup air In his helmet gets himself as full of air as ever he can then cuts the tube above him when if he has luck he tears clear and shoots up through the water Of course Its a risky chance and to prevent too quick a rush up you have to fasten your waistline waist-line to somewhere below and hold on to it goingup I remember my poor comrade Jim Rol ins Jim got fouled somehow and decided upon cutting his tube so he signals forT T t = = 7 a P = I = lDlm = = a ll V i = l ifJ J = I I = i I = = = I I = < y1 = Yon Have to Fusten YOUr Waist Line ito i I I to Somewhere Below more air and away the pumps go till suddenly I sud-denly there is a rush of bubbles through the water and next moment we feel a blow on the bottom of our boat Heavens thats him I cried and so it was We got hold of him as quick as lightning1 and g t i1 l nduh Wna ob had him aboard tnd his helmet I off in no time but the poor chap was dead sit dead as a herring An hour or two afterwards after-wards a great blue line showed all round his chest and shoulders just where the helmet sits The doctor said he must have hit our keel full kilt with his head and the blow drove he helmet with such force as to crush all the lungs and things in his chest He forgot to fix Ms waistline waist-line poor chap and you see he couldnt I stop his shooting upI up-I I Ay sir we see a good many startling I sights in our business Down Cape Cod way a few years back a vessel ran on a rock and went down in eight fathom of water Everybody was saved except the captain and his dif They were in the cabin at the time and as the vessel gave a lurch and sunk one of the sailors said he saw their pale faces staring out from I the battened down skylight The captains cap-tains father vanted the bodies badly and he hired me to go down When I stood on top of the cabin there sure enough were the two white faces glued td the glass just as the sailor had said It didnt take me long to knock off the skylight when up shoots the two corpses like bladders through the water vkere the hands aloft got hold of them and lifted them into the boat I tell you sir It was a gruesome sight sightWell sir I could tell you yarns of this I sort by tire tour but here comes Old I Tom I guess he can give you a few odd experiences Between you and me though you mustnt believe more than half he I says Hes a great romancer Tom is |