Show adventurers CLUB 4 HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF 1 divers down doom H HELLO ELLO EVERYBODY you know theres been a lot said about the heroism of the lads who go down to the sea in ships and well we all know know that those lads deserve all the credit we can give them but its the lad who goes down under the sea into ships wh who 0 catches my fancy sooner or later there comes a time in any sailors life when he runs up against a tough combination ol of circumstances that well agree to As a matter of fact its a lucky sailor whose life been in danger at least three or four times in his career on the sea but a divers life is in danger almost every time he screws on his helmet and goes under t the he water facing danger is his trade and today one of those deep diving professional danger facers fabers is going to tell us the story of the biggest thrill of his career so stand by the pumps boys and girls hes ready to go frank grissinger is his name name and he lives in brooklyn N Y and the worst jam frank was ever in in his life he says was when he went down into the sea off the lighthouse at new bedford mass to raise the foundered tugboat tug boat albert J stone down in 14 fathoms of water jack gardner another veteran diver was franks partner on that job on october 16 1918 they got the call and were off on the wrecking tug resolute to raise the albert stone which had gone down in 14 fathoms of water the resolute was only doing the preliminary work the hu huge ge derrick ship Alon monarch arch was to pick up the tug and raise it bodily out of the water but first the divers had to get slings under her hull and make connections so that the boiler could be filled with air making the tug rise more easily the resolute located the tug slings were hauled under its hull and they were all ready to tackle the boiler that was franks job and he went down until his heavy iron shoes hit the hull of the tug groping his way along the deck frank found the door of the fire room and went 1 I was wedged in tight down the ladder it was dark as a tomb down there and the only sound was the air circulating through his exhaust valve with arms outspread frank started for the boiler until he met an obstruction feeling of it frank realized it was an iron floor grating that had become dislodged and lay blocking the passageway it was too heavy to lift but it lay at an angle leaving an opening at one side frank measured the space with his arms and decided he be could crawl through it frank started through but his lifeline life line held him back he pulled it to get more slack and pulled the grating down on top of him says frank 1 I was wedged in tight using my hands and knees as abracen a brace I 1 tried to rise up under it but it would only give about a foot in desperation I 1 used up nearly all my strength fought that grating until I 1 was almost exhausted then panic seized me what if I 1 dislodge myself what if the steam air compressor broke down what if a storm arose and cut us adrift breaking the air line through which I 1 was breathing and what was even more probable a menace was that the tender getting no response to his signals might try to pull me up by main force breaking both life and air lines and leaving me there to drown beads of perspiration rolled off my forehead into my eyes and there was no way to wipe them away I 1 was nearly blind but I 1 realized that I 1 must remain calm maybe help would reach me how I 1 know I 1 signal the tender there were too many angles in the line that led to the surface ile he be began an shifting tin his position about that time frank began thinking of things thinking of all sorts of things but particularly of all those things that were nearest to his heart he wanted to live and he going to give up without a fight ue he began shifting his position to see how far he could move turning to the right he could kick one side of the tug with his iron shoes moving to the left he found that only his breastplate and helmet were jammed then he says 1 I thought of trying to roll and that move nearly cost me my life I 1 began turning my body slowly inch by inch and then horror the helmet was not turning with me I 1 was unscrewing it as I 1 moved had I 1 continued it would have come off and I 1 would have drowned where I 1 lay frank rolled back again with every ounce of strength in his body screw screwing ing the threads up tightly and saving his life for the moment then all at once he lost consciousness the ordeal of mental torture combined with the pressure of the water had been too much for him franks mate jack gardiner finished the story for him the next thing frank knew he was coming to in a bunk on the resolute with jack sitting beside him and heres the tale jack told no response to tender signal thirty minutes after frank had gone down the men on the resolute began to get worried about him the tender signaled to him on the line but got no response jack gardiner tried to draw frank up but the line held tight they even get a foot of slack on it then they knew something was wrong jack gardiner began putting on his diving togs he screwed on his helmet and went down to the deck of the tug following franks line and air hose he made his way down into the tugs fire room and feeling his way around he found the grating with franks line disappearing behind it jack had found a firemans foremans fi remans slice bar and using that as a lever he pried frank loose after that it was only a matter of minutes to boost him up the ladder and give the signal to the tender to haul away when it was all over jack said that was a close can call but better luck next time and frank answered there going to be any next time im going to look for a better way to make a living than diving but the last I 1 heard of frank he was diving for a boat that had sunk in new york harbor harboe I 1 guess diving must be in his blood copyright service |