Show 9 3 adventurers d club K drowning in the dark by FLOYD FLOTD GIBBONS famous headline Hc adline hunter VOU OU know ive heard it said that drowning is one ot of Y 1 pleasant est ways there is to die I 1 dont believe it I 1 ive ve seen men die in half a dozen ways none of them were pleasant pleasa nt even to watch but it strikes me id take any of them in preference to drowning but its thing to drown in in yes drowning is bad enough one ona the open water where youve at least got a chance to fight for your me life and another thing to face the sort of drowning mack tanner did shut up in the dark in a place from which there was no escape in a place where fighting for your life even so much as prolong the agony mack lives in in new york city in september 1917 he was working at the boat building trade over in the big shipyards at port newark mack had been working on the job about three months when it happened and what happened was that he was assigned to tighten the steel plated inside of one of the waterproof water proof vacuum tanks of a ship they were building over there at the yard water was flooding the tank the tank was down below the lowest deck of the ship mack black crawled down through the hatch batch and into the interior the inside of that tank was honeycombed with heavy steel plates three feet square and in the center of each plate was a hole just about big enough for a medium sized man to crawl through mack worked his way down to the place where he was to do his work that was about twenty five feet from the place he had entered the hatch cover that closes the tank he went about his job of tightening plates was at it an hour or more and had the work half finished when suddenly he looked up and saw water coming through one of the plate openings mack swung his flashlight over on that trickle of water and im immediately he knew what had happened his heart stopped beating at the thought they were FLOODING THE TANKS to test them unaware that anyone was down in them at work says mack alack 1 I realized that my only chance lay in getting to the hatch cover opening where I 1 came in it took me only about two minutes to crawl through the various holes and reach the hatch but it seemed like a lifetime when I 1 got there I 1 got another shock one that was greater than the first the opening was shut tight and bolted down and the water valve was open full force no one could hear his calls for help mack started to shout for help but it was no use the men up on eeck deck were all busy and the noise of a half dozen riveting guns drowned e 7 2 X 46 y av J 3 the opening was shut tight and bolted down out all other sounds frantic with fear now mack began to bang on the steel deck with a wrench he had brought out with him that did ro no good either up above dozens of men were banging and hammering too macks pounding be distinguished from any of the rest of them by that time the water was getting high mack was lying on his back with his head as close to the hatch cover as he could put it the water was up to his chin and his only hope the hope that someone would open the hatch cover was such a dim one that mack believe himself it would ever come true there was only one thing to be glad for macks helper with him that day he had hurt his hand the day before and just a short while ago had gone up to the infirmary to have it treated that was a break for macks helper but it was small consolation to a man who knew he was about to tc die himself then the rush of water stopped the water was up to macks chin and it take two minutes for it to get UP TO HIS NOSE at that moment mack gave up all hope of ever getting out of that cast iron hellhole alive and then all of a sudden the rush of water through the valve stopped abruptly what did that mean certainly something was wrong the water was still an inch or two from the top of the tank and in any kind of a vacuum tank test they filled those tanks right up to the top whatever the trouble was it was a break for mack it gave him a few more precious seconds of life but maybe he hold on even to those few precious seconds the air was bad in the few inches of space still left in the big tank and athe he strain and tension te ision were beginning to tell black spots were floating before his eyes eye s he was fighting now to remain conscious then mack began hearing sounds on the deck above him leaped jeppe in ba his breast once more were they opening that hatch hope cover HEY WE WERE RE the hatch cover came off light streamed into the dark tank that much mack saw and then the black curtain fell in front of his eyes his body relaxed his head stopped spinning lie he was unconscious how his helper saved him when mack came cam e to he was in the shipyard hospital uh what wondering had happened to save him from being drowned like there a rat down ath in the tank he find that out until his foreman visit him then r he learned the whole story came me to i hana his helper the one who had ad to hand gone the hospital to have fisl his kd fixed UP came back to the e ship and saw that the hatch closed c ased he went looking for mack cover was I 1 and find him what then he rei r had happened and ran to the 2 cs foreman the th T foreman ha snut shut off t the he wr water and opened the had cover and there was mack arr I 1 weak to hold too up his head and his save drag him out to save him from drowning own life the men had to to Q service |