PERILS OF A DIVER'S LIFE.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2421, 9 January 1882, Page 3

PERILS OF A DIVER'S LIFE.

Do sharks ever attack divers ? is a qnea-j tion that ia often asked. Ordinarily, divers stand in very little; fear of these tigers of- the sea, or indeed: of any other fish. Sharks are generally cowards. A blow at one of them with a hook or a hatchet will generally scare him away. "". -

Now and then, however, a large dogfish will make a snap at a diver's arm or leg. In tropical waters there is also' a large fish, called the Jew fish, of which divers stand in some fear. It grow 3 from 1 five to fourteen feet in length, and has a larger mouth than the shark. One of these Jew fish snapped off the feet of a diver who was at work on the wreck of an old Spanish frigate, near Marguerita. The, poor fellow Was in a diving bell, and allowed his legs to hang down into the water sa the bell was hauled up. Bat usually these Jew fish, as also the big sharp-toothed barlcoutas of the tropical waters, are very well disposed. If they approach a diver, they seem to be prompted only by curiosity. The glittering helmet is an object sufficiently striking to excite the curiosity even of a fish. Often fishes take a panic at sight of a diver's huge, glaring head, and dash off from its vicinity like runaway horses. An experienced diver pays no attention to the fishes that at times oome crowding around him ; though for my own part, I have stood for hours watching them.

One oan scarcely Imagine how beautiful they are in the clear, green-tinted sea, as they slowly approach the diver, fanning and winnowing the water with their fins, rising and falling' so easily, or moving in graceful curves about him, or darting away and flashing back all the bright prismatic colors'of the rainbow. The ground shark, so-called, sometimes attacks the pearl fisherman. My friend, Mat Walters, once had an adventure with one of these voracious monsters among the Bahamas.

We were then at Nassau (1871), and had undertaken to examine the 'wrepk of a steamer which had been sunk off Abacp during a hurricane Steven or eight years before. The vessel was believed to have been a blockade runner ; she was supposed to have had on board a number of boxes containing valuable jewellery, given to the Confederate Government by patriotic Southern ladies during the last desperate Struggle of the " Lost Cause." The jewellery, it was said, had been shipped to be sold abroad for the purchase of arms, food, and medioines. Other divers had explored the wreck before us ; but nothing valuable had ever been reported as found. The hull lay partly filled with sand, in not more than eight or nine fathoms of water. In company with four other divers and wreckers, we hired & schooner and remained in the vicinity of the submerged wreck for between two and three weeksi We found that the deck had been broken up and washed away, as were also the bulwarks. Only the ribs, partly clad with shattered planks, still remained uncovered by the Band. The hull itself was filled with debris of the machinery, cargo, and woodwork, mixed and sodden with the sand. Our business was to overhaul this heterogenous mass ; it was no light task. The only circumstance in our favor was the clearness of the water. One could see almost as well down on the wreck as on the schooner's deck.

We worked with axes, crowbars, saws, and scoops, and also pat down a number of blasts of powder, to break np the well nigh solid mass. Two of as went down together to the wreck. After being down two hours, we were relieved by the two other divers. As we stirred up the sand and broken boards, large schools of fish would, from time to time, gather around us, apparently attracted by cariosity to see what we were doing. Here also were J.ew fißh and numberless bsricoutaß, with scores of other fishes belonging to species with whioh we were unacquainted. The smaller'fish would swim boldly in between the ship's ribs, and would even play around our legß as we worked ; but the larger fish remained outside, and contended themselves with reconnoitering us through the open spaces. One day, while sawing off a timber, stared at by the usual admiring piscatory audience, I was started by a sudden sknrry among the 1 fish, accompanied by a tremendous rumbling in the water. There is always a similar noise when a school of fish move rapidly, bat this was

unusually loud. I stood up, but for a moment or two could not see anything because of the dancing shadows and waving of the water. Then amidst the chaos of smaller shadows, I made out one prodigiously large one, glinting and Sashing, as it darted and coursed around the hulk. 'That's a shark!' exclaimed the diver who was with me. Its coming among the other fish produced the same effeot as would be caused by a wolf dashing among a bevy of hares. In a moment they had darted away and scattered in all directions; yet auch was the rapidity of the new comer's plunges, that we saw it catch several of the fugitives. 1 hen it came back, aud we watched it sb it swam slowly rouod the wreck. I should think the creature was at least seventeen feet long. It was of a dark slate color, and had a long, ragged dorsal fin which stood up like a coarse-toothed saw. One fork of its broad, ribbed tall was much wider and longer than the other, and its hide seemed studded with warts. It moved around the hulk, but did not venture to oome in at the gape. For fully naif an hour It ogled ua and watched our operations ; and I almost fancied I could detect an expression of curiosity in Its large, cruel, unwinking eyes. Its ugly mouth would work Into what might have been taken for a ferocious grin. Still we were not much, afraid of the monster, and went on with our work. After a while it went away. But Walters said that he saw it in the afternoon. Like a true beast of prey, It remained near the wreck on account of the other fish which were attracted to the place. During the next two or three days It frequently made its appearance, dashing into view whenever a school of fish gathered in the vioinity of the hulk. At length it began to evince cunning by lying in ambush for its prey. It selected, as a larking place, a dark hole down by one side of the hull, where the currents had gullied out the sand beside the slimy planking. In this shadowy recess, it would. lie motionless, hour after hour, like a spider waiting for flies. But the other fish had, become shy ; not many of them now came: about the wreck ; and It may have been because of this that the shark paid his respects to Walters. Walters and one of our associates named. Casenove went to work one morning and had been below the surface of the water five minutes perhaps, wben Oasenove came up in great haste, and Baid that the shark was attacking Walters. I was myself tending Walters' line and air pipe, and I instantly signalled him to know if be was in trouble. i Our signals were : on a pull on the life line, by the msn tending it above, meant, 'Are yon all right V One pull in response meant, •I am all right. * Two pnlla on the line byi the diver meant. 'Give me more air.' Three: pulls means, 'Haul me up.' Four pulls, 'I am struck or lost; send me assistance,' etc.; Promptly, when I signalled,' came backj the response, ' All right.' I "knew, Walters; to well that T held steady, despite Cae<e- : nove's assertion. But I felt quite anxious,, for I i knew by the swaying of the line and; the pipe,: that some sort of scrimmage wasj goingon. ' t j After brief intervals, I continued to signal the same question. The answers; came back regularly, 'All right.', So I kept j steadily pumping the air down, to him. . j In about half an hour, Walters came up! of his own accord. Wben I took off his helmet, he seemed tired, but was langhiog. j In reply to oar questions, he said that when! be first went down to the wreok tbat morn-; ing and began work, the shark swam in at j one of the gaps.in the ribs, and'stationing 1 himself ten or twelve yards away, remained there apparently watching him. No doubt; the creature was hungry and tired of waiting; for its breakfast. ' i It, after a while, moved up nearer tb ! him. , To frighten it Walters darted a strip of. board at the monster; Disturbed by that, it swam, out; of the jwreck, but soon went back to its old position,'and then a moment later, my friend saw it turn on one side and open a huge mouth that looked unpleasantly suggestive. ,' I knew then that he meant business,'said Mat, ' and I tell you, boys, it . did not take me long to step aside and slip, between two of the ship's ribs, to the outside of the wreck, 'The monster swam along where I had stood, and eyed me through the crevice. There he remained moving backwards and forwards.' To tease the monster, Walters would move his body np near the narrow open space between the libs of the vessel, when the shark would turn and instantly open its mouth. But the space between the ship's ribs was too narrow for the creature to oome through. It then became enraged,. and dashed out through one of the gaps and came round en the outside of the wreck. The diver then passed quickly back through the orevioe to the inside of the hull again. So the hunter and hia game played bo-peep with each other for some time. At last the shark became so infuriated that it would dash its head -violently at the aperture, showing every sympton of baffled rage. At length, watching his his ehanoe when the savage monster opened its jaws. Mat drove his crowbar into its mouth, so that, as he relates, the bar went twothirds its length down the monster's ravenous gullet. With that it tore away at a tremendous rate through the water, leaving a stream of foam behind it. Walters then signalled, and came hurriedly to the surface.

For a while not one of the other divers would descend after hearing this story ; but Walters went down again the same afternoon. He did not see the Bhark, but found the crowbar about one hundred feet from the wreck bent like a rainbow I

For two days our troublesome hour did not make an appearance. The third morning aftfcr, however, Casenove, who had descended first, came hurriedly up to say that the .would-be man-eater was back in his old lurking place, down under the forward quarter. He had grown so bold that none of the party cared to descend to the wreck. At length we concluded we would try to kill the monster by a blast of gunpowder, such as we had used to clear the hulk.

Taking one of the ordinary japanned tin cases, or flasks, that held three pounds of powder, and removing the little pewter nozzle, we inserted tightly in the hole one end of an air-pipe, such as was used with the diving suits. By paying out the pipe the flask could be taken by a diver and placed wherever a blast was needed. For firing a charge we simply ran an ordinary fuse down the pipe till it touched the powder. It would take three or four minutes for the fuse to burn down to the powder ; but it was sure to reach it. This was one of our own inventions. So, after our tin case was ready, Walters, after carefully reconnoitring the wreck, and not seeing the shark, went below the surface with it. He descanded so slowly and cautiously as to make little or no noise. Fifteen or twenty minutes passed ; then he came up, saying, that by working very quietly, he had succeeded in putting the case between two ribs, near the lurking hole of the shark. Not long after, the monster made his appearance, and descended, apparently, to his lurking place. At a venture the fuse was at once fired, for we knew if we did not kill him,.we oould frighten him. Soon after there came a heavy, dull thump ! A mass of water was heaved upward in a great wave that rocked the schooner like a cockle boat. Several old timbers came shooting up from the wreck to the surface j and after a brief time, the shark himself rose and floated near our vessel, still strugglirg spasmodically at intervals, though its body was not much torn. . _', , That was the only shark we saw in those waters. —"Youth's Companion."