THE SEA FLOOR

Hokitika Guardian, 17 February 1928, Page 3

THE SEA FLOOR

(By a Diver). Every descent by a diver to the sea floor is an adventure into the unknown. Taking a “dip” in a home seaport may lie comparatively safe, but when lie is crawling about the bottom a hundred feet below the surface in the Tropics, or where there are had currents running, danger stands always at his elbow. So strenuous is the work that only the man who is perfectly ft is permitted to engage in it. Above all, his heart and his lungs must he absolutely sound. The diver’s dress is weighted heavily with lead, and on his hack and his breast are slung lOlh weights. Each of his hoots carries 1 Slh of the same metal. He must not go down too quickly when descending to any great depth. Nor must he come up too quickly, for that might he fatal. After a diver has spent twenty minutes at the bottom in about (iOtt oi water he returns to Ihe surface by stages. He stays five minutes at 2011. five minutes at 30ft, and ten minutes at 10ft on his way up. The reason for this is that: as a result of having air pumped to him at high pressure while working in deep water the diver’s blood becomes aerated lull ol hubbies like soda water. If he assends too quickly lie gets caisson disease, or "diver’s head” as it is termed, and the chances are that he will die of it. Should a diver he obliged to rise quickly from a deep “dip” the party attending upon him seize him as he conies to the surface and push him head first. dress and all, into a big cylinder known as a recomprcssion chamber. In this the diver lies prone while the air pressure is regulated sil v.onld have been had he 'onie up |,v easy stages and his blood brought hack to normal The recomprcssion chamber is the antidote fo caisson disease. In shark-in tested waters divers go armed with a knife. But sharks aie not the worst enemies. To keep them away from a diver small explosive charges are fired in the water around him by means ol electricity. fat worse than the sharks are the swordfish. These are had tempered and courageous fighters, dangerous opponents for a diver to meet with. Ugliest of all is a flesh-eating fish met with in South American waters and which will go for anything. Of all the mishaps that may occur to him what a diver most dreads is being turned upside down by a displacement of air inside his dress and having to return to the surtace feet foremost. He needs an iron nerve to carry on with a job where perils are so many, but the diver becomes accustomed to risks and regards them as pari of the day’s work.