PERILS OF DIVING

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 103, 22 December 1931, Page 7

PERILS OF DIVING

underwater thrills ACROBATIC STUNTS TO AYOID HORRIBLE DEATH ON SEA FLOOR EXTRAORDINARY FEATS Spectacular and thrilling as are the performances of circus aerohats and record-breaking athletes, the most extraordinary feats performed by man are not seen at circus or track meets, or even at sld-jumping tournaments. In fact, they are never seen by the public at all, for the simple reason that they are performed by daring divers working in the depths of the sea or on the bottoms of lakes and rivers (writes John Brady in the San Francisco "Chronicle"). They are done during submarine operations designed to safeguard human lives, or in some way benefit humanity. Not infrequently the deep-sea diver has to perform one of these pheiiomenal acrobatic stunts to save himself from a horrible death. Consider, for example, what "Con" Campbell did when he found himself in such a desperate predicament only a short time ago. Cornelius Campbell, worthy member of that daring and illustrious clan, who will be referred to as "Con" Campbell, as he prefers to be called, is regularly employed as a diver by the Boston and Maine Railroad. Probably he has the distinetion of heing the only man in the world holding such a position, for, as far as is known, no other railroad has a diver on its pay roll. His job is to malce sure that the bridges over which B. and M. trains travel are safe below as well as above water, and he regularly inspects all the piling and bridge girders of the entire system that are under water at low tide, or when • lakes or rivers are lowest. So at times "Con" does "deep-sea" diving in Vermont. Risked Death Like all deep-sea divers, Campbell has touched elbows with death in Davy Jones's locker at times, and has managed to brush by the demon, but he speaks of one experience as "the most unpleasant of his diving career." He had to go to the hospital to recover. "Early one afternoon, while digging a cable trench in the muddy water of a river he unconseiously worked his way under the end of a submerged pile that lay at a sharp angle with the bottom, and had several short pieces of board and planking projecting. from it. Meanwhile, the flat-bottomed skiff or tender, with the apparatus for pumping air to him, and his three surface assistants, had moved'in the same direction as he had been moving, and had passed over the submerged pile, and soon all three of his lines were looped around it. Campbell did not realise what had happened until he signalled to be hauled up for a breath of fresh air, and found himself being pulled hackwards. By this time his life-line and air supply hose to his helmet and digging g'un were badly tangled around the propections on the pile, and 'he quickly countermanded the order to his assistants to pull him up, fearful that it might result in cutting off the flow of air. Then he coolly sized up his situation, and having determined by feeling — for he could not see anything in the muddy water — how his lines were looked and knotted around the pile, he beban trying to free himself from the death trap. Slowly and deliherately, he performed various acrobatic stunts, including several triple somersaults, vertical figure eights, and many_ flipflops such as made the late Li'llian Leitzel a world-famous circus attraction. Air Cut Off But during these struggles his supply of life-giving air occasionally cut off by kinlcs in the hose or a flattening of it when some manoeuvre tightened it too much around the pile, so that when he finally got free he barely had sufficient strength left to signal his assistants to haul him to the surface. He was unconscious when his helmet was taken off, but the prone method of resuscitation and an inhalator restored him "to his senses. And, after spending the rest of the day and night in a hospital, he was baek on the job the next morning. A diver working on the bottom of a river flowing at only a eouple of miles an houi* can make fair forward progress against the current hy breasting it and clawing into it with his arms and hands, Campbell explains, but to work forward against a three-mile-an-hour current requires a series of shoulder charges. And against currents of much higher velocity it is necessary to crawl along the bottom on hands and knees. In comparatively still water, however, a diver may hop along much like a kangaroo by cleverly manipulating ihe intake and exhaust air valves of his helmet. With a swift current pushing him along, a diver can travel too fast for comfort and saifety, according to Campbell, and he thinks he broke all sprinting records for a 40yds. dash one time while working at the Portsmouth Bridge. At the turn of the tide his feet were suddenly lifted from the river hed, and he streamed out horizontally in the ,■ water. In this position he was swept downstream, gradually rising until he was at the end of his 125ft. life-line and on the surface. Fortunately he managed to keep from shooting up fast enough to cause any serious attack of casson disease, or "the hends," as it is commonly called hy divers. Body Surcharged With Gas The human body ,when subjected to abnormal water pressure, and forced to breathe compressed air long. enough, becomes surcharged with gas, much like a bottle of soda water, and if the diver comes up too quickly, the gas (nitrogen) effervesces in his blood. Thus, if a diver is not Tbrought up slowly from a great depth, or even from a shallow one, if he has been down long, in order to allow these nitrogen bubbles in his hlood supply to dissipate, one oi them may reach his heart, fill it with froth, and kill him. Besides, his eyes are likely to pop out of their sqckets. He was working at salvaging a suhmarine, and the signal *had^ come that his hour was tip. That is the

— , , limit of time a navy diver is allowed to work at a depth of 100ft. On his ascent he reached the decompression stage, a grating from the sides of which two rods come up to a ring that is shackled to the descending line, without any trouble. Then he realised that he was getting too buoyant ior comfort, and tried to cut down his air. But when he tried to op'en his exhaust valve, which is operated by pressure of the chin upon it, he got no .action. i Valve Clogged WitK Silt The valve was clogged with silt that plugged it up. He was helpless, yet he knew he must not ascend. So he cast about with his legs hoping tha one of his feet would cateh on something that would hold him down. And luck was with him. Just as he thought he was done for the brass toe-clip of one of his boots caught in the angle of a stage rod, and it held him from shooting to the surface. Distention of his rubber _ suit by more air pressure tore it away from the metal breastplate, and his helmet threatened to leave his suit entirely. But deflation of his suit gave him the us'e of his arms, and he grabbed the helmet, which he held in place until he was finally brought up. By regulating his air valve and increasing the buoyancy of his suit a skilled diver can easily glide over ohstructions on the ocean bottom, and perform high and long jumps in the water. If such performances could be pictured they would probably look like the familiar slow-motion films.