CAUGHT IN THE MUD.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 308, 29 December 1922, Page 7

CAUGHT IN THE MUD.

DIVER'S TERRIBLE STRUGGLE. UNDER SYDNEY HARBOUR. IFrom Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, Drcember 22. For two and α-half hours last Monday ! Di*cr Harry Bennett, of the Public Works Department at Sydney, had a desperate struggle to free himself from the treacherous mud at the bottom of the harbour. Gradually he sank down' until the mud gripped him to the level of his mouth, and it was only after a terrific effort that Bennett was able to climb to the surface. As an employee of the Public Works Department the diver had the job of clearing the piles under the Glebe Island Bridge. Clothed in his heavy cumberBorne diving suit—it weighs nearly four hundredweight—he went overboard from a punt into twenty feet of water. * He reached the bottom at a short distance from the bridge piles, and straight away his troubles commenced. Without warning he sank thigh deep into a mass of slimy shifting mud. For a while he struggled ineffectually, but the weight of hie suit, and the suction created, dragged him deeper into the morass. \ "I soon saw that it was going to be » hard job,' , said the diver. "The mud was by far the worst I had experienced in fourteen years' diving, and the more I struggled the woree became my position. It didn't take mc long to see that I could never get free by my own efforts, so I signalled to be pulled up. But they ! couldn't shift mc. evidently. i "In the meantime I waf- trying my hardest at my end, but I only went in deeper. It seemed like days down there. Just when my strength was giving out, and the mud was level with my mouth, I had an idea. I signalled for the rope that was to let down my material, and when this came down I tied it to one of my legs. I 'filled with air," and again signalled to be pulled up, and this time, thank goodness, I was pull?d clear. "But there was more trouble in store for mc. I was being pulled up sideways when I touched the ladder. My lines became entangled with it, and I was jammed there. It was the devil's own job to get rid of the air, and to get clear, and when I did I was so weak that it took mc all my time to climb up to the surface." With no telephone apparatus to let him know what was taking place on the surface. the diver was naturally unaware of his mates' concern. It was n<x>n g-uessed that Bennett wae caught in the mud. for his line showed that he was some distance from the piles. The Metropolitan Engineer and the I Harbour Trust were informed of the I diver's plight, and immediately set to I work to get another diver to go down to Bennett's assistance. A police launch was requisitioned, and the relief party dashed off to the bridge. But it was too late— i Bennett was safe on the surface two and a -half hours after he left it.