"FOUND IN HARBOUR."

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 69, 23 March 1931, Page 3

"FOUND IN HARBOUR."

RAIL AND BAR IRON. DIVER'S SUCCESSFUL "FISHING." Anyone who has seen a length of rail iron or similar heavy object slip from a sling when being unloaded at the wharves and fall into the harbour probably imagines that the iron is allowed to remain on the harbour bottom until it has rusted itself away, but such is not the case. Periodically the Auckland Harbour Board sends its diver ou a round of the wharves and everything of any size that has gone "over the side" is fished up again. The diver was hard at it on Saturday and his operations were watched by a small crowd of loungers. His punt was moored at the inner berth on the eastern side of the Queen's wharf, and his visits to the harbour bottom resulted in a long length of railway iron and a piece of 'bar iron being hauled up. Both "finds" were thickly covered with mussels. In order that the diver may carry out his work with the maximum of safety, it is necessary for three other men to assist him. Two work the machine which pumps air, and the third holds the air line and a rope by which the diver signals when he wishes to be hauled to the surface. Objects which are located by the diver are tied to a stout rope and are hauled up by crane. On a sunny day like to-day the diver's job appears congenial enough, but one would imagine that he would feel the cold particularly in his hands, at times when the temperature of the water is more severe.