A WOMAN WHO DIVES FOR GOLD.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3143, 13 November 1922, Page 7

A WOMAN WHO DIVES FOR GOLD.

(By Lord Headley.)

llv object in writing this article is to announce' the fact that another of our poor male fastnesses has been compelled to capitulate to the energy and enterprise of the fair sex.

The successful attack was made a few years ago by a woman, who thus became the leader or pioneer of all women deep-sea. divers. 1 refer, of course. to Miss Margaret Naylor, whose name has been so frequently mentioned lately in connelction with the recovery of treasure from the sunken Spanish galleon lying in ten l';itboms oil' the coast of Mull. There, in the cosy, tucked-away little harbor of Tobermory, and less than a hundred yards from the shore lies one of the treasure ships of the great and ''invincible" /Armada, through the agency of which the ambitious Philip of Spain hoped to conquer England and add her to his already enormous possessions. In 1/388, when the Armada was fitted out and launched against our country, he was the most powerful sovereign ill the world, and it is said that so confident was he of becoming King of Great Britain that he actually sent on the regalia in advance. It is also said that the richly-bejewelled crown to be used at his coronation at Westminster is now lying somewhere between the stout oaken ribs of the Ahnirantc do Florencia in the sixty i'et of water which .Miss Naylor has successfully negotiated. There is something fascinating in the idea of extracting from this wreck a royal crown and perhaps a cool million pounds' worth of specie, plate, and jewels'. One's fancy almost extends to seeing the woman diver endeavoring to invest herself with the various articles and admiring herself in a Venus' looking-glass. The element of fear would not trouble Miss Naylor. who would feel no dread in : "Risking her life for the spoil of a wreck. Taking rich gems from the dead on her deck;" for she lias had one or two very narrow escapes from death in the course of her experience without being in any way deterred from tackling the risky business again. On one, occasion her feet, encased in the heavy diver's boots, became in some way fixed below one of the lower rungs of a ladder she was using, and tiie harder the men above pulled the more critical became her position, for her head was pulled right out of the helmet and into the body of the divingdress. She did not lose her presence of mind, ami by a supreme effort managed to free both her feet. She was dragged to the surface, when it was found that she was bleeding freely from the nose, mouth, and chin, due to the force with which her head had been pulled through the neck of the helmet.

There is something very delightful in hearing Miss Naylor describe her adventures in the realms of Davy ones. She has a sweet low voice, and »»ls her stories with enchanting simplicity.