LIFE BENEATH THE WAVES.

Evening Post, Volume XIII, Issue 78, 1 April 1876, Page 4 (Supplement)

LIFE BENEATH THE WAVES.

Soon afterwards I worked down into the Gulf of Mexico. The first coral I raised was Catoche. Knocking round about there I heard of the loss of the schooner Foam. The first mate and three men were saved, but the captain, his daughter, and three men got lost. I slung round to see if she could be raised. After we'd spent the best part of tf a week -we sailed, over ; her and dropped, anchor. llt ;.was a lovely 3 Sunday morning. 1 when we struck her. She lay in sixty feet of water, on a bottom as white as the moon.- Looking down I could see her leaning over on a coral ree£ When I got down to her I saw she'd torn a great^gap in the~reef when" she ran against it. The mainmast was gone, and^iiitig on the.fore ; I climbed up ; I savTwhole sho&ls of fish playing in and ouiTof the hatches. * First I went to look for the bodies, for I never like to work while there's any of them, about. Finding the fo'castle empty, I went to the two little state cabins. It was rather dark, and I had to feel in the lower bunks. There was nothing in>the firsthand in the other the door was locked; '' I prized it open, and jjhot backthelock with my adze % ItfJ&Vopen, and ;out something felU rign^against me; J • I felt" at once it was a woman's body. I, was not exactly frightened, but it shook me rather. I slung it from me, and; went out into the liglrt a bit until I got hold of myself. Then I turned back and brought her out — poor thing ! She'd been very pretty, and I carried her in my arms ; with her white face nestling against my shoulder, she .seemed as if she was only sleeping. I made her fast to the line as carefully as I could to send her up, and the fish played about her as if they were sorry ehe was going. At last I gave the signal, and she- went slowly up, her hair floating round her head like a pillow of golden seaweed. That was the only body I found there, and I managed after to raise considerable of the cargo. * ! One of my expeditions was among the silver banks of the Antilles, the loveliest place I ever saw, where the white coral grows into curious treelike ihapea."* A.S x stepped along tEeiwttdm it seemed as if I were in a frosted forest Here and there trailed long fronds of green and crimson seaweed.

Silver-bellied fish flashed about among the deep-brown and purple sea ferns, which *rose high as my head." Far as I could see all round itt the transparent water werediiferentcolored leaves, and on the floor piles of shells so bright in color that it seemed as if I had stumbled on a place where they kept a stock of broken rainbows. I could not work for a bit, and had a quarter determination to sit down awhile and wait for a mermaid. I guess if these* sea girls hive anywhere, they select that spot. After walking the inside out of half an hour, I thought I had better go to work and blast for treasures. A little bit on from the ruins where I sat were the remains of a treasure ship. It was a Britisher, I think, and corals had formed all about her, or rather what was left of her. The coral on the the bottom and round her showed black spots. That meant a deposit of either iron or silver. I made fairly good hauls^ every time I went down, and sold one piece I found to Barnum of New York. After I left there I had a curious adventure with a shark. I was down on a nasty rock bottom. A man never feels comfortable on them ; he can't tell what big creature may be hiding under the huge quarter-deck sea leaves which grow there. The first part of the time I was visited by a porcupine fish, which kept sticking its quills up and bobbing in front of my helmet. Soon after I saw a big shadow fall across me, and looking up there was an infernal shark playing around my tubing. It makesjne feel chilly in the back when they're about. He came down to me slick, as I looked up. I made at him and he sheered off. For half an hour he worked at it till I. could stand it no longer. If you can keep your head level it is all right, .and you're pretty safe if they're not on you sharp. This ugly brute was twenty feet long, I should think,' for when I lay down all my length on the bottom he stretched a considerable way ahead of me, and I could see him beyond my feet. They must turn over to bite, and my lying down bothered him. He swam over three or four times, and then sulked off to a big thicket of seaweed to consider. I knew he'd come back after he'd settled his mind. It seemed a long time waiting for him. "At last he' came viciously over' me, but, lika the time before, too far from my arms. The next time I had my chance, and ripped him with my knife as neatly as I could. A shark always remembers he's got -business somewhere else;when cut, so off this fellow goes. It is a curious Ihing, too, that all sharks will follow in the trail he leaves. I got on my hands and knees, and as he swam off I noticed four dark shadows slip after him. I saw no more that time. They^ did not like my company.—Captain Boyntori.