A DIVERS' QUEST.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 120, 18 May 1912, Page 8

A DIVERS' QUEST.

There is peihips no more thriUm? story in the histoiy of diving th<iM the recovery' of the f.old *<nd silver that went down A\ith t) eP. md O linc-r Oceana. off Eastbourne. I 1 ho Ocean i lay in iorty ioei of witer, but the great peril" was the cm rent*. at the bottom, whicai were- ho strong tht-t they moved the vessel some distance after she sank. The divers went down took thei/ liv<\s in their hands. They had to feel their \-iv slowly over the decks, rvoiding wreckage, and m*iko their w\y down hati'jways, to get »t the tro^.f.ure, wli^x wai in two room ~ in different pares of the ship. One of them, Lambi't by name, gropi'd 'ji°. xi riy into the vmathe rooms. To got it he had to br'^ik open a de^k. Twice jie wjs lifted hv the cm rent «md washed out of the room, and the w<)tei \\ so lull <J sand that it was as thick a*s sOip wliich me?nt that Ilc could not soe anything. Fabian, smother div^r, crawled along the dock to nurnipifour hatchway. He had \p c^amD^r over debri1 '\t every step, j1 Obstfiotions gnpjicd hls> lines above him, t'ne current threutenerl to carry him oil his ie&t; every ,step voa aai adv^ntuie. He got the/n at la^t, senmli! down the hitehw 17/ in i^he darknass and found the strong io&m, but coi)J not open it. He signalled for spe^nl tackle, »md when tliis liad boon lowered to him, ho open tl'f door. The'cm-rent, Ifowever, was. too much for him, a-nd he could .seize oi <y it, couple of b.irs of silver beiore he was obliged to retire. He had,shown tho way, however, and the lest ofr !/he treasure wi.s recovered. Tliore w"s £700,000 worth of- ti ensure on lie liner, and by getting it to fcJie surface the dbors probably csb-ibhshed a record. It wat> a fine evhibitixin • i norvo iiud skill under most dingeiou.s and trying conditions.