THE PERILS OF THE DIVER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7293, 4 January 1902, Page 1

THE PERILS OF THE DIVER.

{Boyai HagaiiiM.} . Divers,: like the Hind, soon (become expert workers in darkness j but. a powerful water-tight oil-lamp lhaa been, fox some years in use. It can be supplied with, air by its own private ptan|^ should the main pump be too small to serve botih man 'and flame. And the electric light is now available down below* With divers one nob unnaturally .. connects, sharks, possibly re- :< calling one or two grisly stories^ and imagining more. But it seems that" such must be taken witib a grain, of sa&b. ' A diver in ; full war-paint is hardly as appetising :\» i morsel to a shark of fine taste as he would " , be if scantily clad or naked. A direr calving the wreck of a eteamer -was searching for some important papers in the chart- • room, when, turning suddenly, ihe found •himself , CLOSETED WITH I SHABK. that had followed Mm in. The man was in the corner fartihest front tihe door, and his feelings were those of unmixed! ihortor. The fish, however, showed no immediate wish to press ihia advantage, but raliher drifted a. IMe arade. Defence was out of the questaon^ aiwj.th© divep made a bolt— suoi as 'fee ■6oukt--f6r €he door. The shark, who appears &».siave been quits fts terrified as the diver, dashed for the emergency, exit himself,' and' being mfrah> better equipped for such a compefatioiii add altogether more at home^ came in— -or xather out-^anf easy first, and was not seen again. Familiarity breeds contempt, [however, > and other emotions as -well, it seems. Lambert, a very well-known diveiywMle a* work on; si wreck off the coast of Diega Garcia, received a daily caH Iron* a shark. At first the brute was easily scared away, by an extra tushi of ail from the safetyvalve: but it gradually grew bolder, .and after a week Lambert foresaw troubfe ahead Secmang a Knife, k« Y®» koM ' enough to hold out nis naked ihand for a bait, and as the eharld turned on its back for the .fatal snap successfully stabbed it. ; The backbone lie still keeps as a trophy. For men wihose nerves are not in perfect ord«r there are other, if less tangible, terrors. A salvage diver suddenly signalled to be raised, and arrived at the surface ia great perturbation. Two gigantic phantoms, gray and gaunt, had, he said, approached him in a menacing manner. " The story was thought rather wanting in substance, and another man went down to investigate. He penetrated to the saloon of the sbeamer, where his mate Bad been at work, and sure enough after a moment he perceived the ghosts advancing to meet him. Alarmed, but determitoed, he raised his axe and levelled . a doughty stroke- Crash I and the salvage from that steamer would be short by one full-length mirror. The gjhosts were tha legs of the divers as reflected in the glass, only, like all else seen through the thick frontal eye of the helmet, enormously magnified. ' 1. . . A diver's assistance was required to examine a pair of dock gates which would not shut closely. An examination by touch at the bottom of twenty feet of yery muddy water showed that an iron clamp was torn from its fastenings and jammed between the gates as they met. ■ The clamp was removed and a new one adjusted; and this being done the diver gave a pull at his line, which he had arranged should be the signal for an experimental closing of the gates before he ascended. It is always easy to be wise after tie event, and re* membering the great size and weight o£ the gates, the comparative . ' - . HELPLESSNESS^ 07 A MAN TJNDEB WATEB, and the fact tnat the diver was standing close to the gates in such a position that in closing they would move from him^— it may seem strange that he should not have foreseen the result. To save time,, moreover,; he had had the gates opened about a third only, and now stood close to the narrow opening. As soon as the movement of the gates began- he was swept impotently along by the great weight of water that followed, straight for the fast-closing aperture. To be caught between those ponderous masses meant an awful death, and the narrowness of the escape may. be judged from the fact that as he was swept safely through he felt the pressure of a gate-edge on either shoulder. But he had only escaped one danger for another. A jerk on his line reminded him that he and his boat and mates were now on opposite sides of the closing gates; his line and air-pipa would be nipped and held, and he caught like a rat in a trap. Knife,- to cut the line and allow himself to rise, he had none, for the work had not required it. His hammer! Was there still time? He pushed the head between the meeting doors, and on the instant felt them close on it and knew he was igafe; the massive- -hammerhead was larger than the .line and pipe, and the latter was still left free.