In the Grip of the Blanket-Fish.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVI, Issue 1, 5 July 1911, Page 59

In the Grip of the Blanket-Fish.

By

Harry H. Dunn,

of Mexico City.

VERY FEW MEN HAVE ANY REASON TO FEEL GRATEFUL TOWARDS MANEATING SHARKS. DIVER ROACH, OF SAN FRANCISCO, 'HOWEVER, OWES HIS LIFE TO THOSE TIGERS OF THE DEEP, WHO ALL VNKNOWINGH RESCUED HIM FROM A FEARFUL FATE.

T|¥ O be buried a hundred and eighty I I | feet beneath the surface of the 1 sea, under very nearly three tons of leather-skinned, gristlefleshed, boneless fish, is an experience that falls but seldom to the experience 'Of even those most adventurous of men, deep-sea divers. This is what happened to Jack Roach, of San Francisco, California, in the harbour of Manzanillo, on the West Coast of Mexico, not long ago. To have lived, through such an ordeal is enough to unnerve most men, but not so with [Roach. He has gone on with his lifework, thankful that he escaped when escape seemed impossible, but still clinging to his trade of diving. Diver Roach told his story as follows, and 1 have set it down as nearly as possible in his own language: I was given the contract for blasting the vast coral beds out of the Bay of Manzanillo. one of the southern ports on the West Coast of Mexico. The Government of Mexico is making extensive harbour improvements there, and, while the ■water is naturally deep, the steady work of the coral animals often raises unexpected reefs and dangerous points in the bay. To get rid of these permanently, I (exploded charges in all the beds, broke them up into small fragments, and dredged them out of the harbour. In doing this it was often necessary for me to put on the diving-suit and go down to place the dynamite myself. I may say that I have had thirty years’ experience in diving and in carrying out contracts for the removal of obstacles on the bed of the sea. In that time I have fought sharks and swordfish,' and have even had to cut my way through the deadly arms of an octopus or devil-fish, but never in all any experience have I been so near death as I was beneath that smothering blanket of flesh which came on me unexpectedly out of the clear sea.

The manta, or blanket-fish —the creature which 1 had the battle with—is common to the warm parts of the Pacific. Around the Mexican penal colony on the Tres Marias Islands, not very far from Manzanillo, it is one of the most efficient guards for the prisoners incarcerated there. Not a man lias ever been known to escape from this dreaded prison by swimming. No sooner does a human body strike the water than a school of these monsters appears, Hying like giant bats through the sea. They throw' themselves on the hapless swimmer, crushing him to the bed of the sea, and there suck the flesh from his bones with their powerful mouths. The manta grows to mammoth dimensions, though the one which attacked me was comparatively small, not weighing over two or three tons and not being more than fifteen feet across. The fish is nearly square in outline, the wings forming great right angles which stretch out from the body, giving it a rectangular appearance. The fish swim by flapping these wings, and are sometimes called ‘’sea-bats” on this account. Mantas swim with incredible rapidity for what is apparently so ungainly a fish, and once they sight anything in the water, unless it be the speediest fish or shark, they overhaul ft and simply engulf it, wrapping the entire blanketlike body around the unfortunate victim. Even with a sharp knife it is almost impossible to reach a vital point in the manta’s body. For this reason they are the most dreaded by divers of all the dwellers in the sea; and the diver’s life is not without its perils, take my word for that. Though I had often noticed the presence of these monsters in the water near me while working on the Mexican coast, I have been very careful not to disturb them. In fact, I have frequently temporarily abandoned placing a blast in one particular spot owing to “flocks”

of these great sea-bats happening to be in the immediate vicinity. On the. eventful day, however, I had placed my blast, exploded It from the lighter, blowing several tons of solid coral into fragments, and had gone down again about a hundred and eighty feet

With this in my hand, a formidable weiU pon in any ordinary combat, 1 felt much as a miner must feel, buried in a sudden cave-in of some shaft, with only a pocket-knife to dig his way out. My only hope was to hack away at one spot in the manta, and thereby cau.se it such

to the bed of the sea to get an idea of just what havoc the dynamite had wrought. It was near the close of my contract, and 1 was anxious to catch the next boat of one of the American lines up the coast; to San Francisco. . I got to the , bottom in safety, and was taking note of the conditions there, when I saw a school of man-eating sharks, which infest these waters, rapidly approaching. I stepped behind a huge fragment of coral, let my air-hose play loose, and waited for them to pass. There was no chance for me to be drawn through the thirty fathoms of water to safety without the sharks seeing me, and 1 hoped they would pass without noting my presence. They did just as I hoped, and 1 stepped out from my hid-ing-place, pulled on the lift-rope—and was drawn directly against the belly of a manta! Instantly 1 had presence of mind enough to realise that the air-pipe, and probably the lift-rope, would be broken if my companions attempted to raise me, burdened with the fish, so I signalled to be dropped again. This the men promptly did, hut T was by no means out of my trouble. Its great glassy eyes gleaming with ferocity, its mouth opening and shutting savagely, the blanket-fish followed me down. I tried to step from under it, but the manta had a spread of body that must have overhung me for six or seven feet on all sides. 1 was completely engulfed, and as T reached for the ten-inch sheath knife T always carry 1 felt that my time had come. F-ortvrr.ately the air-pipe was hanging loose, and the pump on the lighter running l-ke a clock. I knew that the beak of the monster would never penetrate my diving suit, but I knew' also that the men, in the course of time, would attempt to pull me up if they got no signal, ami then 1 should be smothered to death just as certainly as though buried alive in the earth of some lonely graveya rd. The bottom of the sea about me was as black as night. Slowly the great mass of the fish’s body settled down upon me, and I was pinioned fast to the bottom of the bay. I was powerless now to give a signal to my assistants either to haul up Qr to pay out the line, and 1 did some of the most rapid thinking of all my life as 1 lay there buried under the slimy mass. With a great effort T turned half way over on my left aide, ao that my right aim was free, and slowly drew my knife,

pain, if that were possible, that it would move away. With this end in view I commenced to hack at the very centre of the mass above me. Through Hie windows of my helmet I could see the great body quiver at every thrust, but at the same time, even through my diving suit, 1 could, feel the great mouth moving over my body, seeking some aperture by which it could suck the flesh from my bones. And then, just as my blows were becoming weaker and weaker, the manta suddenly slipped off me and glided away, almost on tlie bottom of the sea. I thought my knife had done the work, when, glancing upward. I saw the white bellies of at least half a dozen huge sharks, evidently in full pursuit of the sea-bat. They, and not the knife, were, my saviour. Scenting or seeing the blood of the blanket-fish in the water, they had swooped down upon the monster, cagey for a feast. ’They promptly attacked the manta in force, driving it out into the open sea. and there, a* T saw’ later when raised to the lighter by my assistants, they killed it by repeated snaps at its great body, as wolves kilf deer by snapping at their Hanks. When the manta left me I pulled Hie slgnaX I’opp and was hauled to the surface, which 1 had never expected to reach again. Far out in the channel I could see the battle, but I did not feel like going closer to it. nor was it for several days that I could don my div : ng outfit ami drop down into the green water- of Manzanillo Bay without completely losing my nerve.