Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1756-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities external link and the Library of Congress. Learn more
Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA
Newspaper Page Text
put me Into It th» \^* the ends of the bag 1 . •' jtaC 1 screwed on the top. ? The weights l ; were Atlas, must , have; felt with the burden of the world upon his shoulders; that ... 300 pounds, even when partially supported against the lad der, f<Ht like as many tons. With the as sistance of the captain I was launched out on the rungs of the ladder and re ceived another. Installment of lead. ¦ Then they Initiated me Into rthe code of signals, and when everything was ready I essayed to walk down the ladder, taking twenty- five-pound steps. I _ only : took one. ' That landed me in the water. \ The suit had been Inflated. too much and the three hundred pounds, wouldn't sink. After floating around ,on the top ,of the water for a few minutes— l doubt much to the entertainment: of .the gentlemen, on board the Lottie— they. hauled: me up and started me over again, with less air and more success. f // ll y -'¦ "The ebb* a begin ry up ¦ or the icur rent'll be too strong -^ - /'-.:• There was a sound ;M ot gurglln g air and . . ' ~ - - .".!**¦¦! •-, * .'. .. \. ' . . •ront ' or* LiiG' II lxi 6 : ¦windows lnUhehelmet,' ; then a ringing In. my ears that- grew: deafening,; but not , much feeling of fear. There "was ! plenty of .room, plenty of air,- and, the. little win dows might have been, glazed glass, if I hadn't known It, Instead of plain : glass with, the Sah Francisco Bay all around. Altogether the s big suit , was ¦' snug and cozy, and It: was 'hard, to: realize that* I was under water. Just at first, when the! ringing: In my ears began, there was that feeling that, one expe riences when one dreams of falling; and again upon touching the bottom it was light, like the way one drops to the ground In n dream. The depth of the bay at that particular portion was about forty feet, and there must have been a strong outgoing Ude, for I could feel myself floating away.fiom the perpendicular. In a few momenta I felt something beneath. my feet, and the ringing in my tars stopped. \ I was on the bottom, and the ringing had ceased with the '.unlf ormit y of pressure on coming to a standstill. The windows had grown darker with the descent, and there were only. outlines visible. Something big and black loomed '.up beside me, and I was at a' loss to know whether It was the hull of a lost ship or a whale. It seemed sta tionary; and upon reaching out my hand I discovered it to.be a rock. Cautiously I stooped over and touched the ground with my hands, which were free at the wrists. The bottom was also rock; . there . was nothing to be picked up, not even a bit of sand, and I had counted on an oyster with a pearl. I grew bolder and took a step forward. Ihe big shoes, that 1 had not been able to move unassisted on beard the boat, seemed fairly to jump up in the water. :."The fairy tale giant -with the seven- iMfm boots earn* to my nrfrt<s. Coming down I had determined on a sub terranean constitutional, but after two <->r three steps around I began to feel a llttl* uncertain and the breathing wua difficult. I feared to pull on the air tube for morn air, because the natural Inference of tha men at the line would be that I had lost my head and was trying to get them to draw me up. So I stood Btill until tha breathing was easier. Something allva wriggled under my foot, shaking the big boot, which seemed as buoyant as a cork. Down there the floor of the bay runs In rocky strata. I learned this from looking at the models of the soundings, not from personal observation, and the strata run In a circle around the rock, forming a kind of merry-go-round for the seals. I am Inclined to think I came In touch with one of the merrymakers: something •wished by me and something wlggly touched my hand. I began to feel the presence of sea monsters — the sort of thing one sees In Chinese literature and In the comlo almanacs, together with crooked lamp posts and a dozen keyholes. The breathing grew a little harder and I thought how easy It would be to smother. Before I had not realized my position and Just what depended upon that llttla ma chine above, as well as the watchfulness of the men. I reached for the air tub* and gave a little tug on the rubber ho»e— the signal for more air. It came In abund ance, but I felt myself being lifted. They, were hauling me up. Up. up I went, thd little window* grow ing lighter, and that deafening ringing In. my ears again. Something alive scurried In front of the llttla window, then thera was a glare of light and a roar, then my head popped out of the water and I began to get heavy again— hopelessly and help lessly heavy. They dragged me up the ladder and took off the helmet. Though there were hearty plaudits I did not respond to the encore. When it was all over with I began to get frightened and to realize how much con fidence I had placed In the sure hand of the man at the lines, the workmen at the pump and In the little apparatus Itself. If that pumping machine had got out of order, or If the air. hose had been punc tured, or the man had misunderstood tha signal— but none of those things had hap pened. i- In reality I was some ten minutes under water, though the time seemed but a few moments, and there had been some forty three feet of line let out. As they unbuckled the shoes for me and took off the weights there came a signal from the barge to look out— they were going to shoot off a blast. There was a strangled roar and the water came surg ing out to the boat in Big waves. "If you'd been down there when that went off." said Mr. Axman. "I think you would have known there was something happening." The concussion In the water was so violent that it would have been Instantaneous death, though there was not the slightest disturbance of the air. "There was nearly 200 pounds of powder In that shot." said Mr. Streets. "Guess they'll have • to keep pegging away with shots like that till they chip It air off," added some one else. "A llttl» thing like that doean't fease that rock ta any extent." "How do you get the powder to ignlta under the water?" I asked. "We use a kind of powder that th« water does not affect and explode It by a jar which we bring about through the us« of electric wires." said Mr. Streets. "Th« holes are made In the rock under watei by drilling through a cylinder or pipe, and when the hole is deep enough we send th« powder down through the pipe, attach th« exploding apparatus and turn en the cur« rent. The powder Is a special kind mad« by the powder company for us and comet in the form of a jelly so compact that th« water is not absorbed by it." "And what la the average size of tin blasts?" By Man Byxbse. I *jp? NO on to the guide rope and don't /• '\ loso your "cad." Thoee wer» the it — \ !a?t words I heard, then they popped the helmet over my head. ivsr.g me off the ladder and down I went to the bottom of the bay. Through the courtesy of Mr. Axman and Mr. Streets, superintendents of the Gov ernment work going on at Shag Hock. I hud been given permission to go down In the diving suit, end Captain Flanders of the tug Lottie had allowed me a place beelde hlsj In his little pilot-house. When the Lottie steamed up and sidled In beside the big floating barge which •erves as hotel and storehouse for the twenty-two men at work drilling and blasting the rock, the men threw a big rope o^er a wooden post of the barge and proceeded to unload a lot of pro visions and tobacco. On the barge the cook was getting breakfast; there was a reassuring odor of cof fee and ham and a fine perspective view of a row of pies made ready for lunch. That was In one end of the float. The center was taken up \ with the big boiler ¦ which supplies the steam for the drilling. On the other end and all around the sides were the bunks where the men deep and stacks of ropes and tools. I was ad-, znonlshed to eat lots of breakfast by way of a stimulant, but was warned against the cook's biscuits. "There are 300 pounds of lead on that diving suit already," said the captain, and the cook looked resentful. (Presently there was a big boom, a ecurry of gulls and a rocking of the barge. They had set off a blast. . Other than a violent agitation of the water there did not seem to be much visible effect. The Old rock stood as firm and exhibited aa little Inclination to "fly" as did the one against whose base Roderick Dhu placed his defiant chieftain foot. *'31ess me," said Mr. Axman, "It would take all the powder In Christendom to blow that ui>." The m«n climbed out on the derrick ax rar.gem«-i;t air;iin and went to work on the drills. The superintendents began giving orders and taking down lists of things needed from the shore. The cook appeared at the door with a plate of left over scraps of food. "Want to iwe my poultry?" asked the old fellow, £-ml!!ns. as he tossed It over board. There was a v.hirr of wings and a flock of seagulls clucked down from the derrick, skimming the water and picking up the bits of food. On another point that jutted out from the crater there was an assem blage of scraggy-looking black fowls, holding an animated session. "TlK'in's shaßs." volunteered a sailor. "That's why they call this Shag Rock. They've been roostin' here and ( holdln' their confabs ever since the year o' 1, and I reckon they don't like it much seeln' us bl';\vi:/ uv ihe rock up." Perhaps be was right, but the shags did not seem to know what to do about it. The discomfiture of the black fowls is probably the necessary "evil Involved In the "white man's burden" In this case. YViif-n tho*e rocks are all out of the way, with their menace to the safety of Fhips «nd boats, the shags will be banished to Al< atraz or will have to emigrate alto gether. At 10 o'clock the Lottie, with the diver and his assistants, together with his ap paiutus and his pupil on board, Steamed round to the other side of the ro<k. An emhor had been lost and the diver W£.s going down in search of It. taking advan tage of tin calm between the tides. They liiseoed a buoy, dropped anchor and made the tug firm. X»ext they got out a bis canvas armrifri merit and the diver sot in elde of it- Then they put the bfeastplate on him. and the way they sounded arouna to ccc If everything was safe and their eerious faces must have made the diver feel a little squeamish. He eat down on a coil of rope while they buckled on Ms shoes, each one weighing some twenty five pounds on account of the leaden soles.' When everything was ready and the aJr pump going properly he dragged It all. with himself Inside of It, around to whero the three steps of the ladder led down to the water. Laboriously he swung him ¦ elf oat on the ladder and leaned over while they Buckled another hundred pounds of weight on his body. Then they tied ropes around him, coiled the air tube round his arm and secured It, arranged the guide line, tested the air pumps, screwed on the helmet and then dropped him off into the water. The big canvas rubber bag was inflated, and ' the three hundred pounds of weight was not more than enough to sink the diver pioperly. The canvas Inflated and swelled cut into the semblance of a gigantic man, there was a swish of escaping air and then a bubbling and he disappeared. Every one was silent. After a few minutes under the water there came a tug at the air tube, the Big nal for more air. "Give him all the air you can," yelled the man at the ropes to the two ut the pump, and the machine whirred noisily. Some ten minutes elapsed, the bubblcj appearing in a little trail, marking the subterranean course of the man below. Then came the signal on the guideline to haul up. The copper helmet with Its lit tle glass windows presently popped out of the water and the diver scrambled up the ladder, announcing that the lost anchor was nowhere in the vicinity and that they would have to sound somewhere else. The, sounding was not to be made until the afternoon, so the captain nodded his bead to me and said "Next." It waa aomethias ol .*. mlaflt, bat thtj Continued on Pago Fly*. Sunday Call NOVEL EXPERIENCE OF PLUCKY SUNDAY CALL REPORTER