CHAPTER VII.

CHAPTER VII.Davy Jones’s Locker, and those who Dive into it.Scientific Diving—General Principles—William Phipps and the Treasure Ship—Founder of the House of Mulgrave—Halley’s Wooden Diving-bell and Air Barrels—Smeaton’s Improvements—Spalding’s Death—Operations at Plymouth Breakwater—The Diver’s Life—“Lower away!”—The Diving-Belleand her Letter from Below—Operations at the Bottom—Brunel and the Thames Tunnel—The Diving Dress—Suffocation—Remarkable Case of Salvage—The“Submarine Hydrostat”—John Gann of Whitstable—Dollar Row—Various Anecdotes—Combat at the Bottom of the Sea—A Mermaid Story—Run down by theQueen of Scotland.The art of unassisted diving having been considered, the reader’s attention is invited to divers and diving aided by scientific appliances. But for these developments, how could one hope to recover anything large or valuable that had once disappeared beneath the waves? How properly build gigantic breakwaters, piers, and bridges, or examine and clear choked ports and channels?29Some of the grandest achievements of modern practical science would have been impossible without their aid.Every reader understands the general principle involved in the construction of the diving-bell. Invert a tumbler in a deep vessel of water, and the liquid will only ascend to a certain height inside, however far down you place the glass. Insert a tube in a hole drilled in your tumbler, and blow downwards, and the water recedes still lower. This is what happens when the air is pumped down into the modern diving-bell. In descending in a diving-bell and remaining under water you will feel a slight inconvenience in breathing, and perhaps a tingling in the ears; this comes, not from scarcity of air, but from the fact that the atmosphere of the interior of the bell is reallydenserthan it is outside; the air, forced downwards by the powerful air-pump, is pressedupwardsby the water. Readers may remember that Robert Fulton and his friends[pg 80]remained under water in his submarine boat for over two hours, the air in that case being supplied from a large globe containing highly condensed air, which was allowed to escape as required. The foul air passed off from tubes in bubbles to the surface.A DIVER AT WORK (WITH SUBMARINE LAMP).A DIVER AT WORK (WITH SUBMARINE LAMP).As early as the year 1663 an Englishman named William Phipps, the son of a blacksmith, invented a plan for recovering from the bottom of the sea the treasures out of a Spanish vessel which had sunk on the coast of Hispaniola. Charles II. lent him a ship and all that was necessary for his enterprise, but the matter did not turn out successfully, and William Phipps fell into a state of the greatest poverty. Notwithstanding this nothing could discourage his ardour, and to set himself afloat again he opened a subscription list in England, of which the Duke of Albemarle was one of the subscribers. In 1667 Phipps embarked in a ship of 200 tons burden, having undertaken beforehand to divide the profits between the twenty shareholders who represented the associated capital. At first starting his search proved altogether unavailing, and he was just beginning to despair, when he fell in with the golden vein. The fortunate diver returned to England with £200,000; £20,000 he kept for himself, and no less than £90,000 came to the share of the Duke of Albemarle. Phipps was knighted by the[pg 81]king, and became the founder of the noble house of Mulgrave, which has played no inconsiderable part in the affairs of the United Kingdom.It is little more than a century and a half ago since the celebrated astronomer, Halley—about the first to commence those experiments in submarine exploration which have been continued to the present epoch—descended to a depth of fifty feet in a diving-bell which he had constructed. It was built of wood, and covered with sheet lead. The air that was vitiated by respiration escaped from the chamber through an air-cock, while the pure element was supplied by barrels, which descended and ascended alternately on both sides of the bell, like buckets in a well. These barrels, lined with metal, each contained some thirty-six gallons of condensed air; they were connected with the interior of the bell by leathern tubes. As soon as one of these air receptacles was exhausted another was let down. Halley himself relates that in 1721, by the aid of this apparatus, he was able to descend with four other persons to a depth of nine or ten fathoms, and to remain under water an hour and a half.It is to Smeaton, the celebrated engineer of the famed Eddystone Lighthouse, that the diving-bell owes its leading characteristics, as he was the first to abolish Halley’s rather clumsy contrivance and apply the power of the air-pump; he also constructed the first cast-iron bell. In 1779 he made use of the diving-bell to repair the piles of Hexham Bridge, in the north of England, the foundations of the structure having been undermined by the violence of the current. A few years after a sad accident occurred from the use of Halley’s barrel apparatus.In 1783, Mr. Spalding, of Edinburgh, who had made some improvements upon the mechanical arrangements of Halley’s bell, but had retained the barrel air service, engaged to recover some of the cargo of an East-Indiaman which had been sunk on the Kish Bank, Ireland. He and his assistant went down, and after the first supply of air was exhausted the barrels were sent down as usual. No signal having been given for some time, the bell was drawn up, and Mr. Spalding and his assistant were found to be dead. It is supposed that by some means they failed to discharge the air from the barrels into the bell, and were consequently suffocated. The barrel service was always more or less dangerous, from its liability to get out of gear, and if Spalding had adopted the invention of Smeaton, he would not have lost his life in the manner he did.The improved diving-bell was soon generally adopted by engineers, and played an important part in the works which have so altered the port of Ramsgate. The great engineer Rennie made constant use of the diving-bell in fixing the foundations of the eastern jetty, and in protecting it in parts against the attacks of the sea by a shield of solid masonry. It was extensively used in the construction of the Plymouth Breakwater. M. Esquiros, who visited the divers during the progress of that great work, gave an interesting account of theirmodus operandi:—“But we now,”says he,“approached the breakwater—that causeway of giants—by the side of which we soon discovered an old dismasted ship. This vessel is rough in appearance, and covered over with a kind of pent-house roof. In it live, as in a floating house, the operatives who are still working at the breakwater. They pass, alternately, one month on board ship and one month on shore. One of their little sources of profit consists[pg 82]in the sale of small fancy articles, which they say that they cut out with the blades of their pocket-knives from the rocks which they bring up from the bottom of the sea. Very soon I heard the loud throbbing of machinery, snorting and puffing like so many marine monsters; it was the wheezy noise of the air-pumps which supply the bells when buried under water....“I then noticed a small boat managed by a sailor rowing it, which glided under the mouth of the bell, and from this hollow I saw emerge a pair of large loose boots, reaching above the knees, which, being followed by another pair of large boots, convinced me that two men were jumping down into the skiff. The boat itself, in fact, at once got clear of the dome, under which it had been half hidden, and I saw it come back to the vessel with two workmen on board, wet up to the waist and covered with mud. They had just finished making their half-day under the water, and appeared to be fatigued. Their swarthy complexions were tinged on the cheeks and forehead with a bright sanguine hue. The position of the bell was not at all altered; it was as if they wished to give it an opportunity to dry itself and breathe a little fresh air. It was then dinner hour for the men employed at the works. I had just been a spectator of the process of raising the bell to the surface; I now had to see it let down again to the bottom of the sea.“The same little boat which brought the two workmen to the great floating house took them back again, after an hour’s rest, to the vicinity of the diving-bell, which, hung just over the water, looked very much like an immense iron box open at the bottom. The procedure in making ready for the descent has really something rather imposing about it, and to an excited imagination might very well suggest the preparations for the execution of a sentence of death. Nothing is wanting for the purpose; the scaffold, the secret cell, and the gulf of the menacing waves are all there. The divers, thank goodness! do not in the least anticipate such a fate, but, on the contrary, seem proud to walk safely over the bottom of the sea, where so many others have found their grave. Be this as it may, the boat soon places itself underneath the bell, raised as it is three or four feet above the surface. The two workmen climb one after the other up into the inside, helped by an iron ring hung to the arched roof, which can easily be laid hold of by the hands. They take their places on two wooden benches fixed at a certain height in the hollow of the bell. Sometimes four, or even six, workmen have to find seats in this curious vehicle. When all this is done the boat goes away, and in another moment the voice of the foreman gives the order,‘Lower away.’...“In places where the water is troubled by sand, the diver often passes through a kind of twilight or submarine fog, which compels him to light his lamp. More often, on the contrary, the light is sufficiently strong to enable him to read a newspaper in small type. A story is told even of a lady who wrote a letter in the diving-bell, and dated it thus:‘16th June, 18—, at the bottom of the sea.’Her courage obtained for her among the divers thesobriquetof the DivingBelle.“I also wished to make my mind easy as to the lot of the poor workmen whom I had seen descending in the bell. The foreman assured me that they enjoyed every comfort in it. Have they not seats to rest themselves on, a wooden ledge on which to place their feet, an assortment of tools and necessary utensils suspended on a cord[pg 83]or hooked on to the walls of their hut, which is nearly as well furnished as that of Robinson Crusoe’s? From all this explanation I was bound to conclude, unless the foreman was mixing up a little irony in what he told me, that the divers were quite‘at home’in the bell. The fact is, that really they pass in it a great part of their existence. Almost all of them suffer a great deal at first from a violent pain, which they themselves define as‘a toothache gone into the ears,’and they have a humming in the head,‘as if some one had let fly a swarm of bees there;’but these troublesome symptoms disappear after the second or third descent. Their confidence in this dry chamber, almost isolated in the midst of the turmoil of the ocean, approaches sometimes to temerity. In 1820, Dr. Collodon, of Geneva, who had gone down in a diving-bell on the coast of Ireland, bethought himself that at the depth at which he then was, a stone, or any other trifling cause obstructing the action of the air-valve, would be sufficient to enable the water to invade the bell. He confided this not very reassuring reflection to one of the divers who was with him. The latter, smiling, answered him by merely pointing out with his finger one of the glazed loopholes which were over their heads. The doctor examined it attentively, and ascertained, in fact, that the glass was cracked sufficiently to allow bubbles of air to escape pretty freely. This was a very different and more serious cause of uneasiness than the rather improbable contingency of an obstruction of the air-valve. The diver was well aware of the cracked glass, and cared nothing about it.”Some time since, when the present writer descended in the diving-bell exhibited in London, a seal which then disported in the tank would rub its nose outside against the little glass windows, and look in, as though wondering what on earth a visitor was doing there inhiselement! The same poor animal afterwards came to grief in a very sad way. When the water was drained off out of the tank the seal got into the pipes below, and thence to the sewers. It was found, still alive, some time after, in the sewers of the Euston Road, a considerable distance away, but succumbed later to the mephitic influences of the filthy stream.M. Esquiros continues:—“‘They are just beginning to work’was soon remarked to me by the superintendent, who followed, even under the waves, every movement of his labourers. The nature of their operations varies, of course, very much according to the undertaking in which they are engaged. The two divers who had just gone down had for their task to clear away round the adjacent portion of the foundation of the breakwater. As soon as they reach the bottom they jump off their seat, and, armed with a pickaxe, begin to dig into the moist sand in order to get out the stones. It often happens that the movement of the tide or some other cause disturbs the water round the rocky base of the breakwater. The workmen have then much trouble in seeing clearly, and complain that‘the water is muddy.’Generally, however, the water is so transparent, that even a cloud passing across the sky is visible at the bottom of the sea. The workmen also can labour with nearly as much ease and quite as much energy as if they were on land. The movements they themselves make in conjunction with the circumstances which surround them occasionally cause something like a thick mist to rise before their eyes, hiding from them the nearest objects; they get quit of it by[pg 84]calling for an‘air bath.’The air-pump redoubles its pace in working, and sends down to them through the pump an extra current of air, which soon blows away the mist.“I was very soon enabled to judge for myself as to their industry; sacks which they had filled with muddy sand, and buckets laden with stones, came up to the surface every moment, drawn by cords. One might have fancied it to be the mouth of a mine, to which invisible arms were constantly sending up fragments of rock; but here the mine was the sea. The nature of their digging did not allow them to work very long together in the same place. The divers had already requested by signal to have their position shifted on the bed of the sound. How would they manage to comply with their wish? As regards air and locomotion, the men shut up in the bell depend entirely on the apparatus working on the surface. The chief organ of movement is a sort oftravelleron four wheels, running over two tramways, allowing it to come and go in every direction. Immediately on the signal being given from below, the bell was raised from the bottom of the sea, like a heavy balloon. This operation was, of course, carried out by means of chains, and the diving-bell remained for a minute or two motionless in mid-water, like the pendulum of a stopped clock. But the traveller begins to move, and as it also acts as a crane, the pulley on the surface and the bell under water shift their position at the same time. The divers call this‘travelling.’They can thus move from north to south, from east to west, backwards and forwards. As they are in motion, if they come upon a piece of rock which encumbers the bed of the sound, they give the signal to stop, and the bell becomes stationary, and then descends again slowly towards the block of stones. If[pg 85]they have been carried on a little too far, and want to retrace their steps, they communicate afresh with the men working on the surface, and the obliging machinery soon brings them to the exact point desired.”The diving-bell has many times rendered service to engineers, by enabling them to descend and ascertain the nature of damages going on, which might otherwise have ruined their work. When Brunel was building the famous Thames Tunnel, and the current had broken through its arched roof, he went down in a diving-bell to see for himself the extent of the disaster. After a descent of nearly thirty feet, he reached a serious opening in the masonry, but the hole was too narrow to allow the bell to enter. It was therefore necessary for some one to dive into it, and brave Brunel immediately declared his intention[pg 86]of doing it. Taking hold of the end of a rope, he plunged into the hole, where it is said he remained nearly two minutes, mentally noting the damage done. So intent was he on this examination that he let go the rope just as his companions above, alarmed at his long stay below, were hauling it up. He had just time to catch hold of it again, and was happily drawn safely into the bell.DIVERS ATTACKED BY A SWORD-FISH.DIVERS ATTACKED BY A SWORD-FISH.The diving dress was a later development, and owed much of its present practical shape to French men of science. The object of the dress, which is of canvas or india-rubber and metal, is, of course, to give each individual wearing it the utmost liberty of motion, while having at the same time a proper supply of vital air. The condensed air-reservoir is made of steel, and capable of resisting great pressures. The diver carries this apparatus on his back; from it a respiratory tube issues, and is terminated by an india-rubber mouth-piece, which is held between the lips and teeth of the diver.The diver’s is a rough life, most assuredly. During the diving business on theRoyal George, Private John Williams, early in the season, tore his hands very severely in attempting to sling a mass of the wreck with jagged surfaces and broken bolts. After a few days’ rest he reappeared in his submarine habit, and dived as before, but from excessive pain in the ears was againhors de combattill the 11th of July, when, on re-descending, he was grievously injured by the bursting of his air-pipe a few inches above the water. This casualty was indicated by a loud hissing noise on deck. A few seconds elapsed before the rupture could be traced and the opening temporarily stopped. With great alertness he was drawn up, and on being relieved of his helmet, presented a frightful appearance. His face and neck were much swelled and very livid, blood was flowing profusely from his mouth and ears, and his eyes were closed and protruding. Though partially suffocated, he possessed sufficient sensibility to speak of the mishap. A sudden shock, it seems, struck him motionless, and then followed a tremendous pressure, as if he were being crushed to death. A month in the Haslar Hospital restored him to health, and on returning to the wreck he at once recommenced his laborious occupation.DIVERS AT WORK.DIVERS AT WORK.The following is a remarkable example of a salvage effected by the help of divers.“The packet boatsGangesandl’Impératricecame into collision in the outer port of Marseilles. TheImpératricehad one of her wheels broken and the officers’ quarters damaged. One of the cabins contained a chest full of gold, which fell into the thick mud which forms the bottom of the port of Marseilles. It was important that this precious package should be recovered the next day. The sea was rough, and the exact spot where the accident occurred unknown. The box was not strong; its colour was black. At the supposed spot a plumb of sixty kilogrammes was sunk. This plumb carried two cords divided into metres; two divers dragged them in separate directions, and taking each the knot corresponding to one metre, they described consecutive circles, examining the ground at each step. After searching three hours, the gold was found, and restored to its owner, who had watched the operations with intense anxiety. This salvage was effected on February 19th, 1867, by M. Barbotin, contractor for submarine work at Marseilles.”The diving-bell proper has been much improved by another Frenchman, M. Payerne. His“Submarine Hydrostat”will descend or fall at the will of those inside. Thirty men may work in it with ease for a number of hours without inconvenience. It is, therefore, of[pg 87]great service in clearing ports, and in facilitating the execution of other submarine work.“The principle of the machine is very ingenious. Externally, it has the appearance of one large rectangular box, surmounted by another smaller one, completely closed in except at the bottom. The interior consists of three principal compartments. Theholdcommunicates by a large shaft with the upper compartment. Between these is a third compartment, ororlop deck, which only communicates with the others by means of stop-cocks. The hydrostat is twenty feet in height, and its base, which has the bottom of the sea for a floor, covers an area of 625 square feet. It may be made to rise and fall at will, and it will readily float about like a raft.”This ingenious machine has proved of much service. The port of Fécamp was choked up with shingle, which closed it against all vessels beyond a certain tonnage. The hydrostat was employed, and the port cleaned, and again opened to commerce.The old divers are fond of recounting the glories of their craft, and are specially impressed with any information as to the fate of the vessels of the Armada. This spirit has been fostered no less by the successes of the ancestor of the Mulgraves than by the good fortune of John Gann, of Whitstable. The old diver was, many years since, employed on the Galway coast, and used to pass his evenings in a public-house frequented by fishermen. One of these men, repeating a tradition which had long existed in the district, told Gann that one of the Spanish vessels had been wrecked not far from that coast, and intimated that he himself could point out the spot. Gann, having finished his special job, made terms with the fisherman, and they were both out for many weeks dragging the spot indicated for any traces of the wreck. They were at last rewarded by coming upon obstructions with their grapnels. Gann brought out his diving apparatus, and sure enough the truth of the tradition was vindicated by the finding of a number of dollars, which had originally been packed in barrels. The barrels, however, had rotted away, and left the gold stacked in barrel shape. With the money so recovered John Gann built at Whitstable, his native place, a row of houses, which, to commemorate the circumstance, he called Dollar Row.Corporal Harris, almost entirely by his own diligence, removed in little more than two months the wreck of thePerdita, mooring lighter, which was sunk in 1783, in the course of Mr. Tracy’s unsuccessful efforts to weigh theRoyal George. It was about sixty feet in length, and embedded in mud fifty fathoms south of that vessel. The exposed timbers stood only two feet six inches above the level of the bottom, so that the exertions of Harris in removing the wreck were Herculean. Completely overpowered by fatigue, he claimed a respite for a day or two to recruit his energies, and then resumed work with his accustomed assiduity and cheerfulness.There was a sort of abnegation, an absence of jealousy, in the character of Harris which, as the rivalry among the divers made them somewhat selfish, gave prominence to his kindness. He met a comrade named Cameron at the bottom, who led him to the spot where he was working. For a considerable time Cameron had fruitlessly laboured in slinging an awkward timber of some magnitude, when Harris readily stood in his place, and in a few minutes, using Cameron’s breast-line to make the necessary signals, sent the mass on deck. It was thus recorded to Cameron’s credit; but the circumstance, on becoming known, was regarded with so much satisfaction that honourable mention was made of it in the official records.[pg 88]Lance-Corporal Jones, engaged on the wreck of theRoyal George, one day lodged on deck from his slings a crate containing eighty 12-pounder shot. With singular success he laid the remainder of the kelson open for recovery, and then, sinking deeper, drew from the mud, in two hauls, nearly thirty-five feet of the keel. He also weighed a small vessel of six tons burden, belonging to a Mr. Cussell, which drove, under a strong current, upon one of the lighters. Becoming entangled, the craft soon filled and foundered, grappling, in her descent, with the ladder of one of the divers, grounding at a short distance from the interval between the lighters. Jones was selected to try his skill in rescuing her. At once descending, he fixed the chains under her stern, and while attempting to hold them in position, by passing them round the mast, the tide turned, the vessel swung round, and the mast fell over the side, burying Jones under her sails and rigging. Perilous as was his situation, his fearlessness and presence of mind never for a moment forsook him. Working from under the canvas, and carefully extricating himself from the crowd of ropes that ensnared him, he at last found himself free. A thunderstorm now set in, and, obedient to a call from above, he repaired to the deck; but as soon as the squall had subsided he again disappeared, and cleverly jamming the slings, the boat was hove up; but she had become a complete wreck, and was taken on shore.A dangerous but curious incident occurred on theRoyal Georgediving operations between Corporal Jones and Private Girvan, two rival divers, who, in a moment of irritation, engaged in a conflict at the bottom of the sea, having both got hold of the same floor timber of the wreck, which neither would yield to the other. Jones, at length, fearful of a collision with Girvan, who was a powerful man, got his bull-rope fast, and attempted to escape by it, but before he could do so Girvan seized him by the legs and tried to draw him down. A scuffle ensued, and Jones succeeded in extricating himself from the grasp of his antagonist. He then took a firmer hold of the bull-rope and gave a kick at Girvan, which broke one of the lens of Girvan’s helmet, and as water[pg 89]instantly rushed into his dress, he was likely to have been drowned, had he not at once been hauled on board. Two or three days, however, at Haslar Hospital restored him; and the two submarine combatants resumed work together with the greatest cordiality.A diver’s“Nursery Tale”must not be omitted. The hero,“Jack”(this is the name of a diver who“lived once upon a time”), had been busy for some weeks in gathering up the relics of a shipwreck, when on a certain day he saw appear at one of the windows of his bell the pale face of a woman, with long hair intertwined with sea-weed. He had often heard tell of the beauty of mermaids, who are, as every one knows, lovelier than the most lovely of women; but Jack never believed that any creature so perfect as this could have existed. With a voice softer than the murmuring of the waves under a gentle breeze, she said to him,“I am one of the spirits of the sea. On account of your kind disposition I have marked you out among the rest of your companions, and I will protect you, but on one condition only, and that is, that you shall be sure to recognise me under any shape into which I may be pleased to change myself.”The beautiful spirit disappeared, and Jack remained very much surprised, but with a strong feeling of joy thrilling within him. He prospered exceedingly in all that he undertook. But at last prosperity spoiled him. He kicked and ill-treated a polyp, a kind of devil-fish, but still an animal, and one that had done him no harm, not knowing that the beautiful spirit was disguised under that mass of ugliness. A few days afterwards an accident occurred and Jack was drowned. Moral: Take the advice of kindly mermaids—when you meet them.And now for our last yarn, a true one. Some years ago a large vessel, having on board a valuable cargo, including gold bars, was run down and sunk by a steamship in the Thames between Northfleet and Gravesend. She was afterwards successfully raised[pg 90]by Captain George Wilson, of Milton, the famous oyster place, near Sittingbourne, in Kent, and which is also famous for its divers. It is principally, however, to the names of the vessels concerned that attention is directed. TheUnited Kingdomwas run down by theQueen of Scotland!CHAPTER VIII.The Ocean and Some of its Phenomena.The Saltness of the Sea—Its Composition—Tons of Silver in the Ocean—Currents and their Causes—The Great Gulf Stream—Its Characteristics—A Triumph of Science—The Tides—The Highest Known Tides and Waves—Whirlpools—The Maelström—A Norwegian Description—Edgar Allan Poe and his Story—Rescued from the Vortex—The“Souffleur”at the Mauritius—The Colour of the Sea—Its Causes—The Phosphorescence of the Ocean—Fields of Silver—Principally Caused by Animal Life.Many features and phenomena of the ocean have been incidentally noted in the foregoing pages; but there are points, hitherto untouched, which deserve our attention.Its saltness is due, not merely to the presence of chloride of sodium, or what we call common salt, but to a large number of other minerals, including the chlorides of magnesium and potassium, the sulphates of magnesia and lime, carbonate of lime,sulphurettedhydrogen, bromide of magnesia, hydrochlorate of ammonia, iodine, iron, copper, and even silver, varying in proportion according to locality. The copper plates of a ship examined at Valparaiso showed unmistakable traces of silver deposits. Calculations have been made showing that the ocean contains 2,000,000 tons of silver. In 1,000 grains of sea-water there are thirty-eight grains of these ingredients and some little organic matter. The saltness of the sea is generally greater towards the poles, but to this statement there are exceptions. In parts of the Irish Channel the water contains salts equal to the fortieth of its weight, the saline matter rising to one-sixteenth of its weight off the coast of Spain. In many places the ocean is less salt at the surface than at the bottom. Its saltness increases its density and its buoyancy.Maury, a recognised authority, finds in the saline properties of the sea one of the principal forces from which the currents in the ocean proceed.“The brine of the ocean,”says he,“is the ley of the earth; from it the sea derives dynamical powers, and the currents their main strength.”Let us suppose a long tank or, say, swimming-bath, divided in the middle by a water-tight wall, on one side of which should be fresh and on the other salt water, at equal levels. It is obvious that were the division removed the waters would not stand side by side as before, for the denser water would have a tendency not merely to mingle with the lighter, but to form a currentunderit. So salt waters of different densities.CHART OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.CHART OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.“The ocean,”says Figuier,“is a scene of unceasing agitation;‘its vast surface rises and falls,’to use the image suggested by Schleiden,‘as if it were gifted with a gentle power of respiration; its movements, gentle or powerful, slow or rapid, are all determined by differences of temperature.’”Heat increases its volume, and therefore[pg 91]lightens it; cold increases its density, and it will naturally descend. These are, then, among the obvious reasons of its currents. The duration and force of winds and the tides are both disturbing influences. Such an oceanic marvel as the greatGulf Streamcould only be explained after a careful study of all the operating causes of its existence. Dr. Maury has well described it. He says:—“There is a river in the bosom of the ocean: in the severest droughts it never fails, and in the mightiest floods it never overflows; its banks and its bottom are of cold water, while its current is of warm; it takes its rise in the Gulf of Mexico, and empties itself into the Arctic seas; this mighty river is the Gulf Stream. In no other part of the world is there such a majestic flow of water; its current is more rapid than the Amazon, more impetuous than the Mississippi, and its volume is more than a thousand times greater.”This great current of water particularly influences the climates of Northern Europe, and especially those of Britain and Ireland.The Gulf Stream, as it issues from the Florida Channel, has a breadth of thirty-four miles, a depth of 2,200 feet, and moves at the rate of four and a half miles anhour.“Midway in the Atlantic, in the triangular space between the Azores, Canaries, and Cape de Verd Islands, is the great Sargassum Sea, covering an area equal to the Mississippi Valley; it is so thickly matted over with the Gulf weed (Sargassum bacciferum) that the speed of vessels passing through it is actually retarded, and to the companions of Columbus it seemed to mark the limits of navigation: they became alarmed. To the eye, at a little distance, it seemed sufficiently substantial to walk upon.”The difference of temperature between the Gulf Stream and the waters it traverses constantly gives birth to tempests and cyclones. In 1780 a terrible storm ravaged the Antilles, in which 20,000 persons perished. The ocean quitted its bed, and inundated whole cities; the trunks of great trees and large parts of buildings were tossed wildly in the air. Numerous catastrophes of this kind have earned the Gulf Stream the title of the“King of the Tempests.”So well had Maury studied the Gulf Stream and its storms, that he was enabled to point out the exact position of a vessel overtaken by a terrible gale.“In the month of December, 1859,”says Figuier,“the American packetSan Franciscowas employed as a transport to convey a regiment to California. It was overtaken by one of these sudden storms, which placed the ship and its freight in a most dangerous position—a single wave, which swept the deck, tore out the masts, stopped the engines, and washed overboard 129 persons, officers, and soldiers. From that moment the unfortunate steamer floated upon the waters, a waif abandoned to the fury of the wind. The day after the disaster theSan Franciscowas seen in this desperate situation by a ship, which reached New York, although unable to assist her. Another ship met her some days after, but, like the other, could render no assistance. When the report reached New York two steamers were despatched to her assistance; but in what direction were they to go? what part of the ocean were they to explore? The authorities at the Washington Observatory were appealed to. Having consulted his charts as to the direction and limits of the Gulf Stream at that period of the year, Dr. Maury traced on a chart the spot to which the disabled steamer was likely to be driven by the current, and the course to be taken by the vessels sent to her assistance.”The steamers went straight to the exact spot, and found the wreck; and although by that time the crew and passengers had been taken off by three passing vessels, it was certainly a triumph of science.[pg 92]WAVES OFF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.WAVES OFF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.The tides are produced by two pairs of great waves which travel round the earth each day—a greater pair caused by the attraction of the moon, a lesser pair caused by the sun. The moon, by reason of its nearness to the earth, produces by far the greater influence, but the tides are also subject to all kinds of local influences. The eastern coast of Asia and western side of Europe are exposed to extremely high tides; while in the South Sea Islands they scarcely reach the height of twenty inches. There is hardly any tide in the Mediterranean, separated as it is from the ocean by a narrow strait.“The highest tide which is known occurs in the Bay of Fundy, which opens up to the south of the isthmus uniting Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. There the tide reaches forty, fifty, and even sixty feet, while it only attains the height of seven or eight in the bay to the north of the same isthmus. It is related that a ship was cast ashore upon a rock during the night so high, that at daybreak the crew found themselves and their ship suspended in mid-air, far above the water.”The winds have an immense influence on the height of tides, and also on the waves. The highest known waves are found off the Cape of Good Hope (p. 89) at the period of high tide, under the influence of a strong north-west wind which has traversed the Atlantic, pressing its waters round the Cape.“The billows there,”says Maury,“lift themselves up in long ridges, with deep hollows between them. They run high and fast, tossing their white caps aloft in the air, looking like the green hills of a rolling prairie capped with snow, and chasing each other in sport. Still, their march is stately and their roll majestic. Many an Australian-bound trader, after doubling the Cape, finds herself followed for weeks at a time by these magnificent rolling swells, furiously driven and lashed by the‘brave west winds.’These billows are said to attain the height of thirty, and even forty feet; but no very exact measurement of the height of waves is recorded.”Those off Cape Horn are rather less in height.Sprayis dashed over the Eddystone Light, 130 feet high. After a great storm in Barbadoes in 1780, some old and heavy cannons were found on the shore, which had been thrown up from the bottom of the sea. If waves in their reflux meet with obstacles, whirlpools result, such as those in the Straits of Messina, between the rocks of Charybdis and Scylla made famous by Homer, Ovid, and Virgil, and once much dreaded, but now little feared.The best known whirlpool, the Maelström, off Lofoden, in Norway, is the result of opposing currents. One of the most circumstantial accounts of it is that of a Norwegian, Jonas Ramus, who calls it the Moskoe-strom (channel or stream):—“Between Lofoden and Moskoe,”says he,“the depth of the water is between thirty-six and forty fathoms; but, on the other side, towards Ver (Vurrgh), this depth decreases so as not to afford a convenient passage for a vessel without the risk of splitting on the rocks, which happens even in the calmest weather. When it is flood the stream runs up the country between Lofoden and Moskoe with a boisterous rapidity; but the roar of its impetuous ebb to the sea is scarcely equalled by the loudest and most dreadful cataracts, the noise being heard several leagues off; and the vortices or pits are of such an extent and depth that if a ship comes within its attraction it is inevitably absorbed and carried down to the bottom, and there beaten to pieces against the rocks; and when the water relaxes the fragments thereof are thrown up again. But these intervals of tranquillity are only at the turn of the ebb and flood and in calm weather, and last but a quarter[pg 93]of an hour, its violence gradually returning. When the stream is most boisterous, and its fury heightened by a storm, it is dangerous to come within a Norwegian mile of it. Boats, yachts, and ships have been carried away by not guarding against it before they were within its reach. It likewise happens frequently that whales come too near the stream, and are overpowered by its violence, and then it is impossible to describe their howlings and bellowings, in their fruitless struggles to disengage themselves. A bear once attempting to swim from Lofoden to Moskoe, was caught by the stream and borne down, while he roared terribly, so as to be heard on shore. Large stocks of firs and pine-trees, after being absorbed by the current, rise again, broken and torn to such a degree as if bristles grew upon them. This plainly shows the bottom to consist of craggy rocks, among which they are whirled to and fro. This stream is regulated by the flux and reflux of the sea, it being constantly high and low water every six hours. In the year 1645, early in the morning of Sexagesima Sunday, it raged with such noise and impetuosity that the very stones of the houses on the coast fell to the ground.”Kuchu and others promulgated the idea that the maelström is a watery abyss penetrating the globe, and issuing in some very remote[pg 94]part. This is the view held by most of the Norwegian peasantry and fishermen to-day.Who that has read the works of Edgar Allan Poe will ever forget his thrilling and detailed story of a descent into the maelström?30It bears the impress of close study, and is founded largely on recorded facts. Two brothers, the most daring fishermen of their coast, were accustomed to fish in closer proximity to the maelström than all the rest, because, although a desperate speculation, they would get more fish in a day than the others could at the distant fishing grounds in a week. The risk of life stood for labour, and courage for capital.In a terrible hurricane they were driven through the surf into the inner circle of the whirlpool, where (as is likely to be the case in actual fact) the wind nearly ceased, the surface of the water being lower than that of the surrounding ocean.“If you have never been at sea in a heavy gale, you can form no idea of the confusion of mind occasioned by the wind and spray together. They blind, deafen, and strangle you, and take away all power of action or reflection.”Now the two fishermen brothers were in a measure respited, as death-condemned felons in prison are allowed petty indulgences forbidden them while their doom is yet uncertain. Round and round the belt the vessel flew rather than floated, getting nearer and nearer to the fatal inner vortex, and making wild lurches towards the abyss.“The boat appeared to be hanging, as if by magic, midway down, upon the interior surface of a funnel vast in circumference, prodigious in depth, and whose perfectly smooth sides might have been mistaken for ebony, but for the bewildering rapidity with which they spun round, and for the gleaming and ghastly radiance they shot forth as the rays of the full moon ... streamed in a flood of golden glory along the black walls, and far away down into the inmost recesses of the abyss.”Round and round they swept in dizzying swings and jerks. Above and below them were whirling fragments of vessels, timbers, boxes, barrels, and trunks of trees. And now a hope arose from the recollection of one circumstance: that of the great variety of buoyant matter thrown up by the moskoe-strom on the coast of Lofoden, some articles were not disfigured or damaged at all. Further, light and cylindrical articles were the least likely to be absorbed into any watery vortex: for the last statement there are good scientific reasons.“I,”says the survivor,“no longer hesitated what to do. I resolved to lash myself securely to the water-cask upon which I now held, to cut it loose from the counter, and to throw myself with it into the water. I attracted my brother’s attention by signs, pointed to the floating barrels that came near us, and did everything in my power to make him understand what I was about to do. I thought at length that he comprehended my design, but whether this was the case or not, he shook his head despairingly, and refused to move from his station by the ring-bolt. It was impossible to reach him; the emergency admitted of no delay; and so, with a bitter struggle, I resigned him to his fate, fastened myself to the cask by means of the lashings which secured it to the counter, and precipitated myself with it into the sea without another moment’s hesitation.”The smack soon after made a few gyrations in rapid succession, then sank to the bottom for ever, bearing with it the unfortunate brother.“The barrel to which I was attached had sunk very little farther than half the distance between the bottom of the gulf and the spot at which I leaped overboard before a great change took place in the[pg 95]character of the whirlpool. The slope of the sides of the vast funnel became momentarily less and less steep. The gyrations of the whirl grew gradually less and less violent.”By degrees the waters rose, and he found himself in full view of the shores of Lofoden, and above the spot where the pool of the moskoe-stromhad been. He was picked up by a boat; those on board were old mates and daily companions, but they knew him no more than they would have known a traveller from the spirit-land. His hair, which had been raven black the day before, was now as white as snow.Thus far Poe. It shows how the vivid imagination of a great poet, dealing with facts, can put those facts before the reader in artistically life-like and graphic form.WHIRLPOOL OF CORRIEVRECKAN, OFF THE HEBRIDES.WHIRLPOOL OF CORRIEVRECKAN, OFF THE HEBRIDES.Another remarkable whirlpool is that of Corrievreckan, off the Hebrides, in the south of Scotland, shown in an illustration on page 93.A phenomenon of another character is exhibited on the south side of the Mauritius, at a point called“The Souffleur,”or“The Blower.”“A large mass of rock,”says Lieutenant Taylor, of the United States navy,“runs out into the sea from the mainland, to which it is joined by a neck of rock not two feet broad. The constant beating of the tremendous swell which rolls in has undermined it in every direction, till it has exactly the appearance of a Gothic building with a number of arches. In the centre of the rock, which is about thirty-five or forty feet above the sea, the water has forced two passages vertically upward, which are worn as smooth and cylindrical as if cut by a chisel. When a heavy sea rolls in, it of course fills in an instant the hollow caverns underneath; and finding no other egress, and being borne in with tremendous violence, rushes up these chimneys, and flies, roaring furiously, to a height of full sixty feet. The moment the wave recedes, the vacuum beneath causes the wind to rush into the two apertures with a loud humming noise, which is heard at a considerable distance.“My companion and I arrived there before high water; and, having climbed across the neck of rock, we seated ourselves close to the chimneys, where I proposed making a sketch, and had just begun, when in came a thundering sea, which broke right over the rock itself, and drove us back much alarmed.“Our negro guide now informed us that we must make haste to re-cross our narrow bridge, as the sea would get up as the tide rose. We lost no time, and got back dry enough; and I was obliged to make my sketches from the mainland.“In about three-quarters of an hour the sight was truly magnificent. I do not exaggerate in the least when I say the waves rolled in, long and unbroken, full twenty-five feet high, till, meeting the headland, they broke clear over it, sending the spray flying over to the mainland; while, from the centre of this mass of foam, the Souffleur shot up with a noise which we afterwards heard distinctly between two and three miles. Standing on the main cliff, more than a hundred feet above the sea, we were quite wet.”“THE SOUFFLEUR,” ISLAND OF MAURITIUS.“THE SOUFFLEUR,”ISLAND OF MAURITIUS.To the combined influences of tides and waves may also be attributed the monsoon hurricanes which so often visit the Indian Ocean. The air may have been just previously without a breath, when immense waves, accompanied by whirlwinds, come rolling in.“At the period of the changing monsoons, the winds, breaking loose from their controlling forces, seem to rage with a fury capable of breaking up the very foundations of the deep,”and ships are often literally whirled round, or bodily lifted up, their crews being utterly impotent.[pg 96]Turning to another subject, partially discussed before—the colour of the sea—it may be remarked that by itself as sea water it is really colourless. Its varying colours are caused by reflection, by the varied bottoms it covers, or by the presence of actual animal, vegetable, and mineral bodies. The ocean,“When winds breathe soft along the silent deep,”is azure blue or ultramarine, becoming greener in-shore. There are some days when it is generally green, others sombre and grey. A bottom of white sand will give a greyish or apple-coloured green; of chalk, a pure clear green; if the bottom is brownish-yellow sand, the green is naturally duller in character. In the Bay of Loango the waters appear of a deep red, from the red bottom. The Red Sea owes its colour to actual floating microscopic algæ and to red coral bottoms. Sea water, concentrated in the salt marshes of the south of France by the heat of the sun, is also red: this is due to the presence of a red-shelled animal of microscopic size. These minute creatures do not appear till the salt water has attained a certain concentration, while they die when it has reached a further density. Navigators often traverse patches of green, red, white, or yellow-coloured water, their coloration being due to the presence of microscopic crustaceans, medusæ, zoophytes, and marine plants.A SHIP SAILING IN PHOSPHORESCENT SEA.A SHIP SAILING IN PHOSPHORESCENT SEA.The pleasing phenomenon known as the phosphorescence of the sea is generally, though[pg 97]by no means entirely, due to myriads of minute globular creatures, calledNoctiluca. Captain Kingman reported having traversed a zone twenty-three miles in length, and so filled with phosphorescent matter that during the night it presented the appearance of a vast field of snow.“There was scarcely a cloud in the heavens,”he tells us;“yet the sky for about 10° above the horizon appeared as black as if a storm were raging; stars of the first magnitude shone with a feeble light, and the‘milky way’of the heavens was almost entirely eclipsed by that through which we were sailing.”Several varieties of molluscs and acalephes shine by their own light, while phosphorescence is often due to the decomposition of animal matter.PHOSPHORESCENCE ON THE SURFACE OF THE SEA.PHOSPHORESCENCE ON THE SURFACE OF THE SEA.A French author thus describes the effect produced by the molluscs known to scientists asPyrosoma, on a voyage to the Isle of France. He says:—“The wind was blowing with great violence, the night was dark, and the vessel was making rapid way, when what appeared to be a vast sheet of phosphorus presented itself, floating on the waves, and occupying a great space ahead of the ship. The vessel having passed through this fiery mass, it was discovered that the light was occasioned by organised bodies swimming about in the sea at various depths around the ship. Those which were deepest in the water looked like red-hot balls, while those on the surface resembled cylinders of red-hot iron. Some of the latter were caught; they were found to vary in size from three to seven inches. All the exterior of the creatures bristled with long thick tubercles, shining like so many diamonds, and these seemed to be the principal seats of their luminosity. Inside also there appeared to be a multitude of oblong narrow glands, exhibiting a high degree of phosphoric power. The colour of these animals when in repose is an opal yellow, mixed with green; but on the slightest movement the animal exhibits a spontaneous contractile power, and assumes a luminous brilliancy, passing through various shades of deep-red, orange-green, and azure-blue.”A ship plunging through these phosphorescent fields seems to advance through a sheet of white flame, a field of luminous silver, scattering a spray of sparks in all directions.

CHAPTER VII.Davy Jones’s Locker, and those who Dive into it.Scientific Diving—General Principles—William Phipps and the Treasure Ship—Founder of the House of Mulgrave—Halley’s Wooden Diving-bell and Air Barrels—Smeaton’s Improvements—Spalding’s Death—Operations at Plymouth Breakwater—The Diver’s Life—“Lower away!”—The Diving-Belleand her Letter from Below—Operations at the Bottom—Brunel and the Thames Tunnel—The Diving Dress—Suffocation—Remarkable Case of Salvage—The“Submarine Hydrostat”—John Gann of Whitstable—Dollar Row—Various Anecdotes—Combat at the Bottom of the Sea—A Mermaid Story—Run down by theQueen of Scotland.The art of unassisted diving having been considered, the reader’s attention is invited to divers and diving aided by scientific appliances. But for these developments, how could one hope to recover anything large or valuable that had once disappeared beneath the waves? How properly build gigantic breakwaters, piers, and bridges, or examine and clear choked ports and channels?29Some of the grandest achievements of modern practical science would have been impossible without their aid.Every reader understands the general principle involved in the construction of the diving-bell. Invert a tumbler in a deep vessel of water, and the liquid will only ascend to a certain height inside, however far down you place the glass. Insert a tube in a hole drilled in your tumbler, and blow downwards, and the water recedes still lower. This is what happens when the air is pumped down into the modern diving-bell. In descending in a diving-bell and remaining under water you will feel a slight inconvenience in breathing, and perhaps a tingling in the ears; this comes, not from scarcity of air, but from the fact that the atmosphere of the interior of the bell is reallydenserthan it is outside; the air, forced downwards by the powerful air-pump, is pressedupwardsby the water. Readers may remember that Robert Fulton and his friends[pg 80]remained under water in his submarine boat for over two hours, the air in that case being supplied from a large globe containing highly condensed air, which was allowed to escape as required. The foul air passed off from tubes in bubbles to the surface.A DIVER AT WORK (WITH SUBMARINE LAMP).A DIVER AT WORK (WITH SUBMARINE LAMP).As early as the year 1663 an Englishman named William Phipps, the son of a blacksmith, invented a plan for recovering from the bottom of the sea the treasures out of a Spanish vessel which had sunk on the coast of Hispaniola. Charles II. lent him a ship and all that was necessary for his enterprise, but the matter did not turn out successfully, and William Phipps fell into a state of the greatest poverty. Notwithstanding this nothing could discourage his ardour, and to set himself afloat again he opened a subscription list in England, of which the Duke of Albemarle was one of the subscribers. In 1667 Phipps embarked in a ship of 200 tons burden, having undertaken beforehand to divide the profits between the twenty shareholders who represented the associated capital. At first starting his search proved altogether unavailing, and he was just beginning to despair, when he fell in with the golden vein. The fortunate diver returned to England with £200,000; £20,000 he kept for himself, and no less than £90,000 came to the share of the Duke of Albemarle. Phipps was knighted by the[pg 81]king, and became the founder of the noble house of Mulgrave, which has played no inconsiderable part in the affairs of the United Kingdom.It is little more than a century and a half ago since the celebrated astronomer, Halley—about the first to commence those experiments in submarine exploration which have been continued to the present epoch—descended to a depth of fifty feet in a diving-bell which he had constructed. It was built of wood, and covered with sheet lead. The air that was vitiated by respiration escaped from the chamber through an air-cock, while the pure element was supplied by barrels, which descended and ascended alternately on both sides of the bell, like buckets in a well. These barrels, lined with metal, each contained some thirty-six gallons of condensed air; they were connected with the interior of the bell by leathern tubes. As soon as one of these air receptacles was exhausted another was let down. Halley himself relates that in 1721, by the aid of this apparatus, he was able to descend with four other persons to a depth of nine or ten fathoms, and to remain under water an hour and a half.It is to Smeaton, the celebrated engineer of the famed Eddystone Lighthouse, that the diving-bell owes its leading characteristics, as he was the first to abolish Halley’s rather clumsy contrivance and apply the power of the air-pump; he also constructed the first cast-iron bell. In 1779 he made use of the diving-bell to repair the piles of Hexham Bridge, in the north of England, the foundations of the structure having been undermined by the violence of the current. A few years after a sad accident occurred from the use of Halley’s barrel apparatus.In 1783, Mr. Spalding, of Edinburgh, who had made some improvements upon the mechanical arrangements of Halley’s bell, but had retained the barrel air service, engaged to recover some of the cargo of an East-Indiaman which had been sunk on the Kish Bank, Ireland. He and his assistant went down, and after the first supply of air was exhausted the barrels were sent down as usual. No signal having been given for some time, the bell was drawn up, and Mr. Spalding and his assistant were found to be dead. It is supposed that by some means they failed to discharge the air from the barrels into the bell, and were consequently suffocated. The barrel service was always more or less dangerous, from its liability to get out of gear, and if Spalding had adopted the invention of Smeaton, he would not have lost his life in the manner he did.The improved diving-bell was soon generally adopted by engineers, and played an important part in the works which have so altered the port of Ramsgate. The great engineer Rennie made constant use of the diving-bell in fixing the foundations of the eastern jetty, and in protecting it in parts against the attacks of the sea by a shield of solid masonry. It was extensively used in the construction of the Plymouth Breakwater. M. Esquiros, who visited the divers during the progress of that great work, gave an interesting account of theirmodus operandi:—“But we now,”says he,“approached the breakwater—that causeway of giants—by the side of which we soon discovered an old dismasted ship. This vessel is rough in appearance, and covered over with a kind of pent-house roof. In it live, as in a floating house, the operatives who are still working at the breakwater. They pass, alternately, one month on board ship and one month on shore. One of their little sources of profit consists[pg 82]in the sale of small fancy articles, which they say that they cut out with the blades of their pocket-knives from the rocks which they bring up from the bottom of the sea. Very soon I heard the loud throbbing of machinery, snorting and puffing like so many marine monsters; it was the wheezy noise of the air-pumps which supply the bells when buried under water....“I then noticed a small boat managed by a sailor rowing it, which glided under the mouth of the bell, and from this hollow I saw emerge a pair of large loose boots, reaching above the knees, which, being followed by another pair of large boots, convinced me that two men were jumping down into the skiff. The boat itself, in fact, at once got clear of the dome, under which it had been half hidden, and I saw it come back to the vessel with two workmen on board, wet up to the waist and covered with mud. They had just finished making their half-day under the water, and appeared to be fatigued. Their swarthy complexions were tinged on the cheeks and forehead with a bright sanguine hue. The position of the bell was not at all altered; it was as if they wished to give it an opportunity to dry itself and breathe a little fresh air. It was then dinner hour for the men employed at the works. I had just been a spectator of the process of raising the bell to the surface; I now had to see it let down again to the bottom of the sea.“The same little boat which brought the two workmen to the great floating house took them back again, after an hour’s rest, to the vicinity of the diving-bell, which, hung just over the water, looked very much like an immense iron box open at the bottom. The procedure in making ready for the descent has really something rather imposing about it, and to an excited imagination might very well suggest the preparations for the execution of a sentence of death. Nothing is wanting for the purpose; the scaffold, the secret cell, and the gulf of the menacing waves are all there. The divers, thank goodness! do not in the least anticipate such a fate, but, on the contrary, seem proud to walk safely over the bottom of the sea, where so many others have found their grave. Be this as it may, the boat soon places itself underneath the bell, raised as it is three or four feet above the surface. The two workmen climb one after the other up into the inside, helped by an iron ring hung to the arched roof, which can easily be laid hold of by the hands. They take their places on two wooden benches fixed at a certain height in the hollow of the bell. Sometimes four, or even six, workmen have to find seats in this curious vehicle. When all this is done the boat goes away, and in another moment the voice of the foreman gives the order,‘Lower away.’...“In places where the water is troubled by sand, the diver often passes through a kind of twilight or submarine fog, which compels him to light his lamp. More often, on the contrary, the light is sufficiently strong to enable him to read a newspaper in small type. A story is told even of a lady who wrote a letter in the diving-bell, and dated it thus:‘16th June, 18—, at the bottom of the sea.’Her courage obtained for her among the divers thesobriquetof the DivingBelle.“I also wished to make my mind easy as to the lot of the poor workmen whom I had seen descending in the bell. The foreman assured me that they enjoyed every comfort in it. Have they not seats to rest themselves on, a wooden ledge on which to place their feet, an assortment of tools and necessary utensils suspended on a cord[pg 83]or hooked on to the walls of their hut, which is nearly as well furnished as that of Robinson Crusoe’s? From all this explanation I was bound to conclude, unless the foreman was mixing up a little irony in what he told me, that the divers were quite‘at home’in the bell. The fact is, that really they pass in it a great part of their existence. Almost all of them suffer a great deal at first from a violent pain, which they themselves define as‘a toothache gone into the ears,’and they have a humming in the head,‘as if some one had let fly a swarm of bees there;’but these troublesome symptoms disappear after the second or third descent. Their confidence in this dry chamber, almost isolated in the midst of the turmoil of the ocean, approaches sometimes to temerity. In 1820, Dr. Collodon, of Geneva, who had gone down in a diving-bell on the coast of Ireland, bethought himself that at the depth at which he then was, a stone, or any other trifling cause obstructing the action of the air-valve, would be sufficient to enable the water to invade the bell. He confided this not very reassuring reflection to one of the divers who was with him. The latter, smiling, answered him by merely pointing out with his finger one of the glazed loopholes which were over their heads. The doctor examined it attentively, and ascertained, in fact, that the glass was cracked sufficiently to allow bubbles of air to escape pretty freely. This was a very different and more serious cause of uneasiness than the rather improbable contingency of an obstruction of the air-valve. The diver was well aware of the cracked glass, and cared nothing about it.”Some time since, when the present writer descended in the diving-bell exhibited in London, a seal which then disported in the tank would rub its nose outside against the little glass windows, and look in, as though wondering what on earth a visitor was doing there inhiselement! The same poor animal afterwards came to grief in a very sad way. When the water was drained off out of the tank the seal got into the pipes below, and thence to the sewers. It was found, still alive, some time after, in the sewers of the Euston Road, a considerable distance away, but succumbed later to the mephitic influences of the filthy stream.M. Esquiros continues:—“‘They are just beginning to work’was soon remarked to me by the superintendent, who followed, even under the waves, every movement of his labourers. The nature of their operations varies, of course, very much according to the undertaking in which they are engaged. The two divers who had just gone down had for their task to clear away round the adjacent portion of the foundation of the breakwater. As soon as they reach the bottom they jump off their seat, and, armed with a pickaxe, begin to dig into the moist sand in order to get out the stones. It often happens that the movement of the tide or some other cause disturbs the water round the rocky base of the breakwater. The workmen have then much trouble in seeing clearly, and complain that‘the water is muddy.’Generally, however, the water is so transparent, that even a cloud passing across the sky is visible at the bottom of the sea. The workmen also can labour with nearly as much ease and quite as much energy as if they were on land. The movements they themselves make in conjunction with the circumstances which surround them occasionally cause something like a thick mist to rise before their eyes, hiding from them the nearest objects; they get quit of it by[pg 84]calling for an‘air bath.’The air-pump redoubles its pace in working, and sends down to them through the pump an extra current of air, which soon blows away the mist.“I was very soon enabled to judge for myself as to their industry; sacks which they had filled with muddy sand, and buckets laden with stones, came up to the surface every moment, drawn by cords. One might have fancied it to be the mouth of a mine, to which invisible arms were constantly sending up fragments of rock; but here the mine was the sea. The nature of their digging did not allow them to work very long together in the same place. The divers had already requested by signal to have their position shifted on the bed of the sound. How would they manage to comply with their wish? As regards air and locomotion, the men shut up in the bell depend entirely on the apparatus working on the surface. The chief organ of movement is a sort oftravelleron four wheels, running over two tramways, allowing it to come and go in every direction. Immediately on the signal being given from below, the bell was raised from the bottom of the sea, like a heavy balloon. This operation was, of course, carried out by means of chains, and the diving-bell remained for a minute or two motionless in mid-water, like the pendulum of a stopped clock. But the traveller begins to move, and as it also acts as a crane, the pulley on the surface and the bell under water shift their position at the same time. The divers call this‘travelling.’They can thus move from north to south, from east to west, backwards and forwards. As they are in motion, if they come upon a piece of rock which encumbers the bed of the sound, they give the signal to stop, and the bell becomes stationary, and then descends again slowly towards the block of stones. If[pg 85]they have been carried on a little too far, and want to retrace their steps, they communicate afresh with the men working on the surface, and the obliging machinery soon brings them to the exact point desired.”The diving-bell has many times rendered service to engineers, by enabling them to descend and ascertain the nature of damages going on, which might otherwise have ruined their work. When Brunel was building the famous Thames Tunnel, and the current had broken through its arched roof, he went down in a diving-bell to see for himself the extent of the disaster. After a descent of nearly thirty feet, he reached a serious opening in the masonry, but the hole was too narrow to allow the bell to enter. It was therefore necessary for some one to dive into it, and brave Brunel immediately declared his intention[pg 86]of doing it. Taking hold of the end of a rope, he plunged into the hole, where it is said he remained nearly two minutes, mentally noting the damage done. So intent was he on this examination that he let go the rope just as his companions above, alarmed at his long stay below, were hauling it up. He had just time to catch hold of it again, and was happily drawn safely into the bell.DIVERS ATTACKED BY A SWORD-FISH.DIVERS ATTACKED BY A SWORD-FISH.The diving dress was a later development, and owed much of its present practical shape to French men of science. The object of the dress, which is of canvas or india-rubber and metal, is, of course, to give each individual wearing it the utmost liberty of motion, while having at the same time a proper supply of vital air. The condensed air-reservoir is made of steel, and capable of resisting great pressures. The diver carries this apparatus on his back; from it a respiratory tube issues, and is terminated by an india-rubber mouth-piece, which is held between the lips and teeth of the diver.The diver’s is a rough life, most assuredly. During the diving business on theRoyal George, Private John Williams, early in the season, tore his hands very severely in attempting to sling a mass of the wreck with jagged surfaces and broken bolts. After a few days’ rest he reappeared in his submarine habit, and dived as before, but from excessive pain in the ears was againhors de combattill the 11th of July, when, on re-descending, he was grievously injured by the bursting of his air-pipe a few inches above the water. This casualty was indicated by a loud hissing noise on deck. A few seconds elapsed before the rupture could be traced and the opening temporarily stopped. With great alertness he was drawn up, and on being relieved of his helmet, presented a frightful appearance. His face and neck were much swelled and very livid, blood was flowing profusely from his mouth and ears, and his eyes were closed and protruding. Though partially suffocated, he possessed sufficient sensibility to speak of the mishap. A sudden shock, it seems, struck him motionless, and then followed a tremendous pressure, as if he were being crushed to death. A month in the Haslar Hospital restored him to health, and on returning to the wreck he at once recommenced his laborious occupation.DIVERS AT WORK.DIVERS AT WORK.The following is a remarkable example of a salvage effected by the help of divers.“The packet boatsGangesandl’Impératricecame into collision in the outer port of Marseilles. TheImpératricehad one of her wheels broken and the officers’ quarters damaged. One of the cabins contained a chest full of gold, which fell into the thick mud which forms the bottom of the port of Marseilles. It was important that this precious package should be recovered the next day. The sea was rough, and the exact spot where the accident occurred unknown. The box was not strong; its colour was black. At the supposed spot a plumb of sixty kilogrammes was sunk. This plumb carried two cords divided into metres; two divers dragged them in separate directions, and taking each the knot corresponding to one metre, they described consecutive circles, examining the ground at each step. After searching three hours, the gold was found, and restored to its owner, who had watched the operations with intense anxiety. This salvage was effected on February 19th, 1867, by M. Barbotin, contractor for submarine work at Marseilles.”The diving-bell proper has been much improved by another Frenchman, M. Payerne. His“Submarine Hydrostat”will descend or fall at the will of those inside. Thirty men may work in it with ease for a number of hours without inconvenience. It is, therefore, of[pg 87]great service in clearing ports, and in facilitating the execution of other submarine work.“The principle of the machine is very ingenious. Externally, it has the appearance of one large rectangular box, surmounted by another smaller one, completely closed in except at the bottom. The interior consists of three principal compartments. Theholdcommunicates by a large shaft with the upper compartment. Between these is a third compartment, ororlop deck, which only communicates with the others by means of stop-cocks. The hydrostat is twenty feet in height, and its base, which has the bottom of the sea for a floor, covers an area of 625 square feet. It may be made to rise and fall at will, and it will readily float about like a raft.”This ingenious machine has proved of much service. The port of Fécamp was choked up with shingle, which closed it against all vessels beyond a certain tonnage. The hydrostat was employed, and the port cleaned, and again opened to commerce.The old divers are fond of recounting the glories of their craft, and are specially impressed with any information as to the fate of the vessels of the Armada. This spirit has been fostered no less by the successes of the ancestor of the Mulgraves than by the good fortune of John Gann, of Whitstable. The old diver was, many years since, employed on the Galway coast, and used to pass his evenings in a public-house frequented by fishermen. One of these men, repeating a tradition which had long existed in the district, told Gann that one of the Spanish vessels had been wrecked not far from that coast, and intimated that he himself could point out the spot. Gann, having finished his special job, made terms with the fisherman, and they were both out for many weeks dragging the spot indicated for any traces of the wreck. They were at last rewarded by coming upon obstructions with their grapnels. Gann brought out his diving apparatus, and sure enough the truth of the tradition was vindicated by the finding of a number of dollars, which had originally been packed in barrels. The barrels, however, had rotted away, and left the gold stacked in barrel shape. With the money so recovered John Gann built at Whitstable, his native place, a row of houses, which, to commemorate the circumstance, he called Dollar Row.Corporal Harris, almost entirely by his own diligence, removed in little more than two months the wreck of thePerdita, mooring lighter, which was sunk in 1783, in the course of Mr. Tracy’s unsuccessful efforts to weigh theRoyal George. It was about sixty feet in length, and embedded in mud fifty fathoms south of that vessel. The exposed timbers stood only two feet six inches above the level of the bottom, so that the exertions of Harris in removing the wreck were Herculean. Completely overpowered by fatigue, he claimed a respite for a day or two to recruit his energies, and then resumed work with his accustomed assiduity and cheerfulness.There was a sort of abnegation, an absence of jealousy, in the character of Harris which, as the rivalry among the divers made them somewhat selfish, gave prominence to his kindness. He met a comrade named Cameron at the bottom, who led him to the spot where he was working. For a considerable time Cameron had fruitlessly laboured in slinging an awkward timber of some magnitude, when Harris readily stood in his place, and in a few minutes, using Cameron’s breast-line to make the necessary signals, sent the mass on deck. It was thus recorded to Cameron’s credit; but the circumstance, on becoming known, was regarded with so much satisfaction that honourable mention was made of it in the official records.[pg 88]Lance-Corporal Jones, engaged on the wreck of theRoyal George, one day lodged on deck from his slings a crate containing eighty 12-pounder shot. With singular success he laid the remainder of the kelson open for recovery, and then, sinking deeper, drew from the mud, in two hauls, nearly thirty-five feet of the keel. He also weighed a small vessel of six tons burden, belonging to a Mr. Cussell, which drove, under a strong current, upon one of the lighters. Becoming entangled, the craft soon filled and foundered, grappling, in her descent, with the ladder of one of the divers, grounding at a short distance from the interval between the lighters. Jones was selected to try his skill in rescuing her. At once descending, he fixed the chains under her stern, and while attempting to hold them in position, by passing them round the mast, the tide turned, the vessel swung round, and the mast fell over the side, burying Jones under her sails and rigging. Perilous as was his situation, his fearlessness and presence of mind never for a moment forsook him. Working from under the canvas, and carefully extricating himself from the crowd of ropes that ensnared him, he at last found himself free. A thunderstorm now set in, and, obedient to a call from above, he repaired to the deck; but as soon as the squall had subsided he again disappeared, and cleverly jamming the slings, the boat was hove up; but she had become a complete wreck, and was taken on shore.A dangerous but curious incident occurred on theRoyal Georgediving operations between Corporal Jones and Private Girvan, two rival divers, who, in a moment of irritation, engaged in a conflict at the bottom of the sea, having both got hold of the same floor timber of the wreck, which neither would yield to the other. Jones, at length, fearful of a collision with Girvan, who was a powerful man, got his bull-rope fast, and attempted to escape by it, but before he could do so Girvan seized him by the legs and tried to draw him down. A scuffle ensued, and Jones succeeded in extricating himself from the grasp of his antagonist. He then took a firmer hold of the bull-rope and gave a kick at Girvan, which broke one of the lens of Girvan’s helmet, and as water[pg 89]instantly rushed into his dress, he was likely to have been drowned, had he not at once been hauled on board. Two or three days, however, at Haslar Hospital restored him; and the two submarine combatants resumed work together with the greatest cordiality.A diver’s“Nursery Tale”must not be omitted. The hero,“Jack”(this is the name of a diver who“lived once upon a time”), had been busy for some weeks in gathering up the relics of a shipwreck, when on a certain day he saw appear at one of the windows of his bell the pale face of a woman, with long hair intertwined with sea-weed. He had often heard tell of the beauty of mermaids, who are, as every one knows, lovelier than the most lovely of women; but Jack never believed that any creature so perfect as this could have existed. With a voice softer than the murmuring of the waves under a gentle breeze, she said to him,“I am one of the spirits of the sea. On account of your kind disposition I have marked you out among the rest of your companions, and I will protect you, but on one condition only, and that is, that you shall be sure to recognise me under any shape into which I may be pleased to change myself.”The beautiful spirit disappeared, and Jack remained very much surprised, but with a strong feeling of joy thrilling within him. He prospered exceedingly in all that he undertook. But at last prosperity spoiled him. He kicked and ill-treated a polyp, a kind of devil-fish, but still an animal, and one that had done him no harm, not knowing that the beautiful spirit was disguised under that mass of ugliness. A few days afterwards an accident occurred and Jack was drowned. Moral: Take the advice of kindly mermaids—when you meet them.And now for our last yarn, a true one. Some years ago a large vessel, having on board a valuable cargo, including gold bars, was run down and sunk by a steamship in the Thames between Northfleet and Gravesend. She was afterwards successfully raised[pg 90]by Captain George Wilson, of Milton, the famous oyster place, near Sittingbourne, in Kent, and which is also famous for its divers. It is principally, however, to the names of the vessels concerned that attention is directed. TheUnited Kingdomwas run down by theQueen of Scotland!CHAPTER VIII.The Ocean and Some of its Phenomena.The Saltness of the Sea—Its Composition—Tons of Silver in the Ocean—Currents and their Causes—The Great Gulf Stream—Its Characteristics—A Triumph of Science—The Tides—The Highest Known Tides and Waves—Whirlpools—The Maelström—A Norwegian Description—Edgar Allan Poe and his Story—Rescued from the Vortex—The“Souffleur”at the Mauritius—The Colour of the Sea—Its Causes—The Phosphorescence of the Ocean—Fields of Silver—Principally Caused by Animal Life.Many features and phenomena of the ocean have been incidentally noted in the foregoing pages; but there are points, hitherto untouched, which deserve our attention.Its saltness is due, not merely to the presence of chloride of sodium, or what we call common salt, but to a large number of other minerals, including the chlorides of magnesium and potassium, the sulphates of magnesia and lime, carbonate of lime,sulphurettedhydrogen, bromide of magnesia, hydrochlorate of ammonia, iodine, iron, copper, and even silver, varying in proportion according to locality. The copper plates of a ship examined at Valparaiso showed unmistakable traces of silver deposits. Calculations have been made showing that the ocean contains 2,000,000 tons of silver. In 1,000 grains of sea-water there are thirty-eight grains of these ingredients and some little organic matter. The saltness of the sea is generally greater towards the poles, but to this statement there are exceptions. In parts of the Irish Channel the water contains salts equal to the fortieth of its weight, the saline matter rising to one-sixteenth of its weight off the coast of Spain. In many places the ocean is less salt at the surface than at the bottom. Its saltness increases its density and its buoyancy.Maury, a recognised authority, finds in the saline properties of the sea one of the principal forces from which the currents in the ocean proceed.“The brine of the ocean,”says he,“is the ley of the earth; from it the sea derives dynamical powers, and the currents their main strength.”Let us suppose a long tank or, say, swimming-bath, divided in the middle by a water-tight wall, on one side of which should be fresh and on the other salt water, at equal levels. It is obvious that were the division removed the waters would not stand side by side as before, for the denser water would have a tendency not merely to mingle with the lighter, but to form a currentunderit. So salt waters of different densities.CHART OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.CHART OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.“The ocean,”says Figuier,“is a scene of unceasing agitation;‘its vast surface rises and falls,’to use the image suggested by Schleiden,‘as if it were gifted with a gentle power of respiration; its movements, gentle or powerful, slow or rapid, are all determined by differences of temperature.’”Heat increases its volume, and therefore[pg 91]lightens it; cold increases its density, and it will naturally descend. These are, then, among the obvious reasons of its currents. The duration and force of winds and the tides are both disturbing influences. Such an oceanic marvel as the greatGulf Streamcould only be explained after a careful study of all the operating causes of its existence. Dr. Maury has well described it. He says:—“There is a river in the bosom of the ocean: in the severest droughts it never fails, and in the mightiest floods it never overflows; its banks and its bottom are of cold water, while its current is of warm; it takes its rise in the Gulf of Mexico, and empties itself into the Arctic seas; this mighty river is the Gulf Stream. In no other part of the world is there such a majestic flow of water; its current is more rapid than the Amazon, more impetuous than the Mississippi, and its volume is more than a thousand times greater.”This great current of water particularly influences the climates of Northern Europe, and especially those of Britain and Ireland.The Gulf Stream, as it issues from the Florida Channel, has a breadth of thirty-four miles, a depth of 2,200 feet, and moves at the rate of four and a half miles anhour.“Midway in the Atlantic, in the triangular space between the Azores, Canaries, and Cape de Verd Islands, is the great Sargassum Sea, covering an area equal to the Mississippi Valley; it is so thickly matted over with the Gulf weed (Sargassum bacciferum) that the speed of vessels passing through it is actually retarded, and to the companions of Columbus it seemed to mark the limits of navigation: they became alarmed. To the eye, at a little distance, it seemed sufficiently substantial to walk upon.”The difference of temperature between the Gulf Stream and the waters it traverses constantly gives birth to tempests and cyclones. In 1780 a terrible storm ravaged the Antilles, in which 20,000 persons perished. The ocean quitted its bed, and inundated whole cities; the trunks of great trees and large parts of buildings were tossed wildly in the air. Numerous catastrophes of this kind have earned the Gulf Stream the title of the“King of the Tempests.”So well had Maury studied the Gulf Stream and its storms, that he was enabled to point out the exact position of a vessel overtaken by a terrible gale.“In the month of December, 1859,”says Figuier,“the American packetSan Franciscowas employed as a transport to convey a regiment to California. It was overtaken by one of these sudden storms, which placed the ship and its freight in a most dangerous position—a single wave, which swept the deck, tore out the masts, stopped the engines, and washed overboard 129 persons, officers, and soldiers. From that moment the unfortunate steamer floated upon the waters, a waif abandoned to the fury of the wind. The day after the disaster theSan Franciscowas seen in this desperate situation by a ship, which reached New York, although unable to assist her. Another ship met her some days after, but, like the other, could render no assistance. When the report reached New York two steamers were despatched to her assistance; but in what direction were they to go? what part of the ocean were they to explore? The authorities at the Washington Observatory were appealed to. Having consulted his charts as to the direction and limits of the Gulf Stream at that period of the year, Dr. Maury traced on a chart the spot to which the disabled steamer was likely to be driven by the current, and the course to be taken by the vessels sent to her assistance.”The steamers went straight to the exact spot, and found the wreck; and although by that time the crew and passengers had been taken off by three passing vessels, it was certainly a triumph of science.[pg 92]WAVES OFF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.WAVES OFF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.The tides are produced by two pairs of great waves which travel round the earth each day—a greater pair caused by the attraction of the moon, a lesser pair caused by the sun. The moon, by reason of its nearness to the earth, produces by far the greater influence, but the tides are also subject to all kinds of local influences. The eastern coast of Asia and western side of Europe are exposed to extremely high tides; while in the South Sea Islands they scarcely reach the height of twenty inches. There is hardly any tide in the Mediterranean, separated as it is from the ocean by a narrow strait.“The highest tide which is known occurs in the Bay of Fundy, which opens up to the south of the isthmus uniting Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. There the tide reaches forty, fifty, and even sixty feet, while it only attains the height of seven or eight in the bay to the north of the same isthmus. It is related that a ship was cast ashore upon a rock during the night so high, that at daybreak the crew found themselves and their ship suspended in mid-air, far above the water.”The winds have an immense influence on the height of tides, and also on the waves. The highest known waves are found off the Cape of Good Hope (p. 89) at the period of high tide, under the influence of a strong north-west wind which has traversed the Atlantic, pressing its waters round the Cape.“The billows there,”says Maury,“lift themselves up in long ridges, with deep hollows between them. They run high and fast, tossing their white caps aloft in the air, looking like the green hills of a rolling prairie capped with snow, and chasing each other in sport. Still, their march is stately and their roll majestic. Many an Australian-bound trader, after doubling the Cape, finds herself followed for weeks at a time by these magnificent rolling swells, furiously driven and lashed by the‘brave west winds.’These billows are said to attain the height of thirty, and even forty feet; but no very exact measurement of the height of waves is recorded.”Those off Cape Horn are rather less in height.Sprayis dashed over the Eddystone Light, 130 feet high. After a great storm in Barbadoes in 1780, some old and heavy cannons were found on the shore, which had been thrown up from the bottom of the sea. If waves in their reflux meet with obstacles, whirlpools result, such as those in the Straits of Messina, between the rocks of Charybdis and Scylla made famous by Homer, Ovid, and Virgil, and once much dreaded, but now little feared.The best known whirlpool, the Maelström, off Lofoden, in Norway, is the result of opposing currents. One of the most circumstantial accounts of it is that of a Norwegian, Jonas Ramus, who calls it the Moskoe-strom (channel or stream):—“Between Lofoden and Moskoe,”says he,“the depth of the water is between thirty-six and forty fathoms; but, on the other side, towards Ver (Vurrgh), this depth decreases so as not to afford a convenient passage for a vessel without the risk of splitting on the rocks, which happens even in the calmest weather. When it is flood the stream runs up the country between Lofoden and Moskoe with a boisterous rapidity; but the roar of its impetuous ebb to the sea is scarcely equalled by the loudest and most dreadful cataracts, the noise being heard several leagues off; and the vortices or pits are of such an extent and depth that if a ship comes within its attraction it is inevitably absorbed and carried down to the bottom, and there beaten to pieces against the rocks; and when the water relaxes the fragments thereof are thrown up again. But these intervals of tranquillity are only at the turn of the ebb and flood and in calm weather, and last but a quarter[pg 93]of an hour, its violence gradually returning. When the stream is most boisterous, and its fury heightened by a storm, it is dangerous to come within a Norwegian mile of it. Boats, yachts, and ships have been carried away by not guarding against it before they were within its reach. It likewise happens frequently that whales come too near the stream, and are overpowered by its violence, and then it is impossible to describe their howlings and bellowings, in their fruitless struggles to disengage themselves. A bear once attempting to swim from Lofoden to Moskoe, was caught by the stream and borne down, while he roared terribly, so as to be heard on shore. Large stocks of firs and pine-trees, after being absorbed by the current, rise again, broken and torn to such a degree as if bristles grew upon them. This plainly shows the bottom to consist of craggy rocks, among which they are whirled to and fro. This stream is regulated by the flux and reflux of the sea, it being constantly high and low water every six hours. In the year 1645, early in the morning of Sexagesima Sunday, it raged with such noise and impetuosity that the very stones of the houses on the coast fell to the ground.”Kuchu and others promulgated the idea that the maelström is a watery abyss penetrating the globe, and issuing in some very remote[pg 94]part. This is the view held by most of the Norwegian peasantry and fishermen to-day.Who that has read the works of Edgar Allan Poe will ever forget his thrilling and detailed story of a descent into the maelström?30It bears the impress of close study, and is founded largely on recorded facts. Two brothers, the most daring fishermen of their coast, were accustomed to fish in closer proximity to the maelström than all the rest, because, although a desperate speculation, they would get more fish in a day than the others could at the distant fishing grounds in a week. The risk of life stood for labour, and courage for capital.In a terrible hurricane they were driven through the surf into the inner circle of the whirlpool, where (as is likely to be the case in actual fact) the wind nearly ceased, the surface of the water being lower than that of the surrounding ocean.“If you have never been at sea in a heavy gale, you can form no idea of the confusion of mind occasioned by the wind and spray together. They blind, deafen, and strangle you, and take away all power of action or reflection.”Now the two fishermen brothers were in a measure respited, as death-condemned felons in prison are allowed petty indulgences forbidden them while their doom is yet uncertain. Round and round the belt the vessel flew rather than floated, getting nearer and nearer to the fatal inner vortex, and making wild lurches towards the abyss.“The boat appeared to be hanging, as if by magic, midway down, upon the interior surface of a funnel vast in circumference, prodigious in depth, and whose perfectly smooth sides might have been mistaken for ebony, but for the bewildering rapidity with which they spun round, and for the gleaming and ghastly radiance they shot forth as the rays of the full moon ... streamed in a flood of golden glory along the black walls, and far away down into the inmost recesses of the abyss.”Round and round they swept in dizzying swings and jerks. Above and below them were whirling fragments of vessels, timbers, boxes, barrels, and trunks of trees. And now a hope arose from the recollection of one circumstance: that of the great variety of buoyant matter thrown up by the moskoe-strom on the coast of Lofoden, some articles were not disfigured or damaged at all. Further, light and cylindrical articles were the least likely to be absorbed into any watery vortex: for the last statement there are good scientific reasons.“I,”says the survivor,“no longer hesitated what to do. I resolved to lash myself securely to the water-cask upon which I now held, to cut it loose from the counter, and to throw myself with it into the water. I attracted my brother’s attention by signs, pointed to the floating barrels that came near us, and did everything in my power to make him understand what I was about to do. I thought at length that he comprehended my design, but whether this was the case or not, he shook his head despairingly, and refused to move from his station by the ring-bolt. It was impossible to reach him; the emergency admitted of no delay; and so, with a bitter struggle, I resigned him to his fate, fastened myself to the cask by means of the lashings which secured it to the counter, and precipitated myself with it into the sea without another moment’s hesitation.”The smack soon after made a few gyrations in rapid succession, then sank to the bottom for ever, bearing with it the unfortunate brother.“The barrel to which I was attached had sunk very little farther than half the distance between the bottom of the gulf and the spot at which I leaped overboard before a great change took place in the[pg 95]character of the whirlpool. The slope of the sides of the vast funnel became momentarily less and less steep. The gyrations of the whirl grew gradually less and less violent.”By degrees the waters rose, and he found himself in full view of the shores of Lofoden, and above the spot where the pool of the moskoe-stromhad been. He was picked up by a boat; those on board were old mates and daily companions, but they knew him no more than they would have known a traveller from the spirit-land. His hair, which had been raven black the day before, was now as white as snow.Thus far Poe. It shows how the vivid imagination of a great poet, dealing with facts, can put those facts before the reader in artistically life-like and graphic form.WHIRLPOOL OF CORRIEVRECKAN, OFF THE HEBRIDES.WHIRLPOOL OF CORRIEVRECKAN, OFF THE HEBRIDES.Another remarkable whirlpool is that of Corrievreckan, off the Hebrides, in the south of Scotland, shown in an illustration on page 93.A phenomenon of another character is exhibited on the south side of the Mauritius, at a point called“The Souffleur,”or“The Blower.”“A large mass of rock,”says Lieutenant Taylor, of the United States navy,“runs out into the sea from the mainland, to which it is joined by a neck of rock not two feet broad. The constant beating of the tremendous swell which rolls in has undermined it in every direction, till it has exactly the appearance of a Gothic building with a number of arches. In the centre of the rock, which is about thirty-five or forty feet above the sea, the water has forced two passages vertically upward, which are worn as smooth and cylindrical as if cut by a chisel. When a heavy sea rolls in, it of course fills in an instant the hollow caverns underneath; and finding no other egress, and being borne in with tremendous violence, rushes up these chimneys, and flies, roaring furiously, to a height of full sixty feet. The moment the wave recedes, the vacuum beneath causes the wind to rush into the two apertures with a loud humming noise, which is heard at a considerable distance.“My companion and I arrived there before high water; and, having climbed across the neck of rock, we seated ourselves close to the chimneys, where I proposed making a sketch, and had just begun, when in came a thundering sea, which broke right over the rock itself, and drove us back much alarmed.“Our negro guide now informed us that we must make haste to re-cross our narrow bridge, as the sea would get up as the tide rose. We lost no time, and got back dry enough; and I was obliged to make my sketches from the mainland.“In about three-quarters of an hour the sight was truly magnificent. I do not exaggerate in the least when I say the waves rolled in, long and unbroken, full twenty-five feet high, till, meeting the headland, they broke clear over it, sending the spray flying over to the mainland; while, from the centre of this mass of foam, the Souffleur shot up with a noise which we afterwards heard distinctly between two and three miles. Standing on the main cliff, more than a hundred feet above the sea, we were quite wet.”“THE SOUFFLEUR,” ISLAND OF MAURITIUS.“THE SOUFFLEUR,”ISLAND OF MAURITIUS.To the combined influences of tides and waves may also be attributed the monsoon hurricanes which so often visit the Indian Ocean. The air may have been just previously without a breath, when immense waves, accompanied by whirlwinds, come rolling in.“At the period of the changing monsoons, the winds, breaking loose from their controlling forces, seem to rage with a fury capable of breaking up the very foundations of the deep,”and ships are often literally whirled round, or bodily lifted up, their crews being utterly impotent.[pg 96]Turning to another subject, partially discussed before—the colour of the sea—it may be remarked that by itself as sea water it is really colourless. Its varying colours are caused by reflection, by the varied bottoms it covers, or by the presence of actual animal, vegetable, and mineral bodies. The ocean,“When winds breathe soft along the silent deep,”is azure blue or ultramarine, becoming greener in-shore. There are some days when it is generally green, others sombre and grey. A bottom of white sand will give a greyish or apple-coloured green; of chalk, a pure clear green; if the bottom is brownish-yellow sand, the green is naturally duller in character. In the Bay of Loango the waters appear of a deep red, from the red bottom. The Red Sea owes its colour to actual floating microscopic algæ and to red coral bottoms. Sea water, concentrated in the salt marshes of the south of France by the heat of the sun, is also red: this is due to the presence of a red-shelled animal of microscopic size. These minute creatures do not appear till the salt water has attained a certain concentration, while they die when it has reached a further density. Navigators often traverse patches of green, red, white, or yellow-coloured water, their coloration being due to the presence of microscopic crustaceans, medusæ, zoophytes, and marine plants.A SHIP SAILING IN PHOSPHORESCENT SEA.A SHIP SAILING IN PHOSPHORESCENT SEA.The pleasing phenomenon known as the phosphorescence of the sea is generally, though[pg 97]by no means entirely, due to myriads of minute globular creatures, calledNoctiluca. Captain Kingman reported having traversed a zone twenty-three miles in length, and so filled with phosphorescent matter that during the night it presented the appearance of a vast field of snow.“There was scarcely a cloud in the heavens,”he tells us;“yet the sky for about 10° above the horizon appeared as black as if a storm were raging; stars of the first magnitude shone with a feeble light, and the‘milky way’of the heavens was almost entirely eclipsed by that through which we were sailing.”Several varieties of molluscs and acalephes shine by their own light, while phosphorescence is often due to the decomposition of animal matter.PHOSPHORESCENCE ON THE SURFACE OF THE SEA.PHOSPHORESCENCE ON THE SURFACE OF THE SEA.A French author thus describes the effect produced by the molluscs known to scientists asPyrosoma, on a voyage to the Isle of France. He says:—“The wind was blowing with great violence, the night was dark, and the vessel was making rapid way, when what appeared to be a vast sheet of phosphorus presented itself, floating on the waves, and occupying a great space ahead of the ship. The vessel having passed through this fiery mass, it was discovered that the light was occasioned by organised bodies swimming about in the sea at various depths around the ship. Those which were deepest in the water looked like red-hot balls, while those on the surface resembled cylinders of red-hot iron. Some of the latter were caught; they were found to vary in size from three to seven inches. All the exterior of the creatures bristled with long thick tubercles, shining like so many diamonds, and these seemed to be the principal seats of their luminosity. Inside also there appeared to be a multitude of oblong narrow glands, exhibiting a high degree of phosphoric power. The colour of these animals when in repose is an opal yellow, mixed with green; but on the slightest movement the animal exhibits a spontaneous contractile power, and assumes a luminous brilliancy, passing through various shades of deep-red, orange-green, and azure-blue.”A ship plunging through these phosphorescent fields seems to advance through a sheet of white flame, a field of luminous silver, scattering a spray of sparks in all directions.

CHAPTER VII.Davy Jones’s Locker, and those who Dive into it.Scientific Diving—General Principles—William Phipps and the Treasure Ship—Founder of the House of Mulgrave—Halley’s Wooden Diving-bell and Air Barrels—Smeaton’s Improvements—Spalding’s Death—Operations at Plymouth Breakwater—The Diver’s Life—“Lower away!”—The Diving-Belleand her Letter from Below—Operations at the Bottom—Brunel and the Thames Tunnel—The Diving Dress—Suffocation—Remarkable Case of Salvage—The“Submarine Hydrostat”—John Gann of Whitstable—Dollar Row—Various Anecdotes—Combat at the Bottom of the Sea—A Mermaid Story—Run down by theQueen of Scotland.The art of unassisted diving having been considered, the reader’s attention is invited to divers and diving aided by scientific appliances. But for these developments, how could one hope to recover anything large or valuable that had once disappeared beneath the waves? How properly build gigantic breakwaters, piers, and bridges, or examine and clear choked ports and channels?29Some of the grandest achievements of modern practical science would have been impossible without their aid.Every reader understands the general principle involved in the construction of the diving-bell. Invert a tumbler in a deep vessel of water, and the liquid will only ascend to a certain height inside, however far down you place the glass. Insert a tube in a hole drilled in your tumbler, and blow downwards, and the water recedes still lower. This is what happens when the air is pumped down into the modern diving-bell. In descending in a diving-bell and remaining under water you will feel a slight inconvenience in breathing, and perhaps a tingling in the ears; this comes, not from scarcity of air, but from the fact that the atmosphere of the interior of the bell is reallydenserthan it is outside; the air, forced downwards by the powerful air-pump, is pressedupwardsby the water. Readers may remember that Robert Fulton and his friends[pg 80]remained under water in his submarine boat for over two hours, the air in that case being supplied from a large globe containing highly condensed air, which was allowed to escape as required. The foul air passed off from tubes in bubbles to the surface.A DIVER AT WORK (WITH SUBMARINE LAMP).A DIVER AT WORK (WITH SUBMARINE LAMP).As early as the year 1663 an Englishman named William Phipps, the son of a blacksmith, invented a plan for recovering from the bottom of the sea the treasures out of a Spanish vessel which had sunk on the coast of Hispaniola. Charles II. lent him a ship and all that was necessary for his enterprise, but the matter did not turn out successfully, and William Phipps fell into a state of the greatest poverty. Notwithstanding this nothing could discourage his ardour, and to set himself afloat again he opened a subscription list in England, of which the Duke of Albemarle was one of the subscribers. In 1667 Phipps embarked in a ship of 200 tons burden, having undertaken beforehand to divide the profits between the twenty shareholders who represented the associated capital. At first starting his search proved altogether unavailing, and he was just beginning to despair, when he fell in with the golden vein. The fortunate diver returned to England with £200,000; £20,000 he kept for himself, and no less than £90,000 came to the share of the Duke of Albemarle. Phipps was knighted by the[pg 81]king, and became the founder of the noble house of Mulgrave, which has played no inconsiderable part in the affairs of the United Kingdom.It is little more than a century and a half ago since the celebrated astronomer, Halley—about the first to commence those experiments in submarine exploration which have been continued to the present epoch—descended to a depth of fifty feet in a diving-bell which he had constructed. It was built of wood, and covered with sheet lead. The air that was vitiated by respiration escaped from the chamber through an air-cock, while the pure element was supplied by barrels, which descended and ascended alternately on both sides of the bell, like buckets in a well. These barrels, lined with metal, each contained some thirty-six gallons of condensed air; they were connected with the interior of the bell by leathern tubes. As soon as one of these air receptacles was exhausted another was let down. Halley himself relates that in 1721, by the aid of this apparatus, he was able to descend with four other persons to a depth of nine or ten fathoms, and to remain under water an hour and a half.It is to Smeaton, the celebrated engineer of the famed Eddystone Lighthouse, that the diving-bell owes its leading characteristics, as he was the first to abolish Halley’s rather clumsy contrivance and apply the power of the air-pump; he also constructed the first cast-iron bell. In 1779 he made use of the diving-bell to repair the piles of Hexham Bridge, in the north of England, the foundations of the structure having been undermined by the violence of the current. A few years after a sad accident occurred from the use of Halley’s barrel apparatus.In 1783, Mr. Spalding, of Edinburgh, who had made some improvements upon the mechanical arrangements of Halley’s bell, but had retained the barrel air service, engaged to recover some of the cargo of an East-Indiaman which had been sunk on the Kish Bank, Ireland. He and his assistant went down, and after the first supply of air was exhausted the barrels were sent down as usual. No signal having been given for some time, the bell was drawn up, and Mr. Spalding and his assistant were found to be dead. It is supposed that by some means they failed to discharge the air from the barrels into the bell, and were consequently suffocated. The barrel service was always more or less dangerous, from its liability to get out of gear, and if Spalding had adopted the invention of Smeaton, he would not have lost his life in the manner he did.The improved diving-bell was soon generally adopted by engineers, and played an important part in the works which have so altered the port of Ramsgate. The great engineer Rennie made constant use of the diving-bell in fixing the foundations of the eastern jetty, and in protecting it in parts against the attacks of the sea by a shield of solid masonry. It was extensively used in the construction of the Plymouth Breakwater. M. Esquiros, who visited the divers during the progress of that great work, gave an interesting account of theirmodus operandi:—“But we now,”says he,“approached the breakwater—that causeway of giants—by the side of which we soon discovered an old dismasted ship. This vessel is rough in appearance, and covered over with a kind of pent-house roof. In it live, as in a floating house, the operatives who are still working at the breakwater. They pass, alternately, one month on board ship and one month on shore. One of their little sources of profit consists[pg 82]in the sale of small fancy articles, which they say that they cut out with the blades of their pocket-knives from the rocks which they bring up from the bottom of the sea. Very soon I heard the loud throbbing of machinery, snorting and puffing like so many marine monsters; it was the wheezy noise of the air-pumps which supply the bells when buried under water....“I then noticed a small boat managed by a sailor rowing it, which glided under the mouth of the bell, and from this hollow I saw emerge a pair of large loose boots, reaching above the knees, which, being followed by another pair of large boots, convinced me that two men were jumping down into the skiff. The boat itself, in fact, at once got clear of the dome, under which it had been half hidden, and I saw it come back to the vessel with two workmen on board, wet up to the waist and covered with mud. They had just finished making their half-day under the water, and appeared to be fatigued. Their swarthy complexions were tinged on the cheeks and forehead with a bright sanguine hue. The position of the bell was not at all altered; it was as if they wished to give it an opportunity to dry itself and breathe a little fresh air. It was then dinner hour for the men employed at the works. I had just been a spectator of the process of raising the bell to the surface; I now had to see it let down again to the bottom of the sea.“The same little boat which brought the two workmen to the great floating house took them back again, after an hour’s rest, to the vicinity of the diving-bell, which, hung just over the water, looked very much like an immense iron box open at the bottom. The procedure in making ready for the descent has really something rather imposing about it, and to an excited imagination might very well suggest the preparations for the execution of a sentence of death. Nothing is wanting for the purpose; the scaffold, the secret cell, and the gulf of the menacing waves are all there. The divers, thank goodness! do not in the least anticipate such a fate, but, on the contrary, seem proud to walk safely over the bottom of the sea, where so many others have found their grave. Be this as it may, the boat soon places itself underneath the bell, raised as it is three or four feet above the surface. The two workmen climb one after the other up into the inside, helped by an iron ring hung to the arched roof, which can easily be laid hold of by the hands. They take their places on two wooden benches fixed at a certain height in the hollow of the bell. Sometimes four, or even six, workmen have to find seats in this curious vehicle. When all this is done the boat goes away, and in another moment the voice of the foreman gives the order,‘Lower away.’...“In places where the water is troubled by sand, the diver often passes through a kind of twilight or submarine fog, which compels him to light his lamp. More often, on the contrary, the light is sufficiently strong to enable him to read a newspaper in small type. A story is told even of a lady who wrote a letter in the diving-bell, and dated it thus:‘16th June, 18—, at the bottom of the sea.’Her courage obtained for her among the divers thesobriquetof the DivingBelle.“I also wished to make my mind easy as to the lot of the poor workmen whom I had seen descending in the bell. The foreman assured me that they enjoyed every comfort in it. Have they not seats to rest themselves on, a wooden ledge on which to place their feet, an assortment of tools and necessary utensils suspended on a cord[pg 83]or hooked on to the walls of their hut, which is nearly as well furnished as that of Robinson Crusoe’s? From all this explanation I was bound to conclude, unless the foreman was mixing up a little irony in what he told me, that the divers were quite‘at home’in the bell. The fact is, that really they pass in it a great part of their existence. Almost all of them suffer a great deal at first from a violent pain, which they themselves define as‘a toothache gone into the ears,’and they have a humming in the head,‘as if some one had let fly a swarm of bees there;’but these troublesome symptoms disappear after the second or third descent. Their confidence in this dry chamber, almost isolated in the midst of the turmoil of the ocean, approaches sometimes to temerity. In 1820, Dr. Collodon, of Geneva, who had gone down in a diving-bell on the coast of Ireland, bethought himself that at the depth at which he then was, a stone, or any other trifling cause obstructing the action of the air-valve, would be sufficient to enable the water to invade the bell. He confided this not very reassuring reflection to one of the divers who was with him. The latter, smiling, answered him by merely pointing out with his finger one of the glazed loopholes which were over their heads. The doctor examined it attentively, and ascertained, in fact, that the glass was cracked sufficiently to allow bubbles of air to escape pretty freely. This was a very different and more serious cause of uneasiness than the rather improbable contingency of an obstruction of the air-valve. The diver was well aware of the cracked glass, and cared nothing about it.”Some time since, when the present writer descended in the diving-bell exhibited in London, a seal which then disported in the tank would rub its nose outside against the little glass windows, and look in, as though wondering what on earth a visitor was doing there inhiselement! The same poor animal afterwards came to grief in a very sad way. When the water was drained off out of the tank the seal got into the pipes below, and thence to the sewers. It was found, still alive, some time after, in the sewers of the Euston Road, a considerable distance away, but succumbed later to the mephitic influences of the filthy stream.M. Esquiros continues:—“‘They are just beginning to work’was soon remarked to me by the superintendent, who followed, even under the waves, every movement of his labourers. The nature of their operations varies, of course, very much according to the undertaking in which they are engaged. The two divers who had just gone down had for their task to clear away round the adjacent portion of the foundation of the breakwater. As soon as they reach the bottom they jump off their seat, and, armed with a pickaxe, begin to dig into the moist sand in order to get out the stones. It often happens that the movement of the tide or some other cause disturbs the water round the rocky base of the breakwater. The workmen have then much trouble in seeing clearly, and complain that‘the water is muddy.’Generally, however, the water is so transparent, that even a cloud passing across the sky is visible at the bottom of the sea. The workmen also can labour with nearly as much ease and quite as much energy as if they were on land. The movements they themselves make in conjunction with the circumstances which surround them occasionally cause something like a thick mist to rise before their eyes, hiding from them the nearest objects; they get quit of it by[pg 84]calling for an‘air bath.’The air-pump redoubles its pace in working, and sends down to them through the pump an extra current of air, which soon blows away the mist.“I was very soon enabled to judge for myself as to their industry; sacks which they had filled with muddy sand, and buckets laden with stones, came up to the surface every moment, drawn by cords. One might have fancied it to be the mouth of a mine, to which invisible arms were constantly sending up fragments of rock; but here the mine was the sea. The nature of their digging did not allow them to work very long together in the same place. The divers had already requested by signal to have their position shifted on the bed of the sound. How would they manage to comply with their wish? As regards air and locomotion, the men shut up in the bell depend entirely on the apparatus working on the surface. The chief organ of movement is a sort oftravelleron four wheels, running over two tramways, allowing it to come and go in every direction. Immediately on the signal being given from below, the bell was raised from the bottom of the sea, like a heavy balloon. This operation was, of course, carried out by means of chains, and the diving-bell remained for a minute or two motionless in mid-water, like the pendulum of a stopped clock. But the traveller begins to move, and as it also acts as a crane, the pulley on the surface and the bell under water shift their position at the same time. The divers call this‘travelling.’They can thus move from north to south, from east to west, backwards and forwards. As they are in motion, if they come upon a piece of rock which encumbers the bed of the sound, they give the signal to stop, and the bell becomes stationary, and then descends again slowly towards the block of stones. If[pg 85]they have been carried on a little too far, and want to retrace their steps, they communicate afresh with the men working on the surface, and the obliging machinery soon brings them to the exact point desired.”The diving-bell has many times rendered service to engineers, by enabling them to descend and ascertain the nature of damages going on, which might otherwise have ruined their work. When Brunel was building the famous Thames Tunnel, and the current had broken through its arched roof, he went down in a diving-bell to see for himself the extent of the disaster. After a descent of nearly thirty feet, he reached a serious opening in the masonry, but the hole was too narrow to allow the bell to enter. It was therefore necessary for some one to dive into it, and brave Brunel immediately declared his intention[pg 86]of doing it. Taking hold of the end of a rope, he plunged into the hole, where it is said he remained nearly two minutes, mentally noting the damage done. So intent was he on this examination that he let go the rope just as his companions above, alarmed at his long stay below, were hauling it up. He had just time to catch hold of it again, and was happily drawn safely into the bell.DIVERS ATTACKED BY A SWORD-FISH.DIVERS ATTACKED BY A SWORD-FISH.The diving dress was a later development, and owed much of its present practical shape to French men of science. The object of the dress, which is of canvas or india-rubber and metal, is, of course, to give each individual wearing it the utmost liberty of motion, while having at the same time a proper supply of vital air. The condensed air-reservoir is made of steel, and capable of resisting great pressures. The diver carries this apparatus on his back; from it a respiratory tube issues, and is terminated by an india-rubber mouth-piece, which is held between the lips and teeth of the diver.The diver’s is a rough life, most assuredly. During the diving business on theRoyal George, Private John Williams, early in the season, tore his hands very severely in attempting to sling a mass of the wreck with jagged surfaces and broken bolts. After a few days’ rest he reappeared in his submarine habit, and dived as before, but from excessive pain in the ears was againhors de combattill the 11th of July, when, on re-descending, he was grievously injured by the bursting of his air-pipe a few inches above the water. This casualty was indicated by a loud hissing noise on deck. A few seconds elapsed before the rupture could be traced and the opening temporarily stopped. With great alertness he was drawn up, and on being relieved of his helmet, presented a frightful appearance. His face and neck were much swelled and very livid, blood was flowing profusely from his mouth and ears, and his eyes were closed and protruding. Though partially suffocated, he possessed sufficient sensibility to speak of the mishap. A sudden shock, it seems, struck him motionless, and then followed a tremendous pressure, as if he were being crushed to death. A month in the Haslar Hospital restored him to health, and on returning to the wreck he at once recommenced his laborious occupation.DIVERS AT WORK.DIVERS AT WORK.The following is a remarkable example of a salvage effected by the help of divers.“The packet boatsGangesandl’Impératricecame into collision in the outer port of Marseilles. TheImpératricehad one of her wheels broken and the officers’ quarters damaged. One of the cabins contained a chest full of gold, which fell into the thick mud which forms the bottom of the port of Marseilles. It was important that this precious package should be recovered the next day. The sea was rough, and the exact spot where the accident occurred unknown. The box was not strong; its colour was black. At the supposed spot a plumb of sixty kilogrammes was sunk. This plumb carried two cords divided into metres; two divers dragged them in separate directions, and taking each the knot corresponding to one metre, they described consecutive circles, examining the ground at each step. After searching three hours, the gold was found, and restored to its owner, who had watched the operations with intense anxiety. This salvage was effected on February 19th, 1867, by M. Barbotin, contractor for submarine work at Marseilles.”The diving-bell proper has been much improved by another Frenchman, M. Payerne. His“Submarine Hydrostat”will descend or fall at the will of those inside. Thirty men may work in it with ease for a number of hours without inconvenience. It is, therefore, of[pg 87]great service in clearing ports, and in facilitating the execution of other submarine work.“The principle of the machine is very ingenious. Externally, it has the appearance of one large rectangular box, surmounted by another smaller one, completely closed in except at the bottom. The interior consists of three principal compartments. Theholdcommunicates by a large shaft with the upper compartment. Between these is a third compartment, ororlop deck, which only communicates with the others by means of stop-cocks. The hydrostat is twenty feet in height, and its base, which has the bottom of the sea for a floor, covers an area of 625 square feet. It may be made to rise and fall at will, and it will readily float about like a raft.”This ingenious machine has proved of much service. The port of Fécamp was choked up with shingle, which closed it against all vessels beyond a certain tonnage. The hydrostat was employed, and the port cleaned, and again opened to commerce.The old divers are fond of recounting the glories of their craft, and are specially impressed with any information as to the fate of the vessels of the Armada. This spirit has been fostered no less by the successes of the ancestor of the Mulgraves than by the good fortune of John Gann, of Whitstable. The old diver was, many years since, employed on the Galway coast, and used to pass his evenings in a public-house frequented by fishermen. One of these men, repeating a tradition which had long existed in the district, told Gann that one of the Spanish vessels had been wrecked not far from that coast, and intimated that he himself could point out the spot. Gann, having finished his special job, made terms with the fisherman, and they were both out for many weeks dragging the spot indicated for any traces of the wreck. They were at last rewarded by coming upon obstructions with their grapnels. Gann brought out his diving apparatus, and sure enough the truth of the tradition was vindicated by the finding of a number of dollars, which had originally been packed in barrels. The barrels, however, had rotted away, and left the gold stacked in barrel shape. With the money so recovered John Gann built at Whitstable, his native place, a row of houses, which, to commemorate the circumstance, he called Dollar Row.Corporal Harris, almost entirely by his own diligence, removed in little more than two months the wreck of thePerdita, mooring lighter, which was sunk in 1783, in the course of Mr. Tracy’s unsuccessful efforts to weigh theRoyal George. It was about sixty feet in length, and embedded in mud fifty fathoms south of that vessel. The exposed timbers stood only two feet six inches above the level of the bottom, so that the exertions of Harris in removing the wreck were Herculean. Completely overpowered by fatigue, he claimed a respite for a day or two to recruit his energies, and then resumed work with his accustomed assiduity and cheerfulness.There was a sort of abnegation, an absence of jealousy, in the character of Harris which, as the rivalry among the divers made them somewhat selfish, gave prominence to his kindness. He met a comrade named Cameron at the bottom, who led him to the spot where he was working. For a considerable time Cameron had fruitlessly laboured in slinging an awkward timber of some magnitude, when Harris readily stood in his place, and in a few minutes, using Cameron’s breast-line to make the necessary signals, sent the mass on deck. It was thus recorded to Cameron’s credit; but the circumstance, on becoming known, was regarded with so much satisfaction that honourable mention was made of it in the official records.[pg 88]Lance-Corporal Jones, engaged on the wreck of theRoyal George, one day lodged on deck from his slings a crate containing eighty 12-pounder shot. With singular success he laid the remainder of the kelson open for recovery, and then, sinking deeper, drew from the mud, in two hauls, nearly thirty-five feet of the keel. He also weighed a small vessel of six tons burden, belonging to a Mr. Cussell, which drove, under a strong current, upon one of the lighters. Becoming entangled, the craft soon filled and foundered, grappling, in her descent, with the ladder of one of the divers, grounding at a short distance from the interval between the lighters. Jones was selected to try his skill in rescuing her. At once descending, he fixed the chains under her stern, and while attempting to hold them in position, by passing them round the mast, the tide turned, the vessel swung round, and the mast fell over the side, burying Jones under her sails and rigging. Perilous as was his situation, his fearlessness and presence of mind never for a moment forsook him. Working from under the canvas, and carefully extricating himself from the crowd of ropes that ensnared him, he at last found himself free. A thunderstorm now set in, and, obedient to a call from above, he repaired to the deck; but as soon as the squall had subsided he again disappeared, and cleverly jamming the slings, the boat was hove up; but she had become a complete wreck, and was taken on shore.A dangerous but curious incident occurred on theRoyal Georgediving operations between Corporal Jones and Private Girvan, two rival divers, who, in a moment of irritation, engaged in a conflict at the bottom of the sea, having both got hold of the same floor timber of the wreck, which neither would yield to the other. Jones, at length, fearful of a collision with Girvan, who was a powerful man, got his bull-rope fast, and attempted to escape by it, but before he could do so Girvan seized him by the legs and tried to draw him down. A scuffle ensued, and Jones succeeded in extricating himself from the grasp of his antagonist. He then took a firmer hold of the bull-rope and gave a kick at Girvan, which broke one of the lens of Girvan’s helmet, and as water[pg 89]instantly rushed into his dress, he was likely to have been drowned, had he not at once been hauled on board. Two or three days, however, at Haslar Hospital restored him; and the two submarine combatants resumed work together with the greatest cordiality.A diver’s“Nursery Tale”must not be omitted. The hero,“Jack”(this is the name of a diver who“lived once upon a time”), had been busy for some weeks in gathering up the relics of a shipwreck, when on a certain day he saw appear at one of the windows of his bell the pale face of a woman, with long hair intertwined with sea-weed. He had often heard tell of the beauty of mermaids, who are, as every one knows, lovelier than the most lovely of women; but Jack never believed that any creature so perfect as this could have existed. With a voice softer than the murmuring of the waves under a gentle breeze, she said to him,“I am one of the spirits of the sea. On account of your kind disposition I have marked you out among the rest of your companions, and I will protect you, but on one condition only, and that is, that you shall be sure to recognise me under any shape into which I may be pleased to change myself.”The beautiful spirit disappeared, and Jack remained very much surprised, but with a strong feeling of joy thrilling within him. He prospered exceedingly in all that he undertook. But at last prosperity spoiled him. He kicked and ill-treated a polyp, a kind of devil-fish, but still an animal, and one that had done him no harm, not knowing that the beautiful spirit was disguised under that mass of ugliness. A few days afterwards an accident occurred and Jack was drowned. Moral: Take the advice of kindly mermaids—when you meet them.And now for our last yarn, a true one. Some years ago a large vessel, having on board a valuable cargo, including gold bars, was run down and sunk by a steamship in the Thames between Northfleet and Gravesend. She was afterwards successfully raised[pg 90]by Captain George Wilson, of Milton, the famous oyster place, near Sittingbourne, in Kent, and which is also famous for its divers. It is principally, however, to the names of the vessels concerned that attention is directed. TheUnited Kingdomwas run down by theQueen of Scotland!

Scientific Diving—General Principles—William Phipps and the Treasure Ship—Founder of the House of Mulgrave—Halley’s Wooden Diving-bell and Air Barrels—Smeaton’s Improvements—Spalding’s Death—Operations at Plymouth Breakwater—The Diver’s Life—“Lower away!”—The Diving-Belleand her Letter from Below—Operations at the Bottom—Brunel and the Thames Tunnel—The Diving Dress—Suffocation—Remarkable Case of Salvage—The“Submarine Hydrostat”—John Gann of Whitstable—Dollar Row—Various Anecdotes—Combat at the Bottom of the Sea—A Mermaid Story—Run down by theQueen of Scotland.

Scientific Diving—General Principles—William Phipps and the Treasure Ship—Founder of the House of Mulgrave—Halley’s Wooden Diving-bell and Air Barrels—Smeaton’s Improvements—Spalding’s Death—Operations at Plymouth Breakwater—The Diver’s Life—“Lower away!”—The Diving-Belleand her Letter from Below—Operations at the Bottom—Brunel and the Thames Tunnel—The Diving Dress—Suffocation—Remarkable Case of Salvage—The“Submarine Hydrostat”—John Gann of Whitstable—Dollar Row—Various Anecdotes—Combat at the Bottom of the Sea—A Mermaid Story—Run down by theQueen of Scotland.

The art of unassisted diving having been considered, the reader’s attention is invited to divers and diving aided by scientific appliances. But for these developments, how could one hope to recover anything large or valuable that had once disappeared beneath the waves? How properly build gigantic breakwaters, piers, and bridges, or examine and clear choked ports and channels?29Some of the grandest achievements of modern practical science would have been impossible without their aid.

Every reader understands the general principle involved in the construction of the diving-bell. Invert a tumbler in a deep vessel of water, and the liquid will only ascend to a certain height inside, however far down you place the glass. Insert a tube in a hole drilled in your tumbler, and blow downwards, and the water recedes still lower. This is what happens when the air is pumped down into the modern diving-bell. In descending in a diving-bell and remaining under water you will feel a slight inconvenience in breathing, and perhaps a tingling in the ears; this comes, not from scarcity of air, but from the fact that the atmosphere of the interior of the bell is reallydenserthan it is outside; the air, forced downwards by the powerful air-pump, is pressedupwardsby the water. Readers may remember that Robert Fulton and his friends[pg 80]remained under water in his submarine boat for over two hours, the air in that case being supplied from a large globe containing highly condensed air, which was allowed to escape as required. The foul air passed off from tubes in bubbles to the surface.

A DIVER AT WORK (WITH SUBMARINE LAMP).A DIVER AT WORK (WITH SUBMARINE LAMP).

A DIVER AT WORK (WITH SUBMARINE LAMP).

As early as the year 1663 an Englishman named William Phipps, the son of a blacksmith, invented a plan for recovering from the bottom of the sea the treasures out of a Spanish vessel which had sunk on the coast of Hispaniola. Charles II. lent him a ship and all that was necessary for his enterprise, but the matter did not turn out successfully, and William Phipps fell into a state of the greatest poverty. Notwithstanding this nothing could discourage his ardour, and to set himself afloat again he opened a subscription list in England, of which the Duke of Albemarle was one of the subscribers. In 1667 Phipps embarked in a ship of 200 tons burden, having undertaken beforehand to divide the profits between the twenty shareholders who represented the associated capital. At first starting his search proved altogether unavailing, and he was just beginning to despair, when he fell in with the golden vein. The fortunate diver returned to England with £200,000; £20,000 he kept for himself, and no less than £90,000 came to the share of the Duke of Albemarle. Phipps was knighted by the[pg 81]king, and became the founder of the noble house of Mulgrave, which has played no inconsiderable part in the affairs of the United Kingdom.

It is little more than a century and a half ago since the celebrated astronomer, Halley—about the first to commence those experiments in submarine exploration which have been continued to the present epoch—descended to a depth of fifty feet in a diving-bell which he had constructed. It was built of wood, and covered with sheet lead. The air that was vitiated by respiration escaped from the chamber through an air-cock, while the pure element was supplied by barrels, which descended and ascended alternately on both sides of the bell, like buckets in a well. These barrels, lined with metal, each contained some thirty-six gallons of condensed air; they were connected with the interior of the bell by leathern tubes. As soon as one of these air receptacles was exhausted another was let down. Halley himself relates that in 1721, by the aid of this apparatus, he was able to descend with four other persons to a depth of nine or ten fathoms, and to remain under water an hour and a half.

It is to Smeaton, the celebrated engineer of the famed Eddystone Lighthouse, that the diving-bell owes its leading characteristics, as he was the first to abolish Halley’s rather clumsy contrivance and apply the power of the air-pump; he also constructed the first cast-iron bell. In 1779 he made use of the diving-bell to repair the piles of Hexham Bridge, in the north of England, the foundations of the structure having been undermined by the violence of the current. A few years after a sad accident occurred from the use of Halley’s barrel apparatus.

In 1783, Mr. Spalding, of Edinburgh, who had made some improvements upon the mechanical arrangements of Halley’s bell, but had retained the barrel air service, engaged to recover some of the cargo of an East-Indiaman which had been sunk on the Kish Bank, Ireland. He and his assistant went down, and after the first supply of air was exhausted the barrels were sent down as usual. No signal having been given for some time, the bell was drawn up, and Mr. Spalding and his assistant were found to be dead. It is supposed that by some means they failed to discharge the air from the barrels into the bell, and were consequently suffocated. The barrel service was always more or less dangerous, from its liability to get out of gear, and if Spalding had adopted the invention of Smeaton, he would not have lost his life in the manner he did.

The improved diving-bell was soon generally adopted by engineers, and played an important part in the works which have so altered the port of Ramsgate. The great engineer Rennie made constant use of the diving-bell in fixing the foundations of the eastern jetty, and in protecting it in parts against the attacks of the sea by a shield of solid masonry. It was extensively used in the construction of the Plymouth Breakwater. M. Esquiros, who visited the divers during the progress of that great work, gave an interesting account of theirmodus operandi:—

“But we now,”says he,“approached the breakwater—that causeway of giants—by the side of which we soon discovered an old dismasted ship. This vessel is rough in appearance, and covered over with a kind of pent-house roof. In it live, as in a floating house, the operatives who are still working at the breakwater. They pass, alternately, one month on board ship and one month on shore. One of their little sources of profit consists[pg 82]in the sale of small fancy articles, which they say that they cut out with the blades of their pocket-knives from the rocks which they bring up from the bottom of the sea. Very soon I heard the loud throbbing of machinery, snorting and puffing like so many marine monsters; it was the wheezy noise of the air-pumps which supply the bells when buried under water....

“I then noticed a small boat managed by a sailor rowing it, which glided under the mouth of the bell, and from this hollow I saw emerge a pair of large loose boots, reaching above the knees, which, being followed by another pair of large boots, convinced me that two men were jumping down into the skiff. The boat itself, in fact, at once got clear of the dome, under which it had been half hidden, and I saw it come back to the vessel with two workmen on board, wet up to the waist and covered with mud. They had just finished making their half-day under the water, and appeared to be fatigued. Their swarthy complexions were tinged on the cheeks and forehead with a bright sanguine hue. The position of the bell was not at all altered; it was as if they wished to give it an opportunity to dry itself and breathe a little fresh air. It was then dinner hour for the men employed at the works. I had just been a spectator of the process of raising the bell to the surface; I now had to see it let down again to the bottom of the sea.

“The same little boat which brought the two workmen to the great floating house took them back again, after an hour’s rest, to the vicinity of the diving-bell, which, hung just over the water, looked very much like an immense iron box open at the bottom. The procedure in making ready for the descent has really something rather imposing about it, and to an excited imagination might very well suggest the preparations for the execution of a sentence of death. Nothing is wanting for the purpose; the scaffold, the secret cell, and the gulf of the menacing waves are all there. The divers, thank goodness! do not in the least anticipate such a fate, but, on the contrary, seem proud to walk safely over the bottom of the sea, where so many others have found their grave. Be this as it may, the boat soon places itself underneath the bell, raised as it is three or four feet above the surface. The two workmen climb one after the other up into the inside, helped by an iron ring hung to the arched roof, which can easily be laid hold of by the hands. They take their places on two wooden benches fixed at a certain height in the hollow of the bell. Sometimes four, or even six, workmen have to find seats in this curious vehicle. When all this is done the boat goes away, and in another moment the voice of the foreman gives the order,‘Lower away.’...

“In places where the water is troubled by sand, the diver often passes through a kind of twilight or submarine fog, which compels him to light his lamp. More often, on the contrary, the light is sufficiently strong to enable him to read a newspaper in small type. A story is told even of a lady who wrote a letter in the diving-bell, and dated it thus:‘16th June, 18—, at the bottom of the sea.’Her courage obtained for her among the divers thesobriquetof the DivingBelle.

“I also wished to make my mind easy as to the lot of the poor workmen whom I had seen descending in the bell. The foreman assured me that they enjoyed every comfort in it. Have they not seats to rest themselves on, a wooden ledge on which to place their feet, an assortment of tools and necessary utensils suspended on a cord[pg 83]or hooked on to the walls of their hut, which is nearly as well furnished as that of Robinson Crusoe’s? From all this explanation I was bound to conclude, unless the foreman was mixing up a little irony in what he told me, that the divers were quite‘at home’in the bell. The fact is, that really they pass in it a great part of their existence. Almost all of them suffer a great deal at first from a violent pain, which they themselves define as‘a toothache gone into the ears,’and they have a humming in the head,‘as if some one had let fly a swarm of bees there;’but these troublesome symptoms disappear after the second or third descent. Their confidence in this dry chamber, almost isolated in the midst of the turmoil of the ocean, approaches sometimes to temerity. In 1820, Dr. Collodon, of Geneva, who had gone down in a diving-bell on the coast of Ireland, bethought himself that at the depth at which he then was, a stone, or any other trifling cause obstructing the action of the air-valve, would be sufficient to enable the water to invade the bell. He confided this not very reassuring reflection to one of the divers who was with him. The latter, smiling, answered him by merely pointing out with his finger one of the glazed loopholes which were over their heads. The doctor examined it attentively, and ascertained, in fact, that the glass was cracked sufficiently to allow bubbles of air to escape pretty freely. This was a very different and more serious cause of uneasiness than the rather improbable contingency of an obstruction of the air-valve. The diver was well aware of the cracked glass, and cared nothing about it.”

Some time since, when the present writer descended in the diving-bell exhibited in London, a seal which then disported in the tank would rub its nose outside against the little glass windows, and look in, as though wondering what on earth a visitor was doing there inhiselement! The same poor animal afterwards came to grief in a very sad way. When the water was drained off out of the tank the seal got into the pipes below, and thence to the sewers. It was found, still alive, some time after, in the sewers of the Euston Road, a considerable distance away, but succumbed later to the mephitic influences of the filthy stream.

M. Esquiros continues:—“‘They are just beginning to work’was soon remarked to me by the superintendent, who followed, even under the waves, every movement of his labourers. The nature of their operations varies, of course, very much according to the undertaking in which they are engaged. The two divers who had just gone down had for their task to clear away round the adjacent portion of the foundation of the breakwater. As soon as they reach the bottom they jump off their seat, and, armed with a pickaxe, begin to dig into the moist sand in order to get out the stones. It often happens that the movement of the tide or some other cause disturbs the water round the rocky base of the breakwater. The workmen have then much trouble in seeing clearly, and complain that‘the water is muddy.’Generally, however, the water is so transparent, that even a cloud passing across the sky is visible at the bottom of the sea. The workmen also can labour with nearly as much ease and quite as much energy as if they were on land. The movements they themselves make in conjunction with the circumstances which surround them occasionally cause something like a thick mist to rise before their eyes, hiding from them the nearest objects; they get quit of it by[pg 84]calling for an‘air bath.’The air-pump redoubles its pace in working, and sends down to them through the pump an extra current of air, which soon blows away the mist.

“I was very soon enabled to judge for myself as to their industry; sacks which they had filled with muddy sand, and buckets laden with stones, came up to the surface every moment, drawn by cords. One might have fancied it to be the mouth of a mine, to which invisible arms were constantly sending up fragments of rock; but here the mine was the sea. The nature of their digging did not allow them to work very long together in the same place. The divers had already requested by signal to have their position shifted on the bed of the sound. How would they manage to comply with their wish? As regards air and locomotion, the men shut up in the bell depend entirely on the apparatus working on the surface. The chief organ of movement is a sort oftravelleron four wheels, running over two tramways, allowing it to come and go in every direction. Immediately on the signal being given from below, the bell was raised from the bottom of the sea, like a heavy balloon. This operation was, of course, carried out by means of chains, and the diving-bell remained for a minute or two motionless in mid-water, like the pendulum of a stopped clock. But the traveller begins to move, and as it also acts as a crane, the pulley on the surface and the bell under water shift their position at the same time. The divers call this‘travelling.’They can thus move from north to south, from east to west, backwards and forwards. As they are in motion, if they come upon a piece of rock which encumbers the bed of the sound, they give the signal to stop, and the bell becomes stationary, and then descends again slowly towards the block of stones. If[pg 85]they have been carried on a little too far, and want to retrace their steps, they communicate afresh with the men working on the surface, and the obliging machinery soon brings them to the exact point desired.”

The diving-bell has many times rendered service to engineers, by enabling them to descend and ascertain the nature of damages going on, which might otherwise have ruined their work. When Brunel was building the famous Thames Tunnel, and the current had broken through its arched roof, he went down in a diving-bell to see for himself the extent of the disaster. After a descent of nearly thirty feet, he reached a serious opening in the masonry, but the hole was too narrow to allow the bell to enter. It was therefore necessary for some one to dive into it, and brave Brunel immediately declared his intention[pg 86]of doing it. Taking hold of the end of a rope, he plunged into the hole, where it is said he remained nearly two minutes, mentally noting the damage done. So intent was he on this examination that he let go the rope just as his companions above, alarmed at his long stay below, were hauling it up. He had just time to catch hold of it again, and was happily drawn safely into the bell.

DIVERS ATTACKED BY A SWORD-FISH.DIVERS ATTACKED BY A SWORD-FISH.

DIVERS ATTACKED BY A SWORD-FISH.

The diving dress was a later development, and owed much of its present practical shape to French men of science. The object of the dress, which is of canvas or india-rubber and metal, is, of course, to give each individual wearing it the utmost liberty of motion, while having at the same time a proper supply of vital air. The condensed air-reservoir is made of steel, and capable of resisting great pressures. The diver carries this apparatus on his back; from it a respiratory tube issues, and is terminated by an india-rubber mouth-piece, which is held between the lips and teeth of the diver.

The diver’s is a rough life, most assuredly. During the diving business on theRoyal George, Private John Williams, early in the season, tore his hands very severely in attempting to sling a mass of the wreck with jagged surfaces and broken bolts. After a few days’ rest he reappeared in his submarine habit, and dived as before, but from excessive pain in the ears was againhors de combattill the 11th of July, when, on re-descending, he was grievously injured by the bursting of his air-pipe a few inches above the water. This casualty was indicated by a loud hissing noise on deck. A few seconds elapsed before the rupture could be traced and the opening temporarily stopped. With great alertness he was drawn up, and on being relieved of his helmet, presented a frightful appearance. His face and neck were much swelled and very livid, blood was flowing profusely from his mouth and ears, and his eyes were closed and protruding. Though partially suffocated, he possessed sufficient sensibility to speak of the mishap. A sudden shock, it seems, struck him motionless, and then followed a tremendous pressure, as if he were being crushed to death. A month in the Haslar Hospital restored him to health, and on returning to the wreck he at once recommenced his laborious occupation.

DIVERS AT WORK.DIVERS AT WORK.

DIVERS AT WORK.

The following is a remarkable example of a salvage effected by the help of divers.“The packet boatsGangesandl’Impératricecame into collision in the outer port of Marseilles. TheImpératricehad one of her wheels broken and the officers’ quarters damaged. One of the cabins contained a chest full of gold, which fell into the thick mud which forms the bottom of the port of Marseilles. It was important that this precious package should be recovered the next day. The sea was rough, and the exact spot where the accident occurred unknown. The box was not strong; its colour was black. At the supposed spot a plumb of sixty kilogrammes was sunk. This plumb carried two cords divided into metres; two divers dragged them in separate directions, and taking each the knot corresponding to one metre, they described consecutive circles, examining the ground at each step. After searching three hours, the gold was found, and restored to its owner, who had watched the operations with intense anxiety. This salvage was effected on February 19th, 1867, by M. Barbotin, contractor for submarine work at Marseilles.”

The diving-bell proper has been much improved by another Frenchman, M. Payerne. His“Submarine Hydrostat”will descend or fall at the will of those inside. Thirty men may work in it with ease for a number of hours without inconvenience. It is, therefore, of[pg 87]great service in clearing ports, and in facilitating the execution of other submarine work.“The principle of the machine is very ingenious. Externally, it has the appearance of one large rectangular box, surmounted by another smaller one, completely closed in except at the bottom. The interior consists of three principal compartments. Theholdcommunicates by a large shaft with the upper compartment. Between these is a third compartment, ororlop deck, which only communicates with the others by means of stop-cocks. The hydrostat is twenty feet in height, and its base, which has the bottom of the sea for a floor, covers an area of 625 square feet. It may be made to rise and fall at will, and it will readily float about like a raft.”This ingenious machine has proved of much service. The port of Fécamp was choked up with shingle, which closed it against all vessels beyond a certain tonnage. The hydrostat was employed, and the port cleaned, and again opened to commerce.

The old divers are fond of recounting the glories of their craft, and are specially impressed with any information as to the fate of the vessels of the Armada. This spirit has been fostered no less by the successes of the ancestor of the Mulgraves than by the good fortune of John Gann, of Whitstable. The old diver was, many years since, employed on the Galway coast, and used to pass his evenings in a public-house frequented by fishermen. One of these men, repeating a tradition which had long existed in the district, told Gann that one of the Spanish vessels had been wrecked not far from that coast, and intimated that he himself could point out the spot. Gann, having finished his special job, made terms with the fisherman, and they were both out for many weeks dragging the spot indicated for any traces of the wreck. They were at last rewarded by coming upon obstructions with their grapnels. Gann brought out his diving apparatus, and sure enough the truth of the tradition was vindicated by the finding of a number of dollars, which had originally been packed in barrels. The barrels, however, had rotted away, and left the gold stacked in barrel shape. With the money so recovered John Gann built at Whitstable, his native place, a row of houses, which, to commemorate the circumstance, he called Dollar Row.

Corporal Harris, almost entirely by his own diligence, removed in little more than two months the wreck of thePerdita, mooring lighter, which was sunk in 1783, in the course of Mr. Tracy’s unsuccessful efforts to weigh theRoyal George. It was about sixty feet in length, and embedded in mud fifty fathoms south of that vessel. The exposed timbers stood only two feet six inches above the level of the bottom, so that the exertions of Harris in removing the wreck were Herculean. Completely overpowered by fatigue, he claimed a respite for a day or two to recruit his energies, and then resumed work with his accustomed assiduity and cheerfulness.

There was a sort of abnegation, an absence of jealousy, in the character of Harris which, as the rivalry among the divers made them somewhat selfish, gave prominence to his kindness. He met a comrade named Cameron at the bottom, who led him to the spot where he was working. For a considerable time Cameron had fruitlessly laboured in slinging an awkward timber of some magnitude, when Harris readily stood in his place, and in a few minutes, using Cameron’s breast-line to make the necessary signals, sent the mass on deck. It was thus recorded to Cameron’s credit; but the circumstance, on becoming known, was regarded with so much satisfaction that honourable mention was made of it in the official records.

Lance-Corporal Jones, engaged on the wreck of theRoyal George, one day lodged on deck from his slings a crate containing eighty 12-pounder shot. With singular success he laid the remainder of the kelson open for recovery, and then, sinking deeper, drew from the mud, in two hauls, nearly thirty-five feet of the keel. He also weighed a small vessel of six tons burden, belonging to a Mr. Cussell, which drove, under a strong current, upon one of the lighters. Becoming entangled, the craft soon filled and foundered, grappling, in her descent, with the ladder of one of the divers, grounding at a short distance from the interval between the lighters. Jones was selected to try his skill in rescuing her. At once descending, he fixed the chains under her stern, and while attempting to hold them in position, by passing them round the mast, the tide turned, the vessel swung round, and the mast fell over the side, burying Jones under her sails and rigging. Perilous as was his situation, his fearlessness and presence of mind never for a moment forsook him. Working from under the canvas, and carefully extricating himself from the crowd of ropes that ensnared him, he at last found himself free. A thunderstorm now set in, and, obedient to a call from above, he repaired to the deck; but as soon as the squall had subsided he again disappeared, and cleverly jamming the slings, the boat was hove up; but she had become a complete wreck, and was taken on shore.

A dangerous but curious incident occurred on theRoyal Georgediving operations between Corporal Jones and Private Girvan, two rival divers, who, in a moment of irritation, engaged in a conflict at the bottom of the sea, having both got hold of the same floor timber of the wreck, which neither would yield to the other. Jones, at length, fearful of a collision with Girvan, who was a powerful man, got his bull-rope fast, and attempted to escape by it, but before he could do so Girvan seized him by the legs and tried to draw him down. A scuffle ensued, and Jones succeeded in extricating himself from the grasp of his antagonist. He then took a firmer hold of the bull-rope and gave a kick at Girvan, which broke one of the lens of Girvan’s helmet, and as water[pg 89]instantly rushed into his dress, he was likely to have been drowned, had he not at once been hauled on board. Two or three days, however, at Haslar Hospital restored him; and the two submarine combatants resumed work together with the greatest cordiality.

A diver’s“Nursery Tale”must not be omitted. The hero,“Jack”(this is the name of a diver who“lived once upon a time”), had been busy for some weeks in gathering up the relics of a shipwreck, when on a certain day he saw appear at one of the windows of his bell the pale face of a woman, with long hair intertwined with sea-weed. He had often heard tell of the beauty of mermaids, who are, as every one knows, lovelier than the most lovely of women; but Jack never believed that any creature so perfect as this could have existed. With a voice softer than the murmuring of the waves under a gentle breeze, she said to him,“I am one of the spirits of the sea. On account of your kind disposition I have marked you out among the rest of your companions, and I will protect you, but on one condition only, and that is, that you shall be sure to recognise me under any shape into which I may be pleased to change myself.”The beautiful spirit disappeared, and Jack remained very much surprised, but with a strong feeling of joy thrilling within him. He prospered exceedingly in all that he undertook. But at last prosperity spoiled him. He kicked and ill-treated a polyp, a kind of devil-fish, but still an animal, and one that had done him no harm, not knowing that the beautiful spirit was disguised under that mass of ugliness. A few days afterwards an accident occurred and Jack was drowned. Moral: Take the advice of kindly mermaids—when you meet them.

And now for our last yarn, a true one. Some years ago a large vessel, having on board a valuable cargo, including gold bars, was run down and sunk by a steamship in the Thames between Northfleet and Gravesend. She was afterwards successfully raised[pg 90]by Captain George Wilson, of Milton, the famous oyster place, near Sittingbourne, in Kent, and which is also famous for its divers. It is principally, however, to the names of the vessels concerned that attention is directed. TheUnited Kingdomwas run down by theQueen of Scotland!

CHAPTER VIII.The Ocean and Some of its Phenomena.The Saltness of the Sea—Its Composition—Tons of Silver in the Ocean—Currents and their Causes—The Great Gulf Stream—Its Characteristics—A Triumph of Science—The Tides—The Highest Known Tides and Waves—Whirlpools—The Maelström—A Norwegian Description—Edgar Allan Poe and his Story—Rescued from the Vortex—The“Souffleur”at the Mauritius—The Colour of the Sea—Its Causes—The Phosphorescence of the Ocean—Fields of Silver—Principally Caused by Animal Life.Many features and phenomena of the ocean have been incidentally noted in the foregoing pages; but there are points, hitherto untouched, which deserve our attention.Its saltness is due, not merely to the presence of chloride of sodium, or what we call common salt, but to a large number of other minerals, including the chlorides of magnesium and potassium, the sulphates of magnesia and lime, carbonate of lime,sulphurettedhydrogen, bromide of magnesia, hydrochlorate of ammonia, iodine, iron, copper, and even silver, varying in proportion according to locality. The copper plates of a ship examined at Valparaiso showed unmistakable traces of silver deposits. Calculations have been made showing that the ocean contains 2,000,000 tons of silver. In 1,000 grains of sea-water there are thirty-eight grains of these ingredients and some little organic matter. The saltness of the sea is generally greater towards the poles, but to this statement there are exceptions. In parts of the Irish Channel the water contains salts equal to the fortieth of its weight, the saline matter rising to one-sixteenth of its weight off the coast of Spain. In many places the ocean is less salt at the surface than at the bottom. Its saltness increases its density and its buoyancy.Maury, a recognised authority, finds in the saline properties of the sea one of the principal forces from which the currents in the ocean proceed.“The brine of the ocean,”says he,“is the ley of the earth; from it the sea derives dynamical powers, and the currents their main strength.”Let us suppose a long tank or, say, swimming-bath, divided in the middle by a water-tight wall, on one side of which should be fresh and on the other salt water, at equal levels. It is obvious that were the division removed the waters would not stand side by side as before, for the denser water would have a tendency not merely to mingle with the lighter, but to form a currentunderit. So salt waters of different densities.CHART OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.CHART OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.“The ocean,”says Figuier,“is a scene of unceasing agitation;‘its vast surface rises and falls,’to use the image suggested by Schleiden,‘as if it were gifted with a gentle power of respiration; its movements, gentle or powerful, slow or rapid, are all determined by differences of temperature.’”Heat increases its volume, and therefore[pg 91]lightens it; cold increases its density, and it will naturally descend. These are, then, among the obvious reasons of its currents. The duration and force of winds and the tides are both disturbing influences. Such an oceanic marvel as the greatGulf Streamcould only be explained after a careful study of all the operating causes of its existence. Dr. Maury has well described it. He says:—“There is a river in the bosom of the ocean: in the severest droughts it never fails, and in the mightiest floods it never overflows; its banks and its bottom are of cold water, while its current is of warm; it takes its rise in the Gulf of Mexico, and empties itself into the Arctic seas; this mighty river is the Gulf Stream. In no other part of the world is there such a majestic flow of water; its current is more rapid than the Amazon, more impetuous than the Mississippi, and its volume is more than a thousand times greater.”This great current of water particularly influences the climates of Northern Europe, and especially those of Britain and Ireland.The Gulf Stream, as it issues from the Florida Channel, has a breadth of thirty-four miles, a depth of 2,200 feet, and moves at the rate of four and a half miles anhour.“Midway in the Atlantic, in the triangular space between the Azores, Canaries, and Cape de Verd Islands, is the great Sargassum Sea, covering an area equal to the Mississippi Valley; it is so thickly matted over with the Gulf weed (Sargassum bacciferum) that the speed of vessels passing through it is actually retarded, and to the companions of Columbus it seemed to mark the limits of navigation: they became alarmed. To the eye, at a little distance, it seemed sufficiently substantial to walk upon.”The difference of temperature between the Gulf Stream and the waters it traverses constantly gives birth to tempests and cyclones. In 1780 a terrible storm ravaged the Antilles, in which 20,000 persons perished. The ocean quitted its bed, and inundated whole cities; the trunks of great trees and large parts of buildings were tossed wildly in the air. Numerous catastrophes of this kind have earned the Gulf Stream the title of the“King of the Tempests.”So well had Maury studied the Gulf Stream and its storms, that he was enabled to point out the exact position of a vessel overtaken by a terrible gale.“In the month of December, 1859,”says Figuier,“the American packetSan Franciscowas employed as a transport to convey a regiment to California. It was overtaken by one of these sudden storms, which placed the ship and its freight in a most dangerous position—a single wave, which swept the deck, tore out the masts, stopped the engines, and washed overboard 129 persons, officers, and soldiers. From that moment the unfortunate steamer floated upon the waters, a waif abandoned to the fury of the wind. The day after the disaster theSan Franciscowas seen in this desperate situation by a ship, which reached New York, although unable to assist her. Another ship met her some days after, but, like the other, could render no assistance. When the report reached New York two steamers were despatched to her assistance; but in what direction were they to go? what part of the ocean were they to explore? The authorities at the Washington Observatory were appealed to. Having consulted his charts as to the direction and limits of the Gulf Stream at that period of the year, Dr. Maury traced on a chart the spot to which the disabled steamer was likely to be driven by the current, and the course to be taken by the vessels sent to her assistance.”The steamers went straight to the exact spot, and found the wreck; and although by that time the crew and passengers had been taken off by three passing vessels, it was certainly a triumph of science.[pg 92]WAVES OFF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.WAVES OFF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.The tides are produced by two pairs of great waves which travel round the earth each day—a greater pair caused by the attraction of the moon, a lesser pair caused by the sun. The moon, by reason of its nearness to the earth, produces by far the greater influence, but the tides are also subject to all kinds of local influences. The eastern coast of Asia and western side of Europe are exposed to extremely high tides; while in the South Sea Islands they scarcely reach the height of twenty inches. There is hardly any tide in the Mediterranean, separated as it is from the ocean by a narrow strait.“The highest tide which is known occurs in the Bay of Fundy, which opens up to the south of the isthmus uniting Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. There the tide reaches forty, fifty, and even sixty feet, while it only attains the height of seven or eight in the bay to the north of the same isthmus. It is related that a ship was cast ashore upon a rock during the night so high, that at daybreak the crew found themselves and their ship suspended in mid-air, far above the water.”The winds have an immense influence on the height of tides, and also on the waves. The highest known waves are found off the Cape of Good Hope (p. 89) at the period of high tide, under the influence of a strong north-west wind which has traversed the Atlantic, pressing its waters round the Cape.“The billows there,”says Maury,“lift themselves up in long ridges, with deep hollows between them. They run high and fast, tossing their white caps aloft in the air, looking like the green hills of a rolling prairie capped with snow, and chasing each other in sport. Still, their march is stately and their roll majestic. Many an Australian-bound trader, after doubling the Cape, finds herself followed for weeks at a time by these magnificent rolling swells, furiously driven and lashed by the‘brave west winds.’These billows are said to attain the height of thirty, and even forty feet; but no very exact measurement of the height of waves is recorded.”Those off Cape Horn are rather less in height.Sprayis dashed over the Eddystone Light, 130 feet high. After a great storm in Barbadoes in 1780, some old and heavy cannons were found on the shore, which had been thrown up from the bottom of the sea. If waves in their reflux meet with obstacles, whirlpools result, such as those in the Straits of Messina, between the rocks of Charybdis and Scylla made famous by Homer, Ovid, and Virgil, and once much dreaded, but now little feared.The best known whirlpool, the Maelström, off Lofoden, in Norway, is the result of opposing currents. One of the most circumstantial accounts of it is that of a Norwegian, Jonas Ramus, who calls it the Moskoe-strom (channel or stream):—“Between Lofoden and Moskoe,”says he,“the depth of the water is between thirty-six and forty fathoms; but, on the other side, towards Ver (Vurrgh), this depth decreases so as not to afford a convenient passage for a vessel without the risk of splitting on the rocks, which happens even in the calmest weather. When it is flood the stream runs up the country between Lofoden and Moskoe with a boisterous rapidity; but the roar of its impetuous ebb to the sea is scarcely equalled by the loudest and most dreadful cataracts, the noise being heard several leagues off; and the vortices or pits are of such an extent and depth that if a ship comes within its attraction it is inevitably absorbed and carried down to the bottom, and there beaten to pieces against the rocks; and when the water relaxes the fragments thereof are thrown up again. But these intervals of tranquillity are only at the turn of the ebb and flood and in calm weather, and last but a quarter[pg 93]of an hour, its violence gradually returning. When the stream is most boisterous, and its fury heightened by a storm, it is dangerous to come within a Norwegian mile of it. Boats, yachts, and ships have been carried away by not guarding against it before they were within its reach. It likewise happens frequently that whales come too near the stream, and are overpowered by its violence, and then it is impossible to describe their howlings and bellowings, in their fruitless struggles to disengage themselves. A bear once attempting to swim from Lofoden to Moskoe, was caught by the stream and borne down, while he roared terribly, so as to be heard on shore. Large stocks of firs and pine-trees, after being absorbed by the current, rise again, broken and torn to such a degree as if bristles grew upon them. This plainly shows the bottom to consist of craggy rocks, among which they are whirled to and fro. This stream is regulated by the flux and reflux of the sea, it being constantly high and low water every six hours. In the year 1645, early in the morning of Sexagesima Sunday, it raged with such noise and impetuosity that the very stones of the houses on the coast fell to the ground.”Kuchu and others promulgated the idea that the maelström is a watery abyss penetrating the globe, and issuing in some very remote[pg 94]part. This is the view held by most of the Norwegian peasantry and fishermen to-day.Who that has read the works of Edgar Allan Poe will ever forget his thrilling and detailed story of a descent into the maelström?30It bears the impress of close study, and is founded largely on recorded facts. Two brothers, the most daring fishermen of their coast, were accustomed to fish in closer proximity to the maelström than all the rest, because, although a desperate speculation, they would get more fish in a day than the others could at the distant fishing grounds in a week. The risk of life stood for labour, and courage for capital.In a terrible hurricane they were driven through the surf into the inner circle of the whirlpool, where (as is likely to be the case in actual fact) the wind nearly ceased, the surface of the water being lower than that of the surrounding ocean.“If you have never been at sea in a heavy gale, you can form no idea of the confusion of mind occasioned by the wind and spray together. They blind, deafen, and strangle you, and take away all power of action or reflection.”Now the two fishermen brothers were in a measure respited, as death-condemned felons in prison are allowed petty indulgences forbidden them while their doom is yet uncertain. Round and round the belt the vessel flew rather than floated, getting nearer and nearer to the fatal inner vortex, and making wild lurches towards the abyss.“The boat appeared to be hanging, as if by magic, midway down, upon the interior surface of a funnel vast in circumference, prodigious in depth, and whose perfectly smooth sides might have been mistaken for ebony, but for the bewildering rapidity with which they spun round, and for the gleaming and ghastly radiance they shot forth as the rays of the full moon ... streamed in a flood of golden glory along the black walls, and far away down into the inmost recesses of the abyss.”Round and round they swept in dizzying swings and jerks. Above and below them were whirling fragments of vessels, timbers, boxes, barrels, and trunks of trees. And now a hope arose from the recollection of one circumstance: that of the great variety of buoyant matter thrown up by the moskoe-strom on the coast of Lofoden, some articles were not disfigured or damaged at all. Further, light and cylindrical articles were the least likely to be absorbed into any watery vortex: for the last statement there are good scientific reasons.“I,”says the survivor,“no longer hesitated what to do. I resolved to lash myself securely to the water-cask upon which I now held, to cut it loose from the counter, and to throw myself with it into the water. I attracted my brother’s attention by signs, pointed to the floating barrels that came near us, and did everything in my power to make him understand what I was about to do. I thought at length that he comprehended my design, but whether this was the case or not, he shook his head despairingly, and refused to move from his station by the ring-bolt. It was impossible to reach him; the emergency admitted of no delay; and so, with a bitter struggle, I resigned him to his fate, fastened myself to the cask by means of the lashings which secured it to the counter, and precipitated myself with it into the sea without another moment’s hesitation.”The smack soon after made a few gyrations in rapid succession, then sank to the bottom for ever, bearing with it the unfortunate brother.“The barrel to which I was attached had sunk very little farther than half the distance between the bottom of the gulf and the spot at which I leaped overboard before a great change took place in the[pg 95]character of the whirlpool. The slope of the sides of the vast funnel became momentarily less and less steep. The gyrations of the whirl grew gradually less and less violent.”By degrees the waters rose, and he found himself in full view of the shores of Lofoden, and above the spot where the pool of the moskoe-stromhad been. He was picked up by a boat; those on board were old mates and daily companions, but they knew him no more than they would have known a traveller from the spirit-land. His hair, which had been raven black the day before, was now as white as snow.Thus far Poe. It shows how the vivid imagination of a great poet, dealing with facts, can put those facts before the reader in artistically life-like and graphic form.WHIRLPOOL OF CORRIEVRECKAN, OFF THE HEBRIDES.WHIRLPOOL OF CORRIEVRECKAN, OFF THE HEBRIDES.Another remarkable whirlpool is that of Corrievreckan, off the Hebrides, in the south of Scotland, shown in an illustration on page 93.A phenomenon of another character is exhibited on the south side of the Mauritius, at a point called“The Souffleur,”or“The Blower.”“A large mass of rock,”says Lieutenant Taylor, of the United States navy,“runs out into the sea from the mainland, to which it is joined by a neck of rock not two feet broad. The constant beating of the tremendous swell which rolls in has undermined it in every direction, till it has exactly the appearance of a Gothic building with a number of arches. In the centre of the rock, which is about thirty-five or forty feet above the sea, the water has forced two passages vertically upward, which are worn as smooth and cylindrical as if cut by a chisel. When a heavy sea rolls in, it of course fills in an instant the hollow caverns underneath; and finding no other egress, and being borne in with tremendous violence, rushes up these chimneys, and flies, roaring furiously, to a height of full sixty feet. The moment the wave recedes, the vacuum beneath causes the wind to rush into the two apertures with a loud humming noise, which is heard at a considerable distance.“My companion and I arrived there before high water; and, having climbed across the neck of rock, we seated ourselves close to the chimneys, where I proposed making a sketch, and had just begun, when in came a thundering sea, which broke right over the rock itself, and drove us back much alarmed.“Our negro guide now informed us that we must make haste to re-cross our narrow bridge, as the sea would get up as the tide rose. We lost no time, and got back dry enough; and I was obliged to make my sketches from the mainland.“In about three-quarters of an hour the sight was truly magnificent. I do not exaggerate in the least when I say the waves rolled in, long and unbroken, full twenty-five feet high, till, meeting the headland, they broke clear over it, sending the spray flying over to the mainland; while, from the centre of this mass of foam, the Souffleur shot up with a noise which we afterwards heard distinctly between two and three miles. Standing on the main cliff, more than a hundred feet above the sea, we were quite wet.”“THE SOUFFLEUR,” ISLAND OF MAURITIUS.“THE SOUFFLEUR,”ISLAND OF MAURITIUS.To the combined influences of tides and waves may also be attributed the monsoon hurricanes which so often visit the Indian Ocean. The air may have been just previously without a breath, when immense waves, accompanied by whirlwinds, come rolling in.“At the period of the changing monsoons, the winds, breaking loose from their controlling forces, seem to rage with a fury capable of breaking up the very foundations of the deep,”and ships are often literally whirled round, or bodily lifted up, their crews being utterly impotent.[pg 96]Turning to another subject, partially discussed before—the colour of the sea—it may be remarked that by itself as sea water it is really colourless. Its varying colours are caused by reflection, by the varied bottoms it covers, or by the presence of actual animal, vegetable, and mineral bodies. The ocean,“When winds breathe soft along the silent deep,”is azure blue or ultramarine, becoming greener in-shore. There are some days when it is generally green, others sombre and grey. A bottom of white sand will give a greyish or apple-coloured green; of chalk, a pure clear green; if the bottom is brownish-yellow sand, the green is naturally duller in character. In the Bay of Loango the waters appear of a deep red, from the red bottom. The Red Sea owes its colour to actual floating microscopic algæ and to red coral bottoms. Sea water, concentrated in the salt marshes of the south of France by the heat of the sun, is also red: this is due to the presence of a red-shelled animal of microscopic size. These minute creatures do not appear till the salt water has attained a certain concentration, while they die when it has reached a further density. Navigators often traverse patches of green, red, white, or yellow-coloured water, their coloration being due to the presence of microscopic crustaceans, medusæ, zoophytes, and marine plants.A SHIP SAILING IN PHOSPHORESCENT SEA.A SHIP SAILING IN PHOSPHORESCENT SEA.The pleasing phenomenon known as the phosphorescence of the sea is generally, though[pg 97]by no means entirely, due to myriads of minute globular creatures, calledNoctiluca. Captain Kingman reported having traversed a zone twenty-three miles in length, and so filled with phosphorescent matter that during the night it presented the appearance of a vast field of snow.“There was scarcely a cloud in the heavens,”he tells us;“yet the sky for about 10° above the horizon appeared as black as if a storm were raging; stars of the first magnitude shone with a feeble light, and the‘milky way’of the heavens was almost entirely eclipsed by that through which we were sailing.”Several varieties of molluscs and acalephes shine by their own light, while phosphorescence is often due to the decomposition of animal matter.PHOSPHORESCENCE ON THE SURFACE OF THE SEA.PHOSPHORESCENCE ON THE SURFACE OF THE SEA.A French author thus describes the effect produced by the molluscs known to scientists asPyrosoma, on a voyage to the Isle of France. He says:—“The wind was blowing with great violence, the night was dark, and the vessel was making rapid way, when what appeared to be a vast sheet of phosphorus presented itself, floating on the waves, and occupying a great space ahead of the ship. The vessel having passed through this fiery mass, it was discovered that the light was occasioned by organised bodies swimming about in the sea at various depths around the ship. Those which were deepest in the water looked like red-hot balls, while those on the surface resembled cylinders of red-hot iron. Some of the latter were caught; they were found to vary in size from three to seven inches. All the exterior of the creatures bristled with long thick tubercles, shining like so many diamonds, and these seemed to be the principal seats of their luminosity. Inside also there appeared to be a multitude of oblong narrow glands, exhibiting a high degree of phosphoric power. The colour of these animals when in repose is an opal yellow, mixed with green; but on the slightest movement the animal exhibits a spontaneous contractile power, and assumes a luminous brilliancy, passing through various shades of deep-red, orange-green, and azure-blue.”A ship plunging through these phosphorescent fields seems to advance through a sheet of white flame, a field of luminous silver, scattering a spray of sparks in all directions.

The Saltness of the Sea—Its Composition—Tons of Silver in the Ocean—Currents and their Causes—The Great Gulf Stream—Its Characteristics—A Triumph of Science—The Tides—The Highest Known Tides and Waves—Whirlpools—The Maelström—A Norwegian Description—Edgar Allan Poe and his Story—Rescued from the Vortex—The“Souffleur”at the Mauritius—The Colour of the Sea—Its Causes—The Phosphorescence of the Ocean—Fields of Silver—Principally Caused by Animal Life.

The Saltness of the Sea—Its Composition—Tons of Silver in the Ocean—Currents and their Causes—The Great Gulf Stream—Its Characteristics—A Triumph of Science—The Tides—The Highest Known Tides and Waves—Whirlpools—The Maelström—A Norwegian Description—Edgar Allan Poe and his Story—Rescued from the Vortex—The“Souffleur”at the Mauritius—The Colour of the Sea—Its Causes—The Phosphorescence of the Ocean—Fields of Silver—Principally Caused by Animal Life.

Many features and phenomena of the ocean have been incidentally noted in the foregoing pages; but there are points, hitherto untouched, which deserve our attention.

Its saltness is due, not merely to the presence of chloride of sodium, or what we call common salt, but to a large number of other minerals, including the chlorides of magnesium and potassium, the sulphates of magnesia and lime, carbonate of lime,sulphurettedhydrogen, bromide of magnesia, hydrochlorate of ammonia, iodine, iron, copper, and even silver, varying in proportion according to locality. The copper plates of a ship examined at Valparaiso showed unmistakable traces of silver deposits. Calculations have been made showing that the ocean contains 2,000,000 tons of silver. In 1,000 grains of sea-water there are thirty-eight grains of these ingredients and some little organic matter. The saltness of the sea is generally greater towards the poles, but to this statement there are exceptions. In parts of the Irish Channel the water contains salts equal to the fortieth of its weight, the saline matter rising to one-sixteenth of its weight off the coast of Spain. In many places the ocean is less salt at the surface than at the bottom. Its saltness increases its density and its buoyancy.

Maury, a recognised authority, finds in the saline properties of the sea one of the principal forces from which the currents in the ocean proceed.“The brine of the ocean,”says he,“is the ley of the earth; from it the sea derives dynamical powers, and the currents their main strength.”Let us suppose a long tank or, say, swimming-bath, divided in the middle by a water-tight wall, on one side of which should be fresh and on the other salt water, at equal levels. It is obvious that were the division removed the waters would not stand side by side as before, for the denser water would have a tendency not merely to mingle with the lighter, but to form a currentunderit. So salt waters of different densities.

CHART OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.CHART OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.

CHART OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.

“The ocean,”says Figuier,“is a scene of unceasing agitation;‘its vast surface rises and falls,’to use the image suggested by Schleiden,‘as if it were gifted with a gentle power of respiration; its movements, gentle or powerful, slow or rapid, are all determined by differences of temperature.’”Heat increases its volume, and therefore[pg 91]lightens it; cold increases its density, and it will naturally descend. These are, then, among the obvious reasons of its currents. The duration and force of winds and the tides are both disturbing influences. Such an oceanic marvel as the greatGulf Streamcould only be explained after a careful study of all the operating causes of its existence. Dr. Maury has well described it. He says:—“There is a river in the bosom of the ocean: in the severest droughts it never fails, and in the mightiest floods it never overflows; its banks and its bottom are of cold water, while its current is of warm; it takes its rise in the Gulf of Mexico, and empties itself into the Arctic seas; this mighty river is the Gulf Stream. In no other part of the world is there such a majestic flow of water; its current is more rapid than the Amazon, more impetuous than the Mississippi, and its volume is more than a thousand times greater.”This great current of water particularly influences the climates of Northern Europe, and especially those of Britain and Ireland.

The Gulf Stream, as it issues from the Florida Channel, has a breadth of thirty-four miles, a depth of 2,200 feet, and moves at the rate of four and a half miles anhour.“Midway in the Atlantic, in the triangular space between the Azores, Canaries, and Cape de Verd Islands, is the great Sargassum Sea, covering an area equal to the Mississippi Valley; it is so thickly matted over with the Gulf weed (Sargassum bacciferum) that the speed of vessels passing through it is actually retarded, and to the companions of Columbus it seemed to mark the limits of navigation: they became alarmed. To the eye, at a little distance, it seemed sufficiently substantial to walk upon.”The difference of temperature between the Gulf Stream and the waters it traverses constantly gives birth to tempests and cyclones. In 1780 a terrible storm ravaged the Antilles, in which 20,000 persons perished. The ocean quitted its bed, and inundated whole cities; the trunks of great trees and large parts of buildings were tossed wildly in the air. Numerous catastrophes of this kind have earned the Gulf Stream the title of the“King of the Tempests.”So well had Maury studied the Gulf Stream and its storms, that he was enabled to point out the exact position of a vessel overtaken by a terrible gale.“In the month of December, 1859,”says Figuier,“the American packetSan Franciscowas employed as a transport to convey a regiment to California. It was overtaken by one of these sudden storms, which placed the ship and its freight in a most dangerous position—a single wave, which swept the deck, tore out the masts, stopped the engines, and washed overboard 129 persons, officers, and soldiers. From that moment the unfortunate steamer floated upon the waters, a waif abandoned to the fury of the wind. The day after the disaster theSan Franciscowas seen in this desperate situation by a ship, which reached New York, although unable to assist her. Another ship met her some days after, but, like the other, could render no assistance. When the report reached New York two steamers were despatched to her assistance; but in what direction were they to go? what part of the ocean were they to explore? The authorities at the Washington Observatory were appealed to. Having consulted his charts as to the direction and limits of the Gulf Stream at that period of the year, Dr. Maury traced on a chart the spot to which the disabled steamer was likely to be driven by the current, and the course to be taken by the vessels sent to her assistance.”The steamers went straight to the exact spot, and found the wreck; and although by that time the crew and passengers had been taken off by three passing vessels, it was certainly a triumph of science.

WAVES OFF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.WAVES OFF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

WAVES OFF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

The tides are produced by two pairs of great waves which travel round the earth each day—a greater pair caused by the attraction of the moon, a lesser pair caused by the sun. The moon, by reason of its nearness to the earth, produces by far the greater influence, but the tides are also subject to all kinds of local influences. The eastern coast of Asia and western side of Europe are exposed to extremely high tides; while in the South Sea Islands they scarcely reach the height of twenty inches. There is hardly any tide in the Mediterranean, separated as it is from the ocean by a narrow strait.“The highest tide which is known occurs in the Bay of Fundy, which opens up to the south of the isthmus uniting Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. There the tide reaches forty, fifty, and even sixty feet, while it only attains the height of seven or eight in the bay to the north of the same isthmus. It is related that a ship was cast ashore upon a rock during the night so high, that at daybreak the crew found themselves and their ship suspended in mid-air, far above the water.”The winds have an immense influence on the height of tides, and also on the waves. The highest known waves are found off the Cape of Good Hope (p. 89) at the period of high tide, under the influence of a strong north-west wind which has traversed the Atlantic, pressing its waters round the Cape.“The billows there,”says Maury,“lift themselves up in long ridges, with deep hollows between them. They run high and fast, tossing their white caps aloft in the air, looking like the green hills of a rolling prairie capped with snow, and chasing each other in sport. Still, their march is stately and their roll majestic. Many an Australian-bound trader, after doubling the Cape, finds herself followed for weeks at a time by these magnificent rolling swells, furiously driven and lashed by the‘brave west winds.’These billows are said to attain the height of thirty, and even forty feet; but no very exact measurement of the height of waves is recorded.”Those off Cape Horn are rather less in height.Sprayis dashed over the Eddystone Light, 130 feet high. After a great storm in Barbadoes in 1780, some old and heavy cannons were found on the shore, which had been thrown up from the bottom of the sea. If waves in their reflux meet with obstacles, whirlpools result, such as those in the Straits of Messina, between the rocks of Charybdis and Scylla made famous by Homer, Ovid, and Virgil, and once much dreaded, but now little feared.

The best known whirlpool, the Maelström, off Lofoden, in Norway, is the result of opposing currents. One of the most circumstantial accounts of it is that of a Norwegian, Jonas Ramus, who calls it the Moskoe-strom (channel or stream):—“Between Lofoden and Moskoe,”says he,“the depth of the water is between thirty-six and forty fathoms; but, on the other side, towards Ver (Vurrgh), this depth decreases so as not to afford a convenient passage for a vessel without the risk of splitting on the rocks, which happens even in the calmest weather. When it is flood the stream runs up the country between Lofoden and Moskoe with a boisterous rapidity; but the roar of its impetuous ebb to the sea is scarcely equalled by the loudest and most dreadful cataracts, the noise being heard several leagues off; and the vortices or pits are of such an extent and depth that if a ship comes within its attraction it is inevitably absorbed and carried down to the bottom, and there beaten to pieces against the rocks; and when the water relaxes the fragments thereof are thrown up again. But these intervals of tranquillity are only at the turn of the ebb and flood and in calm weather, and last but a quarter[pg 93]of an hour, its violence gradually returning. When the stream is most boisterous, and its fury heightened by a storm, it is dangerous to come within a Norwegian mile of it. Boats, yachts, and ships have been carried away by not guarding against it before they were within its reach. It likewise happens frequently that whales come too near the stream, and are overpowered by its violence, and then it is impossible to describe their howlings and bellowings, in their fruitless struggles to disengage themselves. A bear once attempting to swim from Lofoden to Moskoe, was caught by the stream and borne down, while he roared terribly, so as to be heard on shore. Large stocks of firs and pine-trees, after being absorbed by the current, rise again, broken and torn to such a degree as if bristles grew upon them. This plainly shows the bottom to consist of craggy rocks, among which they are whirled to and fro. This stream is regulated by the flux and reflux of the sea, it being constantly high and low water every six hours. In the year 1645, early in the morning of Sexagesima Sunday, it raged with such noise and impetuosity that the very stones of the houses on the coast fell to the ground.”Kuchu and others promulgated the idea that the maelström is a watery abyss penetrating the globe, and issuing in some very remote[pg 94]part. This is the view held by most of the Norwegian peasantry and fishermen to-day.

Who that has read the works of Edgar Allan Poe will ever forget his thrilling and detailed story of a descent into the maelström?30It bears the impress of close study, and is founded largely on recorded facts. Two brothers, the most daring fishermen of their coast, were accustomed to fish in closer proximity to the maelström than all the rest, because, although a desperate speculation, they would get more fish in a day than the others could at the distant fishing grounds in a week. The risk of life stood for labour, and courage for capital.

In a terrible hurricane they were driven through the surf into the inner circle of the whirlpool, where (as is likely to be the case in actual fact) the wind nearly ceased, the surface of the water being lower than that of the surrounding ocean.“If you have never been at sea in a heavy gale, you can form no idea of the confusion of mind occasioned by the wind and spray together. They blind, deafen, and strangle you, and take away all power of action or reflection.”Now the two fishermen brothers were in a measure respited, as death-condemned felons in prison are allowed petty indulgences forbidden them while their doom is yet uncertain. Round and round the belt the vessel flew rather than floated, getting nearer and nearer to the fatal inner vortex, and making wild lurches towards the abyss.“The boat appeared to be hanging, as if by magic, midway down, upon the interior surface of a funnel vast in circumference, prodigious in depth, and whose perfectly smooth sides might have been mistaken for ebony, but for the bewildering rapidity with which they spun round, and for the gleaming and ghastly radiance they shot forth as the rays of the full moon ... streamed in a flood of golden glory along the black walls, and far away down into the inmost recesses of the abyss.”Round and round they swept in dizzying swings and jerks. Above and below them were whirling fragments of vessels, timbers, boxes, barrels, and trunks of trees. And now a hope arose from the recollection of one circumstance: that of the great variety of buoyant matter thrown up by the moskoe-strom on the coast of Lofoden, some articles were not disfigured or damaged at all. Further, light and cylindrical articles were the least likely to be absorbed into any watery vortex: for the last statement there are good scientific reasons.“I,”says the survivor,“no longer hesitated what to do. I resolved to lash myself securely to the water-cask upon which I now held, to cut it loose from the counter, and to throw myself with it into the water. I attracted my brother’s attention by signs, pointed to the floating barrels that came near us, and did everything in my power to make him understand what I was about to do. I thought at length that he comprehended my design, but whether this was the case or not, he shook his head despairingly, and refused to move from his station by the ring-bolt. It was impossible to reach him; the emergency admitted of no delay; and so, with a bitter struggle, I resigned him to his fate, fastened myself to the cask by means of the lashings which secured it to the counter, and precipitated myself with it into the sea without another moment’s hesitation.”The smack soon after made a few gyrations in rapid succession, then sank to the bottom for ever, bearing with it the unfortunate brother.“The barrel to which I was attached had sunk very little farther than half the distance between the bottom of the gulf and the spot at which I leaped overboard before a great change took place in the[pg 95]character of the whirlpool. The slope of the sides of the vast funnel became momentarily less and less steep. The gyrations of the whirl grew gradually less and less violent.”By degrees the waters rose, and he found himself in full view of the shores of Lofoden, and above the spot where the pool of the moskoe-stromhad been. He was picked up by a boat; those on board were old mates and daily companions, but they knew him no more than they would have known a traveller from the spirit-land. His hair, which had been raven black the day before, was now as white as snow.

Thus far Poe. It shows how the vivid imagination of a great poet, dealing with facts, can put those facts before the reader in artistically life-like and graphic form.

WHIRLPOOL OF CORRIEVRECKAN, OFF THE HEBRIDES.WHIRLPOOL OF CORRIEVRECKAN, OFF THE HEBRIDES.

WHIRLPOOL OF CORRIEVRECKAN, OFF THE HEBRIDES.

Another remarkable whirlpool is that of Corrievreckan, off the Hebrides, in the south of Scotland, shown in an illustration on page 93.

A phenomenon of another character is exhibited on the south side of the Mauritius, at a point called“The Souffleur,”or“The Blower.”“A large mass of rock,”says Lieutenant Taylor, of the United States navy,“runs out into the sea from the mainland, to which it is joined by a neck of rock not two feet broad. The constant beating of the tremendous swell which rolls in has undermined it in every direction, till it has exactly the appearance of a Gothic building with a number of arches. In the centre of the rock, which is about thirty-five or forty feet above the sea, the water has forced two passages vertically upward, which are worn as smooth and cylindrical as if cut by a chisel. When a heavy sea rolls in, it of course fills in an instant the hollow caverns underneath; and finding no other egress, and being borne in with tremendous violence, rushes up these chimneys, and flies, roaring furiously, to a height of full sixty feet. The moment the wave recedes, the vacuum beneath causes the wind to rush into the two apertures with a loud humming noise, which is heard at a considerable distance.

“My companion and I arrived there before high water; and, having climbed across the neck of rock, we seated ourselves close to the chimneys, where I proposed making a sketch, and had just begun, when in came a thundering sea, which broke right over the rock itself, and drove us back much alarmed.

“Our negro guide now informed us that we must make haste to re-cross our narrow bridge, as the sea would get up as the tide rose. We lost no time, and got back dry enough; and I was obliged to make my sketches from the mainland.

“In about three-quarters of an hour the sight was truly magnificent. I do not exaggerate in the least when I say the waves rolled in, long and unbroken, full twenty-five feet high, till, meeting the headland, they broke clear over it, sending the spray flying over to the mainland; while, from the centre of this mass of foam, the Souffleur shot up with a noise which we afterwards heard distinctly between two and three miles. Standing on the main cliff, more than a hundred feet above the sea, we were quite wet.”

“THE SOUFFLEUR,” ISLAND OF MAURITIUS.“THE SOUFFLEUR,”ISLAND OF MAURITIUS.

“THE SOUFFLEUR,”ISLAND OF MAURITIUS.

To the combined influences of tides and waves may also be attributed the monsoon hurricanes which so often visit the Indian Ocean. The air may have been just previously without a breath, when immense waves, accompanied by whirlwinds, come rolling in.“At the period of the changing monsoons, the winds, breaking loose from their controlling forces, seem to rage with a fury capable of breaking up the very foundations of the deep,”and ships are often literally whirled round, or bodily lifted up, their crews being utterly impotent.

Turning to another subject, partially discussed before—the colour of the sea—it may be remarked that by itself as sea water it is really colourless. Its varying colours are caused by reflection, by the varied bottoms it covers, or by the presence of actual animal, vegetable, and mineral bodies. The ocean,

“When winds breathe soft along the silent deep,”

“When winds breathe soft along the silent deep,”

is azure blue or ultramarine, becoming greener in-shore. There are some days when it is generally green, others sombre and grey. A bottom of white sand will give a greyish or apple-coloured green; of chalk, a pure clear green; if the bottom is brownish-yellow sand, the green is naturally duller in character. In the Bay of Loango the waters appear of a deep red, from the red bottom. The Red Sea owes its colour to actual floating microscopic algæ and to red coral bottoms. Sea water, concentrated in the salt marshes of the south of France by the heat of the sun, is also red: this is due to the presence of a red-shelled animal of microscopic size. These minute creatures do not appear till the salt water has attained a certain concentration, while they die when it has reached a further density. Navigators often traverse patches of green, red, white, or yellow-coloured water, their coloration being due to the presence of microscopic crustaceans, medusæ, zoophytes, and marine plants.

A SHIP SAILING IN PHOSPHORESCENT SEA.A SHIP SAILING IN PHOSPHORESCENT SEA.

A SHIP SAILING IN PHOSPHORESCENT SEA.

The pleasing phenomenon known as the phosphorescence of the sea is generally, though[pg 97]by no means entirely, due to myriads of minute globular creatures, calledNoctiluca. Captain Kingman reported having traversed a zone twenty-three miles in length, and so filled with phosphorescent matter that during the night it presented the appearance of a vast field of snow.“There was scarcely a cloud in the heavens,”he tells us;“yet the sky for about 10° above the horizon appeared as black as if a storm were raging; stars of the first magnitude shone with a feeble light, and the‘milky way’of the heavens was almost entirely eclipsed by that through which we were sailing.”Several varieties of molluscs and acalephes shine by their own light, while phosphorescence is often due to the decomposition of animal matter.

PHOSPHORESCENCE ON THE SURFACE OF THE SEA.PHOSPHORESCENCE ON THE SURFACE OF THE SEA.

PHOSPHORESCENCE ON THE SURFACE OF THE SEA.

A French author thus describes the effect produced by the molluscs known to scientists asPyrosoma, on a voyage to the Isle of France. He says:—“The wind was blowing with great violence, the night was dark, and the vessel was making rapid way, when what appeared to be a vast sheet of phosphorus presented itself, floating on the waves, and occupying a great space ahead of the ship. The vessel having passed through this fiery mass, it was discovered that the light was occasioned by organised bodies swimming about in the sea at various depths around the ship. Those which were deepest in the water looked like red-hot balls, while those on the surface resembled cylinders of red-hot iron. Some of the latter were caught; they were found to vary in size from three to seven inches. All the exterior of the creatures bristled with long thick tubercles, shining like so many diamonds, and these seemed to be the principal seats of their luminosity. Inside also there appeared to be a multitude of oblong narrow glands, exhibiting a high degree of phosphoric power. The colour of these animals when in repose is an opal yellow, mixed with green; but on the slightest movement the animal exhibits a spontaneous contractile power, and assumes a luminous brilliancy, passing through various shades of deep-red, orange-green, and azure-blue.”A ship plunging through these phosphorescent fields seems to advance through a sheet of white flame, a field of luminous silver, scattering a spray of sparks in all directions.

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