IX.
ADVENTURES OF DIVERS.
GOING UNDER WATER.—PEARL DIVING.—COSTUME OF THE DIVERS.—HOW THEY DESCEND.—OBTAINING THE PEARL OYSTERS.—DIVING-BELLS.—HOW THEY ARE MADE.—ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES.—ADVENTURES IN DIVING-BELLS.—SUBMARINE ARMOR.—ITS CONSTRUCTION AND USE.—A DIVER’S ADVENTURE.—A HORRIBLE SIGHT.—THE DIVER’S STORY.—A PEARL DIVER AND A SHARK.—A NARROW ESCAPE.—STRATEGY IN THE WATER.—PEARL DIVING.—PREPARATORY STEPS TO BE TAKEN.—PREPARING FOR THE SEVERE TASK.—TRAINING THE PAPOOSES IN MEXICO.—HOW TO AVOID SHARKS AND DOG-FISH.—THE WAYS THAT ARE DARK, AND THE TRICKS THAT ARE VAIN.
To go under the water is pretty nearly as difficult as to go under the earth. Man is not made to live in the water, although he has been known to pass many hours there without touching land. A great many persons seem to have a dread of water in any shape. They rarely bathe, and never drink the liquid when they can obtain anything stronger. It frequently becomes necessary for men to go beneath the surface of the water, exploring the wrecks of ships, and searching for valuable things that are to be found with a varying quantity of fathoms above them. In the East Indies, and in South America, and other parts of the world, the primitive form of diving without any apparatus whatever has been popular for many hundreds of years. The pearl divers of the East are dressed in a costume somewhat resembling that of the famous Greek Slave, minus her fetters. The diver, when preparing to go below, arms himself with a pick, with which to break away the pearl oysters. He is provided with a stone weighing forty or fifty pounds, and attached to a rope several feet in length. Filling his lungs with air, he grasps the rope in his hand, and then jumps from the side of the boat into the water. The weight of the stone carries him down. When he reaches the bottom, he detaches the oysters from the rocks, places them in a bag at his side, and then rises withhis prize to the surface. Ordinarily he does not remain more than a minute, or a minute and a half, below the surface, though instances have been known of pearl divers who would remain as long as four or five minutes under the water. Of course he can only remain as long as the air which has been taken into his lungs will last him, and every one who tries to hold his breath knows that this cannot be for a long time.
The diver generally closes his nostrils with a split stick, or something of the sort, to prevent the entrance of the water, and he is very careful to keep his mouth tightly shut. Water and air do not mix well in one’s lungs, and no man has ever yet invented a system of breathing water instead of air. At the depth to which the pearl diver descends, the pressure of the water causes a very unpleasant sensation in the ears, and before he has made many subaqueous journeys the drum of the ear is generally broken. The breakage of the ear-drum causes no serious injury beyond rendering the person who has undergone it hard of hearing, and instances have been known of divers becoming entirely deaf in consequence of the injury to their ears.
PEARL DIVING IN THE EAST INDIES.
PEARL DIVING IN THE EAST INDIES.
IMPROVEMENTS IN DIVING.
DIVING-BELLS.
As an improvement upon the primitive form of diving, the Diving-Bell was invented. It is called a bell on account of its shape, and not in consequence of any sonorous quality. It is constructed in the general shape of a bell, or an inverted tumbler; it is lowered, mouth downwards, into the water by means of ropes attached to a ship, a boat, or the arm of a derrick projecting over the water. Generally, however, it is let down from a ship’s side. The earliest diving-bells had no arrangement for supplying them with air. After the quantity within the bell was exhausted, the diver gave a signal by means of a rope, and the bell was drawn to the surface. At present the diving-bell has a flexible rubber tube attached to it, by which it is constantly supplied with fresh air, so that a diver may remain several hours under water without suffering for want of a pure atmosphere. The foul air is let out through a valve in the top of the bell, and is constantly rising in the shape of little bubbles. The pure air is forced down bymeans of a pump, which must be kept in steady operation. As long as this pump is at work, and the bubbles are rising from the bell, those above can be assured that everything is satisfactory; but let the bubbles cease to rise, and it is instantly known that something is going wrong.
As the bell descends below the surface, the pressure of the air becomes very great, being equal to the pressure of the water. A dense atmosphere of this sort has many peculiarities. It is easy enough to breathe, but the pressure on the drum of the ear is frequently inconvenient. An ordinary whisper will sound as loud as the customary tones of the voice, and if there are two persons in the bell, and one of them speaks as he would naturally speak in the open air, he will seem to the other to be shouting with the full power of his lungs. A slight blow upon any metallic substance within the bell will sound like a very heavy one, and any noise that would cause no inconvenience in the open air may become absolutely painful in the dense atmosphere in the inside of a diving-bell.
A diving-bell must be made very heavy to carry it downward, and large weights are generally placed around its mouth. A shelf inside serves as a seat for the occupant, and when it is lowered to the bottom, the ground can be leisurely surveyed or examined for whatever object the diver has in view. Sometimes, when two persons descend in a bell, one of them may leave the bell by diving into the water, and then returning, but he cannot go very far. Submarine armor, however, enables him to go quite a distance away from the bell, and return at his leisure. Submarine armor possesses many advantages over the ordinary diving-bell. A man encased in a submarine suit can remain under water for a long time, and move about pretty much as he likes.
SUBMARINE ARMOR.
Submarine armor consists of a water-proof suit, completely encasing the body of the wearer. It is put on in two sections; the trousers have shoes attached to them, with heavy leaden soles, and at the waist they are firmly fastened to a metallic ring. The upper part of the suit covers the arms, the head,and the chest, and the lower part of it is fastened to a ring which exactly meets the other. The upper part of the suit is put on, and after it the second, or lower part. The two rings are then fastened together by means of screws, and a thin band of rubber upon them excludes both air and water. The head of the diver is enclosed in a helmet made of brass or other metal, and having a thick plate of glass in front. Air is conveyed inside this helmet by means of a rubber tube, and an air pump must be kept in constant operation, to supply the man in armor with the necessary amount of air. The foul air escapes through a valve in the top, just as it escapes from the top of the diving-bell. A suit of clothing of this sort does not add to the beauty of its wearer; it is very cumbersome, and I greatly doubt if it ever becomes fashionable for an afternoon promenade on Broadway. The helmet might answer very well as a disguise, for the reason that the face of the wearer is almost, and generally quite, invisible.
When a diver is properly encased in his armor, he is swung off from the side of the boat or ship, and sinks into the water. The leaden soles upon his shoes carry him straight down, and serve to keep his feet in the proper place and position. The tube supplies him with air, and he can walk about and use his hands freely. He can handle the pick and shovel, and can enter the cabin of a sunken ship; in fact, he can go in any place where the flexible tube can be made to follow; but all the time he is below, the pump must maintain a steady motion, and the valve in the top of his helmet must work freely. A slight accident may cause his death: should any of the machinery of the pump give way, or some careless person on the ship step upon the tube as it lies along the deck, the diver might lose his life. It sometimes happens that on being drawn to the surface the diver is found dead. Some slight accident has cut off his supply of air, and cutting off the air has deprived him of life.
Sunken ships have been explored by means of this diving armor, and sometimes large amounts of treasure are recovered through its use. In some cases miners have prosecuted theiroperations under water by means of this apparatus. A few years since an expedition was fitted out to examine a wreck of a ship which was sunk more than half a century ago on the coast of South America. She was known to have a great deal of treasure on board. Operations had been undertaken frequently by means of common divers and diving-bells to recover this treasure, but none of the enterprises had been rewarded with success. With their submarine armor to aid them, the new explorers were successful, and were handsomely rewarded for their efforts.
Thrilling stories are told by men who have thus gone below the surface of the water. Some time ago a diver was sent down to examine a steamer that had been sunk in about sixty feet of water, and had carried down many of its passengers. The man went down, and made two or three efforts without success to enter the cabin of the vessel. On the fourth visit he accomplished his object, and reached the cabin. Soon he made a signal to be drawn up. When he was on the deck of the ship, and the armor was removed, he fainted. When he recovered, he was asked the cause of his faintness, and replied,—
A HORRIBLE SIGHT.
“It’s enough to make any man faint to see what I have seen. I went into the cabin of that ship; it was full of water, of course; but that wasn’t all. It was full of the bodies of those passengers that went down when the ship was lost. There was a slight motion of the water, caused by the ground swell; and, as I entered the cabin, the water slowly swayed backward and forward, and swung these bodies with it. At the very door one of them brushed against me, or rather rolled against me, and its dead, glassy eyes stared directly in the face of my helmet, not six inches away. I knew it was dead, but there seemed to be a life-like expression in that cold and stony face. I passed by it, and had gone but a few feet before I encountered another body; and as I looked along the cabin, the vessel, being slightly careened, received a dim light through its windows. Those bodies swinging with the motion of the water seemed more like living than like deadforms. There was a combination of life and death in their paleness which was absolutely horrible; and not for all the treasure this ship contains will I go down again.”
The diver positively refused to repeat his descent, at least in that part of the ship; but others, less sensitive than himself, were found to go down and complete the exploration. None of them, however, appeared anxious to continue on that sort of work, and all were heartily glad when the exploration in the cabin was completed.
SEEKING FOR PEARLS.
The life of a pearl diver is full of adventures. The pearl oyster is found only in warm countries, or, at all events, very rarely in cold countries. The parts of the sea where these oysters are found are generally frequented by sharks. The sharks have a great fondness for divers, but it can be readily understood that the divers do not reciprocate the fondness of this finny tribe. Nothing is more pleasing to the shark—that is to say, an old and well-educated shark—than to make a breakfast off a pearl diver. The diver objects to this little arrangement, and remonstrates with the shark; but the latter doesn’t heed his remonstrances, unless they are of the most positive character.
Before going below, the diver generally scans the water very carefully, to see whether any of his man-eating friends are around and ready to welcome him. When he has reached the bottom, finished his labor, filled his bag with oysters, and is ready to ascend, he always takes a good look aloft, to see that no shark is waiting for him. The shark does not pick up the diver at the bottom; he makes no attack as long as the man is beneath him, but watches his chance, and as the man goes upward he makes a sudden dash, and considering the diver a stranger, takes him in. It is not unusual in the pearl diving regions to hear of men who have suddenly disappeared while below; and the inference always is, that these men have been quietly and calmly eaten. A pearl seeker whom I met some years ago while on a sea voyage told me an exciting story of an adventure with a shark in the pearl regions not far from Panama.
“I had in my employ,” said he, “about a dozen divers, very active, athletic fellows, who did their duty faithfully, stole all the pearls they could when my back was turned, and sometimes, unless I was very watchful, they reduced my returns very materially. I had a curiosity to learn the peculiarities of pearl diving for myself, and so engaged one of the professional divers to teach me. Well, he taught me.
“My first duty was to strip off all my clothes, swing a bag over my shoulder, take an iron rod about two feet long and sharpened at one end with which to detach the oysters, seize a stone, and after fastening my nose so as not to take in any water that way, I jumped overboard and followed the diver below.
“The water was about thirty feet deep, and the first time I went down I could do nothing but come back again. I didn’t bring any oysters that time. The next time I went down, I managed to get half a dozen oysters, and then I came up. Well, after a while I got so that I could get my bag half filled on each descent, and began to think that I was a very fair diver. I did not do much of it, though. Half a dozen times a day were all that I was willing to try. My ears stood it very well the first day, but the second day I went down deeper and staid rather longer than at any previous time, and when I came up my ears were bleeding, and I felt as if there was at least a barrel of water in my head. That was enough for that day; but the next morning I felt all right, and tried it again.
ADVENTURE WITH A SHARK.
“Always before I went down they cautioned me to look out for sharks. ‘Never stir from the bottom,’ said one of the men, ‘until you have looked up to the top, and find everything is clear above you.’ I remembered his advice, and it was well that I did so. About ten days after I had begun to learn the business, I went down as usual, picked up some oysters, put them in my bag, and was starting to go up. I gave my usual look above, and there I saw a big shovel-nosed shark watching me. He was evidently calculating that he had me sure, and considered me as good a breakfast as he wanted. I did notlike his looks, and what to do I did not exactly know. I would have much rather been in the cabin of my schooner than in the stomach of that fellow. My first impulse was to dart up beneath him, and follow the custom of the natives. Generally when one sees a shark, and can’t get off in any other way, he rises as rapidly as possible beneath the fish, and sticks the iron rod into his belly. This is a treatment for which the shark is not prepared, and unless he is over-hungry he will generally go away. Sometimes, though, he shows fight; and when it comes to a struggle it is very fierce. The shark is in his natural element, but the man is not in the element to which he is most accustomed, and if the shark is large and persistent he generally wins.
“I did not consider myself up to the emergency of stabbing that fellow with my rod, and thought I would take the chance of going by him. But that was of no use; he would have taken me in as I reached the surface, just as a trout takes in a fly. In an emergency like mine, men think, and they must think very rapidly. I do not believe that I ever thought with more rapidity in all my life. The place where I had been gathering oysters was at the side of a large rock, and I had not left it when I saw the shark. I moved quietly to the other side, thinking to dodge him.
A FIGHT UNDER WATER.
“He saw my movement, and immediately swam over the rock, and placed himself above me. Well, what was to be done next, and what do you suppose I did? You know there is a little fish called the cuttle-fish. It is not much of a fish; it is not handsome; it cannot swim fast, and is not heavy on the fight. When pursued it throws out a sort of inky substance, which blackens the water and makes it sufficiently cloudy to enable the cuttle-fish to escape. It carries this ink in a bag, and keeps it laid up ready for use. Perhaps you might call him a marine editor; that is, the sort of editor that does not fight, but defends himself by slinging ink in the face of his adversaries.
“I was not in a condition to fight, and so I quickly thought I would play cuttle-fish. On one side of the rock the bottomwas a sandy mud, and I immediately conceived the idea of stirring up this mud, thickening the water, and so making a cloud, behind which I could escape. With my pick I stirred the mud, and in less than ten seconds I had the water all around me very thick and cloudy.
“Then I slipped back to the other side of the rock, and went above. I reached the side of the boat with just strength enough to lay hold of it. The men saw that something was wrong, and they instantly seized me, and pulled me on board. They had become alarmed at my long absence, as I was under water nearly twice the time I had been at any previous descent.
A NARROW ESCAPE.
“Well, this is not the whole of the story. If I should take off my boot—the right one—you would see some very ugly scars on my foot. That shark watched the water where I was, and just as I reached the surface, and was being pulled into the boat, he discovered me. He darted for me, whirled on his back,—sharks always have to turn on their backs to seize their prey,—and tried to take in my foot.
“The men saw him coming, and they pulled me in about as fast as any man was ever pulled into a boat. That shark did not get me, as, of course, you believe, but he did get hold of the end of my foot. Two toes are gone, and the others are pretty well scarred. If he had made his dive at me one second earlier, I do not believe I should have had any foot on this leg to boast of. Confound these sharks, any how. They do not respect a white man at all, or half as much as they do a brown-skinned native.
“Take a lot of sharks when they are not particularly hungry, and a lot of niggers may swim around them, and they will be as sociable as if they belonged to the same family; but just let them see a white man in the water, and they will take him in as readily as a bull-dog would take in a beefsteak.
“I have been some time telling this story to you, but the whole occurrence did not consume more than two or three minutes.”
PREPARATORY ARRANGEMENTS.
In Mexico, a peculiar way of pearl-fishing is going on.Preparatory to entering on pearl-fishing in that country, a contractor must obtain a concession, and take care to be provided with such articles as the Indians most desire—eatables, tools, coarse articles of dress, and toys. The concession is obtained by securing a fifth of the produce of the fishery to the authorities of La Paz, and then, at an expense of five dollars, a right to fish in a certain spot is acquired.
A picturesque scene is presented by the encampment of the Indians with their families, who are mainly supported through the year by the fishery. They impatiently await the coming of their employers, and their approach is the signal for a joyful tumult. All join in the shout of welcome, and many plunge into the sea, to show, by their various performances in the water, their superior fitness for the labors they are anxious to undertake.
Loud cries are heard, of “Engage me, master,” “I will make your fortune,” “You employed me last year,” “I am not only the best of divers, but I am always lucky.”
A selection is made, and the contractor takes with him those he deems the ablest hands, pursued by the reproaches and taunts of those who consider they are unfairly neglected. The conditions of the engagement secure the divers’ maintenance during the fishery, and a share of the unopened oysters. These requirements granted, shaking hands seals or completes the arrangement.
It is from the 15th of May to the 15th of August that the Mexican fishing is prosecuted. Then it is that calm weather and cloudless sky may be expected, which are indispensable to success. Early in the afternoon a breeze frequently comes from the northeast. Should it rain, the work is partly suspended. The evening is occupied in opening the oysters collected in the early part of the day.
The day after the arrival of the divers, the places most likely to prove favorable are sought by experienced eyes, and a sort of rehearsal is gone through by the Indians. They plunge in to a moderate depth, and remain but a short time under water. Then they prepare themselves for the severer task. Theirchildren, almost amphibious, remain on the bank, and are thus prepared to take up the calling of a diver at some future day.
The Indians dive fearlessly, being accustomed to such exercises from their infancy, plunging to a depth of from five to ten fathoms by two cords, a diving-stone and a net, which are connected with the boat, which always accompanies them. The diver, putting the toes of his right foot on the rope of the diving-stone, and his left on the net, seizes the two cords with one hand, and, closing his nostrils with the other, goes to the bottom of the water, where he brings the net around his neck, and collects and puts into it as many shells as he can reach while he remains below, which is generally about two minutes. On emerging from the sea, he discharges water from his mouth and nose, and sometimes blood, which, however, does not deter him from presently resuming his labors. Some men will frequently make fifty trips in one forenoon.
Divers soon find themselves able to remain under water two minutes; some occasionally stay three minutes, but never longer. Young divers at first are curiously affected; blood rushes from the nose, eyes, and ears, when they come up, caused by the compression of the lungs. It is a painful sight, but rest and cold water are the only remedies applied, and, after a short time, the bleeding is not renewed on diving.
THE OPENING OF THE SEASON.
The opening of the season is marked by a ceremony, intended to be very solemn. A sorcerer is brought with the divers, to exorcise the sea, and protect them. In the performance of his important duty, this highly-gifted personage addresses awful language to the dog-fish, setting forth his past atrocities and admonishing him to act a better part in future.
A single plunge enables a diver to secure five or six oysters, sometimes seven or eight, but rarely more. The boats which attend them are managed by rowers, or are secured by an anchor, or a stone, fastened to a rope. Some of the divers have a rope around them, attached to the boat. The most prudent course is to be as little encumbered as possible, that they may avoid the sharks and dog-fish. They are, however, generally armed with a short stick, made of hard wood, andpointed. A lookout or watcher is in each boat, to give a signal to those under water when danger is apparent.
THE WAYS THAT ARE DARK.
The gangs of younger divers divide into three parties, and rest for longer periods. They go to their labor fasting. When below, they of course snatch the oysters up as quickly as possible, using the short stick they carry, when necessary to separate them from any other substance. Finding an oyster likely to contain a pearl, the stick is sometimes used to open it, and the diver will reappear with a shell or two, and tell that during three minutes immersion he could discover nothing but shells. The fraud is often discovered, and the stick freely used on the head or back of the cheat.
Jules Verne,in hisTwenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, gives the account of an adventure of a pearl-diver, which is of the most thrilling nature; Prof. Aronnax has gone down to the bottom of the sea, in a peculiar diving apparel, which allowed him to remain under water for a considerable time, with Captain Nemo of the Nautilus, and two or three other men. The professor tells his story thus:
“About five yards from me a shadow appeared, and sank to the ground. The disquieting idea of sharks shot through my mind, but I was mistaken; and once again it was not a monster of the ocean that we had anything to do with.
“It was a man, a living man, an Indian, a fisherman, a poor devil, who, I suppose, had come to glean before the harvest. I could see the bottom of his canoe anchored some feet above his head. He dived and went up successively. A stone held between his feet, cut in the shape of a sugar-loaf, whilst a rope fastened him to his boat, helped him to descend more rapidly. This was all his apparatus. Reaching the bottom, about five yards deep, he went on his knees and filled his bag with oysters picked up at random. Then he went up, emptied it, pulled up his stone, and began the operation once more, which lasted thirty seconds.
“The diver did not see us. The shadow of the rock hid us from sight. And how should this poor Indian ever dream that men, beings like himself, should be there under the waterwatching his movements, and losing no detail of the fishing. Several times he went up in this way, and dived again. He did not carry away more than ten at each plunge, for he was obliged to pull them from the bank to which they adhered by means of their strong byssus. And how many of those oysters for which he risked his life had no pearl in them! I watched him closely; his manœuvres were regular, and, for the space of half an hour, no danger appeared to threaten him.
“I was beginning to accustom myself to the sight of this interesting fishing, when suddenly, as the Indian was on the ground, I saw him make a gesture of terror, rise, and make a spring to return to the surface of the sea.
“I understood his dread. A gigantic shadow appeared just above the unfortunate diver. It was a shark of enormous size, advancing diagonally, his eyes on fire, and his jaws open. I was mute with horror, and unable to move.
FIGHTING A SHARK.
“The voracious creature shot towards the Indian, who threw himself on one side in order to avoid the shark’s fins: but not its tail, for it struck his chest, and stretched him on the ground.
“This scene lasted but a few seconds; the shark returned, and, turning on his back, prepared himself for cutting the Indian in two; when I saw Captain Nemo rise suddenly, and then, dagger in hand, walk straight to the monster, ready to fight face to face with him. The very moment the shark was going to snap the unhappy fisherman in two, he perceived his new adversary, and, turning over, made straight towards him.
“I can still see Captain Nemo’s position. Holding himself well together, he waited for the shark with admirable coolness; and, when it rushed at him, threw himself on one side with wonderful quickness, avoiding the shock, and burying his dagger deep into its side. But it was not all over. A terrible combat ensued.
“The shark had seemed to roar, if I might say so. The blood rushed in torrents from its wound. The sea was dyed red, and through the opaque liquid I could distinguish nothing more. Nothing more, until the moment when, like lightning,I saw the undaunted captain hanging on to one of the creature’s fins, struggling, as it were, hand to hand with the monster, and dealing successive blows at his enemy, yet still unable to give a decisive one.
“The shark’s struggles agitated the water with such fury that the rocking threatened to upset me.
“I wanted to go to the captain’s assistance, but, nailed to the spot with horror, I could not stir.
“I saw the haggard eye; I saw the different phases of the fight. The captain fell to the earth, upset by the enormous mass which leant upon him. The shark’s jaws opened wide, like a pair of factory shears, and it would have been all over with the captain; but, quick as thought, harpoon in hand, Ned Land rushed towards the shark and struck it with its sharp point.
“The waves were impregnated with a mass of blood. They rocked under the shark’s movements, which beat them with indescribable fury. Ned Land had not missed his aim. It was the monster’s death-rattle. Struck to the heart, it struggled in dreadful convulsions, the shock of which overthrew Conseil.
“But Ned Land had disentangled the captain, who, getting up without any wound, went straight to the Indian, quickly cut the cord which held him to his stone, took him in his arms, and, with a sharp blow of his heel, mounted to the surface.”