The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 4Whymper, Frederick
History
The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 4
Whymper, Frederick
Adventure and adventurers; Arctic regions; Ocean; Voyages around the world
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 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. The _hold_ communicates by a large shaft
with the upper compartment. Between these is a third compartment, or
_orlop 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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