Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 November 1894 — CLEANED BY DIVERS. [ARTICLE]

CLEANED BY DIVERS.

Removing the Barnacles from a Warship’s Bottom. A United States cruiser in active service requires almost as much burnishing to keep her trim as does a silk hat. It isn’t the brasses and metal work around her decks that cause the chief anxiety. It is her bottom. That fouls particularly in Southern seas, and it is necessary to dock her and clean away the barnacles. But docks are not always at hand. Lieutenant-Commamler Sebree, in discussing this cion in the United States Nava* institute, describes for the first time the scheme worked by the United States ship Baltimore during the Chilian trouble. She was not docked for eleven months, and during eight months of that time she was in Chilian and Peruvian waters. The Baltimore, having been docked at Toulon, France, in February, 1891, sailed for Chili. Within four or five months after arriving in Chili she began to lose speed on account of a foul bottom. There were in the crew two seamen gunners, who had qualified as divers in the torpedo school at Newport, besides Peter Hanley, the gunner, who had also taken the course. It was decided to clean the bottom of the Baltimore by sending down divers. An iron ladder was let down from a launch alongside the Baltimore, and for use under the ship a wide Jacob’s ladder was made on board. While cleaning the bottom the diver was always on this ladder, between it and the ship. He would stand, sit, or lie down ou the ladder, as happened to be most convenient. The divers used scrapers made of hard wood in the shape of a broad chisel. They were about four inches wide and eight inches long, with the handle end rounded down. The diver chose the man who attended to the life line. Besides this man who attended the line, four other men were in the launch, Two of them worked the pumps, and the other two attended to the bow and stern lines of the launch. The divers were limited to five hours’ work a day, and they got $1 an hour in addition to their regular pay.

The time taken to clean the bottom once and to clean one-third of it a second time was two months. The work was done under adverse circumstances in the harbor of Valparaiso, Where frequently a sea would stop the work. The barnacles on the bottom of the Baltimore the first time that she was cleaned averaged two and three-quar ter inches in length. Some of them were more than three inches long. They were often in clusters, so that they extended six inches or more from the ship’s bottom. After the bottom was cleaned, the gunner made an inspection, and reported that the cleaning was well done. Lieutenant-Commander Sebree says, that in his opinion a vessel can be kept practically clean and suffer no serious loss of speed for at least a year by the use of her divers at a cost of $(>00 for labor, and about SOOO for the pump.—[New York Sun.

Seas Deepest Near the Land. At the recent session of the British Science Association it was asserted that the deepest parts of the sea are nearly always, near land. The deepest sounding yet made was 110 miles off Kurils Islands, where the water w‘as found to be 27,980 feet deep. The next deepest spot is seventy miles north of Porto Rico, where the depth is ninety-four fathoms less. The ocean with the greatest mean depth appears to be the Pacific; which covers 07,000,000 of the 188,000,000 of square miles composing the earth’s surface. The Northern Pacific is estimated by John Murray to have a njean depth of over 2,500 fathoms, while the Southern Pacific is credited with a little under 2,400 fathoms. These figures are, however, based on an inadequate number of soundings. Thus, in the eastern part of the Central Pacific there is an area of 10,500,000 square miles in which there are only seven soundings, while in a long strip crossing the whole North Pacific, which has an area of 2,800,000 square miles, there is no sounding at all. The Indian Ocean, with an area of 25,000,000 square miles, has a mean depth, according to Mr. Murray, of a littlo over 2,000 fathoms, while the Atlantic—by far the best sounded ocean—has an area of 81,000,000 square miles, with a mean depth of 2,200 fathoms.—[Chicago Herald . A Remarkable Grindstone. ' The most remarkable grindstone on earth is owned by J. J. Patterson, of Hawesville, Ky. It has been in use on his farm since 1859. It was made frbm stone on his farm; [it is used by the entire neighborhood and wears with the times. In good times it sheds its grit liberally, but in hard times it becomes as flint. This year tho sparks from it [have put out the eye of a boy who was turning it and set fire to a pile of straw fourteen feet from it.—[Atlanta Constitution. She Promptly Fainted. President Casimir-Perier dropped into a toy store the other day and asked a nevous young shop girl if a phonographic Edison doll, which he produced from a paper parcel, could be repaired. The young lady said, “Yes,” and asked him to what address it should be sent. When he gave his name and address she fainted away.- —[Rochester Post-Express.