Submarine Appliances And Their Uses
Deep Sea Diving, &c., &c.

way should get to the shot rope as quickly as possible and go down again at once. Even if he is beginning to feel the effects of the sudden decompression, the symptoms will pass off when he gets down, while serious consequences may result if he remains at the surface or gets into the boat. Going down again is the diver’s only chance after blow- ing up from deep water after having been down some time. Cleaning Ships Bottoms. This work will necessarily be done rather slowly by divers ; a good deal depends on the proper rigging and working of the ladders or stages. In using the ladders, two may be lashed together side by side, making a breadth of 6 feet, and as the diver can reach about 3 feet on either side he can clean a breadth of 12 feet, and fleeting down from rung to rung can work down from water-line to keel. For working beneath the bilge keels of large ships, where the bottom is practically flat, a good plan is to lace a net (such as those supplied for preventing loss of coaling bags overboard) between two lad ■ ders. The whole is passed under the keel and the two ladders separated so as to stretch the net. The divers can then lie back in it and clean the bottom above them with com- parative ease. Q> $0 - V s o Fig. No. 20. SO