“It was shockingly mutilated and disfigured, and was almost unrecognizable, but we never found out whether the man had been murdered or not.
“When I came to the surface with that bloated, disfigured corpse, strong men were made sick and turned away, and to tell the truth I felt a little squeamish myself; but it was a matter of business, not sentiment, with me, so I doffed the armor and pocketed the reward that had been offered.
“The exploding of sub-marine torpedoes is dangerous work, and you can take my word for it that one does not feel very comfortable groping about with five or six pounds of dynamite in her hand, not knowing what minute it may take a notion to go off and blow her into kingdom come. Diving is fascinating, but it is dangerous, and there are very few women who would care to engage in it even if they had the nerve.”
Frances Namon Sorcho.
MRS.SORCHO AT WORK IN THE HOLD OF THE SUNKEN TREASURE–SHIP, SENDING UP THE CHESTS OF GOLD.
FEATS OF DIVERS.
Millions of dollars worth of property has been recovered from the ocean’s depths by divers. One of the greatest achievements in this line was by the famous English diver Lambert, who recovered vast treasure from the Alfonso XII, a Spanish mail steamer belonging to the Lopez Line, which sank off Point Gando, Grand Canary, in 26½ fathoms of water. The salvage party was dispatched by the underwriters in May, 1885, the vessel having £100,000 in specie on board. For nearly six months the operations were persevered in, before the divers could reach the treasure-room beneath the three decks. Two divers lost their lives in the vain attempt, the pressure of water being fatal. Mr. Gorman recovered £90,000 from the wreck, and got £4,500 for doing it.