THE DIVING HELMET
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In addition to the nets and trawls and dredges, the ship is equipped with a diving apparatus. It is a helmet or head piece, but not the rest of a suit.
This tall helmet is made of thick brass with a triangle shaped glass window in the front. It fits on the shoulders and there is an air space inside so one can breathe. Then fresh air is pumped in by a hand pump, and whole flocks of bubbles keep rising to the surface coming out from under your arm pits.
Uncle Will is the best one at it for he has used it most and goes down oftenest. It can be used at any depth a man can stand pressure, and of course the deeper down, the stronger the pressure, and one feels this especially in [[54]]the ears. They buzz and hurt as though someone was pushing on them. You have to swallow hard to keep back this feeling and equalize the pressure, the same as going down in a high elevator.
There is air in front of your eyes so you can see just as perfectly as when you are on the surface. Whole crowds of tiny fishes swim by, many of them different colors and very bright. Pink, or green, or blue, or silvery or striped ones.
In the Diving Helmet, Standing in Front of Shark Cage.
One day as Uncle Will entered the water, and was just going down, a huge shark swam by. He waited a few minutes and then went down, and the shark had apparently gone along on his business. Later he had a cage built, so he could stay in that and look around if there were too many sharks.