Under the Waves

Under the Waves, by R M
Ballantyne

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Title: Under the Waves Diving in Deep Waters
Author: R M Ballantyne
Illustrator: Pearson
Release Date: November 15, 2007 [EBook #23493]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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THE WAVES ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

Under the Waves
or, Diving in Deep Waters

by R.M.Ballantyne.

PREFACE.
This tale makes no claim to the character of an exhaustive illustration
of all that belongs to the art of diving. It merely deals with the most
important points, and some of the most interesting incidents connected
therewith. In writing it I have sought carefully to exhibit the true and to
ignore the false or improbable.
I have to acknowledge myself indebted to the well-known submarine
engineers Messrs. Siebe and Gorman, and Messrs. Heinke and Davis,
of London, for much valuable information; and to Messrs. Denayrouze,
of Paris, for permitting me to go under water in one of their
diving-dresses. Also--among many others--to Captain John Hewat,
formerly Commander in the service of the Rajah of Sarawak, for much
interesting material respecting the pirates of the Eastern Seas.
R.M.B. Edinburgh, 1876.
CHAPTER ONE.
INTRODUCES OUR HERO, ONE OF HIS ADVISERS, AND SOME
OF HIS DIFFICULTIES.
"So, sir, it seems that you've set your heart on learning something of
everything?"
The man who said this was a tall and rugged professional diver. He to
whom it was said was Edgar Berrington, our hero, a strapping youth of
twenty-one.
"Well--yes, I have set my heart upon something of that sort, Baldwin,"
answered the youth. "You see, I hold that an engineer ought to be
practically acquainted, more or less, with everything that bears, even
remotely, on his profession; therefore I have come to you for some
instruction in the noble art of diving."

"You've come to the right shop, Mister Edgar," replied Baldwin, with a
gratified look. "I taught you to swim when you wasn't much bigger than
a marlinespike, an' to make boats a'most before you could handle a
clasp-knife without cuttin' your fingers, an' now that you've come to
man's estate nothin'll please me more than to make a diver of you. But,"
continued Baldwin, while a shade clouded his wrinkled and
weatherbeaten visage, "I can't let you go down in the dress without
leave. I'm under authority, you know, and durstn't overstep--"
"Don't let that trouble you," interrupted his companion, drawing a letter
from his pocket; "I had anticipated that difficulty, and wrote to your
employers. Here is their answer, granting me permission to use their
dresses."
"All right, sir," said Baldwin, returning the letter without looking at it;
"I'll take your word for it, sir, as it's not much in my line to make out
the meanin' o' pot-hooks and hangers.--Now, then, when will you have
your first lesson?"
"The sooner the better."
"Just so," said the diver, looking about him with a thoughtful air.
The apartment in which the man and the youth conversed was a species
of out-house or lumber-room which had been selected by Baldwin for
the stowing away of his diving apparatus and stores while these were
not in use at the new pier which was in process of erection in the
neighbouring harbour. Its floor was littered with snaky coils of
india-rubber tubing; enormous boots with leaden soles upwards of an
inch thick; several diving helmets, two of which were of brightly
polished metal, while the others were more or less battered, dulled, and
dinted by hard service in the deep. The walls were adorned with large
damp india-rubber dresses, which suggested the idea of baby-giants
who had fallen into the water and been sent off to bed while their
costumes were hung up to dry. In one corner lay several of the massive
breast and back weights by which divers manage to sink themselves to
the bottom of the sea; in another stood the chest containing the
air-pump by means of which they are enabled to maintain themselves

alive in that uncomfortable position; while in a third and very dark
corner, an old worn-out helmet, catching a gleam from the solitary
window by which the place was insufficiently lighted, seemed to glare
enviously out of its goggle-eyes at its glittering successors. Altogether,
what with the strange spectral objects and the dim light, there was
something weird in the aspect of the place, that accorded well with the
spirit of young Berrington, who, being