Deep-sea divers only acquire proficiency after long training. It
is said that as a rule divers are indisposed to taking
apprentices, as they are afraid of their vocation being crowded
and their present ample remuneration diminished. At present there
are several schools. At Chatham, England, there is a school of
submarine mining, in which men are trained to lay torpedoes and
complete harbor defense. Most of these divers can work six hours
at a time in from 35 to 50 feet of water. Divers for the Royal
Navy are trained at Sheerness. When sufficiently trained to work
at the depth of 150 feet seamen-divers are fully qualified, and
are drafted to the various ships. They are connected with an
air-pump in charge of trustworthy men; they signal for their
tools and material, as well as air, by means of a special line
for this purpose. At some distance below the water the
extraordinary weight of the suits cannot be felt, and the divers
work as well in armor as in ordinary laboring clothes. One famous
diver says that the only unpleasant experience he ever had in his
career as a diver, not excepting the occasion of his first dive,
was a drumming in the ears, as a consequence of which, after
remaining under water at a certain work for nine hours, he
completely lost the use of one ear for three months, during which
time he suffered agony with the earache.
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