Page 52 - Eddie Barrington: Early Diving Years

ISSUE : Issue 59

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1992/1/1

(Of course, there's more than just the mat? ter of how to lift it. There's the matter of how to find it.) Well, this is part of it, too. A lot of that is through research. Oh, I think of all the wrecks we've ever looked for. there's only one or two that we haven't found. Sometimes they've taken awhile, sometimes they come to you right away. The Auguste for instance,,' there, was pretty well instantaneous. And that was lost--what?--200-and-j some-odd years.... (The Auguste was lost inside ' Dingwall Harbour in 1761. For a survivor's narra? tive of that shipwreck i see Issue 18 of Cape Bre- talk to Eddie about lo? cating that treasure shipi in a future issue.) (So you're about 12 to 14 years old, and you're diving on the Averill.) The first time we went, as I say, we went with a small boat. But then that was so aH'kward. Rather than using,diving cylin? ders on our back, we were using these larg? er storage bottles and a hose from the boat. We'd have a regulator on them in the boat, and then a hose down to a second stage of the regulator on the diver him? self. So we had to hump these down through the woods and over the beach rocks and into the boat and through the surf. One fellow'd have to stand outside where the waves were breaking with the boat, and then the other fellow'd have to transfer the gear back and forth. Then you come in with about--I sup? pose we had, at a time, we probably had two or three hundred pounds of scrap in the boat when we'd come back to the shore. So you'd have to hump all the gear back up, plus the scrap. Make about 10 or 12 trips to the truck from the shore. But we found all her deck machinery and so on--that's all still there, of course, be? cause that's cast iron and steel and so on. But we were interested in brass fittings and copper pipe and lead pipe. Nothing really exciting from that par? ticular wreck, you know, just the junk value. No unique items, just mangled up brass and copper.... We worked on that wreck for a couple of years till we had our own ve? hicle and boat and so on, and then we started going. For awhile, too, there was one of the scrap dealers in town here (Sydney) sponsored a boat. And some of the older divers were going on trips with that. I got involved with them a few times, and went. You know, we'd go away, and at that time there wasn't much diving being done. So the ship's propellers were still there, which is a big item, and the whole coriden- sor in some cases, which would be anywhere between 2 and 5 or 6 tons. And then the ship's main pumps--her bilge and ballast pumps--would have probably, oh, I've seen them an3rwhere between a half a ton and three tons of brass. Sometimes even the whole housing would be made of brass. Other times it was just the piton and the liner inside, and the housing would be cast iron. BABIES & CHILDREN, "For the Impossible to Fit' For any baby or child with a medical, orthopedic, or abnormally shaped foot ''We custom fit the shoe for you" CAPE BRETON BRACE 66 Cornwallis Street, Sydney, N.S. • 539-5100 539-5100 • JAKE GALE r.t.c.s.o.t.,na.o.t. Custom made to fit you personally: • Ankle Supports • Wrist Supports • Custom Fit Shoes • Knee Supports • Insoles • Back Braces & Supports ''' BY APPOINTMENT ONLY FULL LINE OF BREAD and ROLLS rrsTKiMHrmrmmoDrsmiER Be sure to include Buns Master when planning any gatherings • large or small. 55 VICTORIA ROAD • 539-7754 BAKED FRESH DAIL Y • OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK Now Over 140 Locations to Sen/e You MiclA/ay Motors Ltd .Now With Two Ljocations: HEAD OFFICE '' NEW OFFICE Middle River wS Port Hastings 295-2290 '"' 625-3641 We've Been CHRYSLER Since 192 6

Cape Breton's Magazine