O YEARS UNDER THE SEA WILLIAMSON f!lOJ^k\Afi(KMrL TWENTY YEARS UNDER THE SEA "The Helmet Was Lifted and I Told My Story TWENTY YEARS UNDER THE SEA By J. E. WILLIAMSON ILLUSTRATED BOSTON RALPH T. HALE ©• COMPANY PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT I936, BY J. E. WILLIAMSON All rights reserved — no part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine or newspaper. First printing, March 1936 Second printing, June 1936 Third printing, November 1938 Fourth Printing October 1944. THIS BOOK HAS BEEN MANUFACTURED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WAR PRODUCTION BOARD IN THE INTEREST OF THE CONSERVATION OF PAPER AND OTHER IMPORTANT WAR MATERIALS. PIUNTEU IN THK UNITED STATES OF AMERICA H\ THE POLYGKAPHIC COMPANY OPAMEKICA.N.'i . TO ALONZO FOREST CATHEY AND THOMAS SOMERVILLE SOUTHGATE CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION .... 15 CHAPTER I THE FIRST PICTURES OUT OF THE DEPTHS 29 II BENEATH TROPTC SEAS . 46 III A DUEL WITH A MAN-EATER . 63 IV ALONG THE FLOOR OF THE OCEAN . 79 V DEVIL FISH AND FISH DEVILS . 92 VI UNDER PRESSURE 103 VII PRODUCTION NUMBER TWO . 118 VIII THE FIRST FILM DRAMA BENEATH THE SEA 132 IX MISHAPS AND ADVENTURES 147 X MAKING JULES VERNE'S DREAM COME TRUE 162 XI A SKELETON IN MY CUPBOARD 170 XII THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND 181 XIII THE MILLION-DOLLAR MYSTERY 191 XIV SHARKS 225 XV SUCKER-FISH .... 242 XVI EXPLORING THE CORAL JUNGLES 251 XVII WET WINDS .... 277 vii ILLUSTRATIONS THE AUTHOR Frontispiece PAGE "the tube made easy access to the sea floor"— the williamson submarine tube in operation . 32 "i had succeeded!"—the first undersea photograph ever taken 35 "WHICH, COMPLETE WITH ITS GREAT GLASS WINDOWS, WOULD WEIGH NEARLY FOUR TONS" — THE PHOTO- SPHERE DESIGNED BY THE AUTHOR 40 "DOWN AFTER THEM CAME THE BOYS"—NATIVES DIVING FOR COINS 49 FROM ONE OF WILLIAMSON'S EARLY UNDERSEA FILMS THE HEROINE VISITS THE WRECK OF A SHIP ... 53 "PERHAPS . THE REMAINS OF SOME OLD SHIP OF SPAIN" IN DAVY JONES'S LOCKER 56 "A WELCOME— ADDITION TO OUR ROGUES' GALLERY OF FISHES" "EQUUS PUNCTATUS" (SPOTTED HORSE) WITH HIS UNIQUE FLAGSTAFF 62 "GRASPING THE LONG-BLADED KNIFE IN HIS TEETH, HE DIVED"—SHARK HUNTER OUT AFTER BIG GAME . 66 "THE DIVER DROVE HIS KNIFE UP TO THE HILT INTO HIS ENEMY"—AN ACTUAL PICTURE OF A SHARK FIGHT TAKEN FROM THE PHOTOSPHERE 68 A JACK FLASHES THROUGH WAVING GORGONIAS AND CORAL HEADS 76 "THAT GIANT MORAY, WITH POISONOUS TEETH CAPABLE OF SHEARING OFF A MAN'S LEG" 80 ix A "IT SEEMS AS IF HE IS COMING RIGHT IN!"—A SMALL RAY TRYING TO AVOID A SHARK 83 "CAUGHT AND DRAWN INTO THE QUICKSAND" THE RESCUE OF A DIVER 86 "HE IS FIGHTING HIMSELF IN THE LOOKING-GLASS"— PARROT FISH ATTACKING THE WINDOW OF THE PHOTO- SPHERE 90 "IF A FOUR-FOOT OCTOPUS IS CAPABLE OF SUCH A FIGHT ..." . 96 THE AUTHOR AT WORK IN A CORAL GARDEN . IO4 "IT IS A TOPSY-TURVY WORLD, THIS REALM OF A DIVER" AN UNDERSEAS EXPLORER INVESTIGATES AN OLD WRECK 109 THREE DIVERS JACK GARDNER, THE AUTHOR AND FRANK CRILLEY I24 "SHE WAS WELL OVER ONE HUNDRED FEET IN LENGTH" CAPTAIN NEMO'S "NAUTILUS" IN "20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA" 130 "THEY WOULD WANDER AWAY ON EXCURSIONS OF THEIR OWN" DIVERS IN SELF-CONTAINED HELMETS . I40 "THE BEARERS APPROACHED"—THE FUNERAL PROCESSION FROM "20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA" . ... I42 "LEAVING THE GLADE DESERTED" — CAPTAIN NEMO'S GRAVEYARD I45 "A VOLCANO SEEMED TO BURST INTO ERUPTION"—THE EXPLOSION WHICH WAS ALMOST TRAGIC . 151 BRAIN CORAL OUT OF WHICH IS GROWING A STINGING GORGONIA 156 "WHERE THE HUGE, LOATHSOME OCTOPUS MIGHT LIE IN WAIT"—A LOVELY SETTING FOR HORRIBLE TRAGEDY . 1 64 "THE FORMIDABLE BEAK WAS OPEN ABOVE ITS VICTIM" —WILLIAMSON'S OCTOPUS IN AN EXCITING BATTLE WITH A DIVER l66 X 5 "I PLACED THE CONTROLS INSIDE THE HEAD OF THE OCTOPUS" THE MECHANICS OF THE WILLIAMSON OCTOPUS 174 "THE SKELETON IN MY CUPBOARD"—THE OCTOPUS AT REST, AFTER A HARD DAY'S WORK I78 CINDERELLA EXPLORING IN A DIM LAND WHERE THE TREES ARE TURNED TO STONE 188 "SHE HAD STOPPED BY A HUGE BRAIN CORAL" THE "MER- MAID" WHO PLAYED THE LEAD IN THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND 196 CAMP KANOPENER 198 A DIVER AND A "MERMAID" MEET IN AN UNDERSEA GARDEN 206 THE AUTHOR DESCENDING THE TUBE WITH HIS LITTLE DAUGHTER, "CAPTAIN" SYLVIA 21 "DETERMINED TO ENTER INTO THE PRIVATE LIFE OF THE ." MAN-EATING SHARK . —THE TIGER OF THE DEEP IN HIS NATIVE HAUNTS 224 "I HAVE FOUND THE SHARK TO BE A CUNNING, SHIFTY ANTAGONIST" A MAN-EATER HOOKED BUT NOT YET CONQUERED 229 "I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT A SHARK DOES NOT HAVE TO TURN OVER TO BITE" 231 SHARK BAIT A GIANT RAY AND A NATIVE DIVER . 237 "THEY HOLD ON WITH BULL-DOG TENACITY"—SUCKER FISH (REMORA) STICKING TO THE PECTORAL FINS OF A SHARK 243 "INTO THE MYSTERIOUS REGION OF THE ocean's DEPTHS ." . DEEP SEA FERNS AND BRAIN CORAL MAKE EXQUISITE DESIGNS 250 THE "JULES VERNE," MOTHER-BOAT OF THE WILLIAMSON TUBE 254 XI "full diving suits and equipment were needed"— divers at work in rock coral 256 "in this paradise, as though painted on a back-cloth ." . this photograph appears on the new baha- man air mail stamp 258 "the wee 'captain' was all dressed up for the occa- sion"—inside the "jules verne" the williamson family prepares to descend 264 "she took her first look into the strange world of fishes"—convict fish, sergent majors, and schoolmasters on parade . 266 the ocean current bends the branches of undersea coral trees 278 "i had been making plans for lifting the huge coral trees"—a diver in the shade of an overhanging PALMATE 288 "A MORE GEORGEOUS CREATION WAS SPREAD OUT BEFORE ME"—A GOLDEN YELLOW PALMATE CORAL TREE . 292 "ONE BIG GROUPER ADVANCED TOWARD ME'' .... 296 "TRIUMPHANTLY WE HAULED IT ABOVE HIGH-WATER MARK" — THE LARGEST SPECIMEN OF CORAL EVER TAKEN FROM THE SEA-BED 300 THE PERFECT GENTLEMAN— A NATIVE DIVER "DOFFS HIS HAT" AS HE SALUTES MRS. WILLIAMSON AND CAPTAIN' SYLVIA 307 "AS COMFORTABLE AS THE FISH SEEMED TO BE OUTSIDE OUR WINDOW" A CORAL HEAD, WAVING SEA-PLUMES AND PURPLE GORGONIAS 310 ." "WATCHING THE FUN IN THE FISHY ARENA . GOLDEN GRUNTS AND YELLOW-TAILED GOATFISH . 312 THE AUTHOR WITH HIS NATIVE DIVERS—WARD, JOE, BROWN, SKIN, JAMAICA AND CINDERELLA . 316 ROCKED IN THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 318 xii TWENTY YEARS UNDER THE SEA INTRODUCTION MY father's people came from Scotland and it was here that he was born. John Williamson, his father, was the youngest of nine brothers, all six-footers and shipbuilders. John married Agnes Bell at Annan, Scotland, and later they moved down to the sea and ships at Liverpool, the saltiest of seaports, bringing with them Charles, their tiniest infant, who was to become my seafaring father. On the day I was born my father was navigating his ship under double reef topsails around the tip of Cape Horn. Here near the bottom of the world and sur- rounded by mountainous seas, he was thousands of miles away from home, yet only on the first leg of a voyage. In those days months, even years, might pass before a sailor could make his home port again. In fact I was nearly three years old before my father cast his seafaring eye on the trim of my rigging. I remember hazily the day he breezed into our home at Liverpool bringing with him the tang of the sea. The house seemed crowded when he arrived. Every- one stood at attention. I don't think he more than glanced at me for he carried in with him his latest invention. I might be my mother's important new 15 TWENTY YEARS UNDER THE SEA infant, but he had brought home a baby of his own. No one had ever seen the like of it. It might have been a model for a perpetual motion machine. But, lo and behold, when he opened it up, it was a perfect folding baby carriage, a collapsible perambulator. Then I began to travel, perambulated about the busy port. Whether the main purpose of this first trip con- ducted by my inventor father was to exhibit his off- spring or his invention, it didn't matter. It was the beginning of wondrous days for me. Each time my father was home he would take me down to the docks where I could sniff delightedly at the spicy odours of strange cargoes and the smell of tar and ropes, gaze in awe and wonder at the stately sailing ships, their lofty spars crossed with great yard-arms, and hear the rattle and whine of tackle and the laughter of jolly sailors as they met along the water front. But these excursion days were always short lived. My father had to be off to sea again. Our family life revolved about his sailings and the happy days when we could welcome him home again. Each time he returned he brought with him some new creation of his mind and hands. One day he returned with an idea ofgreat importance. There was a gathering of the clans at our home, and that night they repaired to the lawn where my father was to demonstrate his latest invention. The idea of it had come to him while sailing through the foggy banks 16 INTRODUCTION of Newfoundland, eyes strained to avoid the fishing craft that bobbed about with winking red and green lights.