"Children," their father went on, "you have all heard of divers and
of their dangerous work under the sea. Gretchen was telling me the
other day about her geography lesson, and of the pearl-divers along
the shores of India. I did not tell her then that some men spend
their lives diving for amber on the shores of our own country.
"They wear rubber suits and helmets and air-chests of sheet iron."
"How can they see where they are going?" asked Bertha.
"There are glass openings in their helmets, and they can look through
these. They go out in boats. The crew generally consists of six
men. Two of them are divers, and four men have charge of the
air-pumps. These pumps force fresh air down through tubes fastened
to the helmet of each diver. Besides these men there is an overseer
who has charge of everything.
"Sometimes the divers stay for hours on the bed of the sea, and work
away at the amber tangles."
"But suppose anything happens to the air-tubes and the men fail to
get as much air as they need?" said Hans.
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