Diver Paralyzed After Deep-Sea Shift
A professional diver working to clear the Seattle harbor is left paralyzed from the shoulders down after repeated descents.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Diver Christiansen was taken ashore from his scow yesterday and carried to his home on Jackson Street in the patrol wagon. The result of his continued deep-sea diving is paralysis of the entire body below the shoulders. He has slight use of one arm, but the arm and his legs are helpless. After descending six times on Wednesday he went down the seventh time, although complaining of not feeling well. He did his work and came to the surface as usual, climbed up the ladder to the scow, had his face plate removed as usual and sat down. While his assistants were removing the weights from his feet and waist, he fell back helpless. Dr. H. Merkel, who attended the patient, believes the paralysis is the result of the extreme pressure at the bottom of the harbor. While miners often recover from similar industrial pressures, the doctor remains uncertain about Christiansen's prognosis, noting that the diver likely over-exerted himself by descending too often in a short period.
“The result of his continued deep-sea diving is paralysis of the entire body below the shoulders.”
This account of early industrial diving is a stark reminder of the dangers inherent in Seattle's rapid harbor expansion and infrastructure projects at the turn of the century. It serves as an early case study of decompression sickness and the physical toll of the dangerous maritime labor that built the modern waterfront.
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