The Diver’s Quest for the Sunken Mystic
An underwater salvage attempt on a Seattle tugboat encounters extreme darkness and technical difficulties at 190 feet.
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.
Mr. Christiansen made a successful descent to the tug Mystic yesterday in 190 feet of water, and as proof of the fact brought up a piece of the Mystic's tow line. The question of raising the tug, sunk by the steamer State of Washington on the evening of February 17, has been a subject of conversation along the water front. Mr. Christiansen took the contract to raise her for 50 percent of her value. He sent to St. Louis for a new diving suit. In making the descent he did not let go the line which is fast to the Mystic. He made the descent at low tide about 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and found it so dark down there that it was impossible to do any work to advantage. He is now thinking of arranging an electric light that can be let down into the water so he can see to work.
“He found it so dark down there that it was impossible to do any work to advantage.”
This maritime salvage attempt highlights the hazards of the Puget Sound waterfront in the 1890s, when accidents were frequent and commercial divers were the primary rescue mechanism for sunk infrastructure.
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