err ying Ordea 0 Rescued Just in Time When Trapped Under Water in a Treacherous Coral Crevice and Surrounded by It Was Necessary to Send Down an Expert Deep Sea Diver to Rescue Lady Mackenzie from Her Submerged Pris on. | i Eee Ed Ey ------ et a ee] Re Pe Ee FY nm-------- BY Ee Ta. Ean] Ed mm pe pr ---------- fr eR 4 | fl ADY MUIR MACKENZIE, British society leader and sportswoman, who was re. cently entertained extensively in America, has written back to = friends, telling of her complete recovery ~ trom what she calls "the most terrifying ex- perience of my life." {The first woman to dare the dangers of deep-sea diving, she was caught like a trapped animal in a crevice of coral rock forty feet beneath the ocean surface, off the Bahama Islands, and was only rescued, after an hour of nightmare horrors, when, at the risk of immediate drowning, one of the leaden shoes was torn from her imprisoned foot. Lady Mackenzie has an international reputation for bravery. The young widow of Sir John Muir Mackenzie, former Goy- ernor of Bombay, she has hunted tigers and elephants in India, and has been a member of several big game expeditions in the interior of Africa. Little did she think, when she stopped for a few days to visit the quiet, semi- tropical port of Nassau, on her way home after a round of social activities and lectures in the United States, that sho was on the threshold of an ordeal that would bring her nearer to death than any of her former experiences in the African veldt or the Indian jungle. Perhaps it was the very tranquillity of the lazy social life in sunny Nassau that tempted her to an adventure which no other woman had dared undertake. The ocean floor off the Bahamas is a coral formation, teeming with bright colored submarine life, wnd Lady Mackensie went one day with a party of friends to enjoy ts uties in a glass-bottomed observa. 3 desutie Peering down through thy translucent water, she was fascinated by the moving panorama-<rainbow-hued tro; feal fish, waving fronds of vegetable rawths lke sub palms or giant 5 fefne--qeer: pb orescent little crea- tures that moved like fireflies in the sem. darkness--and now and then a great, gray shadow flitting beneath the boat, torpedo. , sha and sinister. * "Oh, how I should like to go down thers," sighed Lady Mackenzie. "My dear! You'd never dare," shuddered the other Indies. And such an fdea did seem ab- surd as they sat there with their dainty French frocks and gay parasols among the d i | [ silken ¢ushions of the luxu- rious pleasure boat. "But why not!" sald the intrepid Englishwoman, rather to herself than to the others. And the next morning bright and early, Lady Mackenzie was telephoning around Nassau for a competent deep-sea diving crew. The professional divers--when Lady Mackenzie found them--were as much op- posed to the idea as her friends had been. They pointed out that no woman had ever been down in a diving suit--it was a dangerous oocupation that only the strong- est men engaged in--and even then there were often accidents. : But Lady Mackenzie was insistent-- and when one has the combined power of social position, wealth, feminine good looks, and political prestige into the bar- gain--one usually gets what one wants. So it was arranged that Lady Mac. kensle was to make her "debut"--the first of her sex--as a deep-sea diver. And the following morning out they went, Lady Mackenzie, with six expert divers and divers' assistants in a big, flat- bottomed motor-driven diving barge, which anchored In forty feet of water, off the coral reefs. Afrpumps, ladders, tackle, oxygen-tanks and special emergency equipment were all in readiness--a complete 4 suit for Lady Mackenzie--weighing more than she did by a hundred pounds--and another diving suit for one of the meni. case the di suit of ered on sides The cuffs were adjusted to fit tight around her wrists-and rubber bands slipped over | i | { Hideous Marine Monsters ss -- a J mL "An Enormous Cuttlefish Advanced Its Tentacles Toward the Terrified Woman's Nock." Copyright. 1922, by International Feature Service, The. Great Britain Rights Reserved. fl p | ] i iy i Be] sa metal breastplate and collar on which the helmet was to be tightly screwed down. Around her waist was a leather belt, to which the "life" or "signal" line was fastened, and fastened again through a ring in the breastplate. The hose through which the air was to be supplied was connected with the pumps, the helmet adjusted and screwed down, and everything was In readiness. The equipment also included two weights hung from the shoulders and hanging at the breast and back, and the entire out- fit was so heavy that Lady Mackenzie could scarcely stand or move without as- sistance. It had to be heavy in order for her to be able to sink to the desired depth, No room for grace or agility of movement. Supported on each side, she wag helped down the ladder until the waves closed over her head. As she de scended, the weight of the gquipment be- came less cumbersome because 'of the in- creased pressure of the water, After climbing fifteen or twenty feet down to 'the end of the ladder she gave & prearranged signal with the line, drop; off, and 'sank slowly to the ocean- bed feet below the surface, the men on the barge paying out the alr hose and life line, a bit at a time, so that the transition to heavier and heavier pres sure would not be too violent. Bv she said afterward, she felt For a little lle all went well. sea was smooth, the pumps were working ring Lady Mackenzie How Lady Muir Mackenzie Looked the "trick" of moving around comfortably in her ponderous armour. For more than an hour she wandered in a dim. lit fairyland of jeweled forests, fish as beau tiful as gaily colored birds, queer monsters and goblins. If a great hammer-headed shark sometimes nosed by, or a cuttlefish came prowling with its serpent-like ten- tacles and shunted off Quickly into the dark- bess, she was not unduly frightened, for she knew what sort of monsters she should encounter, and had been told that not once in a million times Id one of these creatures venture to attaPk a moving hu man figure in a diving suit, From time to time she signalled, by Jerking the life line, that all was well, and finally decided it was about time to sighal to be hauled to the surface. To do this she turned to face the diree- tion of the barge, and in turning, her foot caught in the crevice of a coral rock. With a slight tug and jerk, she sought to release herseif--there was a 'sharp twinge of pain, but the foot remained im prisoned. . Beginning now to be frightened, she knelt as well as she could on one knee and tried to disengage herself with the aid of her hands. It was no use. She was cau, ht, Mke an animal in a steel trap. Her oot was jammed In the crevice in such a that she couldn't get at the buckles the heavy lead-soled boot. Besides, to tear it off would have been dangerous, for a rip in the rubber syjt, even as far down as the foot, would have let in the water and drowned her before she could have been dragged to the sur face. She was trapped, fettered as securely as it her ankle lad been fastened with an iron chain--forty feet beneath the The thought of drowning filled her with terror. But not with so great a terror as the presence of the sharks and writhing creatures, which seemed to sense her help. lessness and to be coming closer than they had dared before, An enormous cuttlefish, emboldened by her immobility, approached and advanced one of its snake-like tentacles toward the terrified woman's neck. When she threw up her arms to defend herself, the mon- ster sluggishly moved away. No tortured movie heroine in a serial "thriller" ever went through so horrible an ordeal in make-believe ag Lady Mackensie endured In reality beneath the way She had signalled "trouble" on the life rope, but she didn't dare to give the signal to be hauled up, for fear the Tope would break or the diving suit be All she could do was continue that she was in distress, and trembling horror, what the end Meanwhile, on the barge, the men were moving with feverish but efficient speed, Despite the fact that no signal to "pun} up" had been given, they tried tentatively to draw her to the surface, and realized at once that either she or the_line had become stuck. As quickly as the other suit could be adjusted, a professional wreckingcrew diver was in the water, groping his way along the life line to Lady Mackenzie's side. It took him only an instant to reals ize her plight--but releasing her was not 80 quick a matter. After tugging as much as he dared to risk of t release her foot without earing watched with anguish the suit, while she drawn face through the glass of her hel- met, he made signs for her to wait, ang hag Miuself draws 1s he surface, ess ten minutes--each one of which seemed hours of agony to her--he was at her side again with a sort of torniquet of heavy rubber, which he fas tened and tied tight above her foot. Then, with the aid of a knife, he ripped off the ] heavy shoe ang ale Ss free. e was haggard an t fainting whea they lay her on the barge and unscrewed the huge helmet from her head, but smiled pluckily and assured th were now more frightened everything was all right. And so it was. Except for the nervous shock, she was fully recovered within twentyfour hours, and today her clans assure her that she experienced no permanent ill-effects whatever from her terri . experience. Lady enzie may renew her tiger and elephant hunts in the Indian jungle. But her friends have her own word for it that she will never again go diving in the deep blue sea.