While I was researching another topic, I came across these photos of a diver in old-school diving gear working in the Genesee river.  There were only two photos in the collection, but my curiosity was piqued!  I wanted to know more!  So I did a bit of a deep dive on this guy–pun intended! 

Haha!

In 1912, plans were made to install a sewer outlet well out into Lake Ontario, some 7,000 feet, in order to disgorge effluvium from the city into the deep waters. In order to do so, skilled divers would be required; to inspect the construction site, to inspect the crib for placement for supporting the pipe, and to oversee the installation of the lengths of pipe as they were lowered from the surface to their final resting place.

Luckily, the city of Rochester had found just the man: an Irishman by the name of Patrick F. Welch. Welch was already a veteran diver by this point, having been employed in several major jobs: raising the steamer SS Kaiser Wilhelm II after it sank in Genoa, 1893; recovery operations after the 1900 Hoboken Docks Fire, and recovery of bodies after the disasterously fatal 1904 sinking of the PS General Slocum.

Patrick F. Welch claimed to be from County Cork, Ireland, which his family left for the United States in 1911. When he was eighteen, he started diving while living in Ottawa. He would go on to contradict this story numerous times.

In May of 1914 the RMS Empress of Ireland sank in the St. Lawrence River; Pat Welch would be tapped for diving duties in the investigation and salvage of the wreck.

Pat Welch, however, was standing a bedside vigil for his sick wife.  Assured she was turning the corner and that her improved health should allow him to attend the wreck, Pat Welch took off to Montreal.

[Note that the above article provides another contradictory account of Welch’s childhood, claiming he was born in New York and ran away to join a Welsh brigantine, which ran aground on the St. Lawrence River.]

Patrick F. Welch was informed by telegram that his wife died shortly after his leaving:

The photographs of Pat Welch at the top of this post were taken in 1915, during the Genesee River deepening project.  It’s odd: when I saw those photographs, I thought his eyes looked sad.  I didn’t think I’d have that confirmed.

However, try as I might, I couldn’t track down a name for Patrick F. Welch’s late wife.

I assume the middle initial being given as “J. “instead of “F.” in this article is a typographical error, as the other biographical details line up and there’s no Patrick J. Welch of diving notoriety as far as I can tell.

Around 1914, Patrick Welch lived in a small cottage numbered 6, in a new development on Riverview Place next to the Vacuum Oil Company. By 1917, 6 Riverview Place was for sale.

Throughout his life, Patrick F. Welch seemed to be a restless man; never settling in one dwelling for long, he instead boarded with families or at hotels. To be certain, this added more difficulty onto the already-impossible task of discovering Welch’s family.

In 1915, the city of Rochester undertook a massive operation to deepen the Genesee River, an effort meant to reduce flooding. In order to do so, “cofferdams” were built, temporary wood-and-earth dams which enclosed areas of the riverbed, and which could be pumped free of water to provide dry work-space. After these dams were dry, workers would dynamite the riverbed and the resultant rubble was removed by a train, whose tracks were laid on trestles along the riverbed.

One of these cofferdams suffered from a persistent leak, flooding the cofferdam and inhibiting work. Pat Welch was hired to don his suit and descend into the Genesee, locate the source of the leak, and plug it. He did so, spending hours beneath the water cramming rubble into the leak until at last the pumps were able to do their work and work could continue.

Patrick F. Welch casually saves the day once again in the below article, patching a large waterline hole on a barge at Charlotte harbor. His reward? Being written up in the newspaper as Patrick Walsh. This was not an uncommon substitution for mister Welch’s proper surname.

After the completion of a new, more capacious sewer along Front and Main Streets, the accomplishment was celebrated with tours and parties. A group of city officials and other interested parties descended into the new sewer, which was decorated with paper lanterns and candles, and followed it from Central Avenue to the West Main bridge over the canal.

Patrick F. Welch was in attendance, in his capacity as the city’s inspector of tunnels; he had also a secondary purpose: safely carrying any women who grew faint during the tour to street level.

While installing and maintaining civic infrastructure was a mainstay of Welch’s career, he also volunteered his skills to the search for and retrieval of those drowned:

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Inspector Welch

The above excerpt from the 1926 City Directory shows Patrick F. Welch listed as inspector, with his workplace at 34 Court Street. In 1926, the Cluett, Peabody Building, formerly the Kimball Tobacco factory, became the City Hall Annex and numerous departments were moved to the premises.

On September 9th, 1932, in New York City, the steamer “Observation” exploded in the East River while ferrying laborers to the site of the new Riker’s Prison, then under construction. Answering the call for divers to investigate the wreck was a nephew of Patrick F. Welch, Timmy Welch.

I was excited to find the article mentioning this new member of the Welch diving dynasty.

I was then immediately disappointed to find no mention of him again, anywhere else, despite my deepest searches.

When Welch retired from diving and tunnel inspection for good, he spent his nights as a watchman at the Lake Avenue streetcar terminal across from Kodak Park. Sometime before the year 1935, he retired from this job as well and moved into the St. Anne’s home, 1971 Lake Avenue.

All in all, Patrick Welch was a bit of a mystery outside of his public career as a diver. Even with the help of genealogical databases, I was unable to connect him with any other relatives, living or dead; in fact, I was never so much as able to discover his birthdate or the name of his wife.

His claims are self-contradictory on their face. How could a boy of eleven emigrate with his family to the United States, yet also serve in the Royal Navy in the capacity of a diver? Why did he claim once to have been born in New York?

Welch’s own vague tall tales about his upbringing seem to have followed him to the grave, leaving him a larger-than-life sort of character in my mind–shrouded in uncertainty. I hope to someday learn more about his personal life, his family, his origins… but until then I’ll content myself with the interesting tidbits I do know about Patrick F. Welch, Diver.

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