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Scuba diving historyMen and women have been free diving for many centuries, in ancient Greece divers who dived to depths holding their breath have hunted for sponges with the story of scyllis being the most famous of all Greeks in 500 BC. The Greek scyllis was taken prisoner aboard a ship by the king of Persia xerxes, when scyllis found out that the king was about to attack a Greek flotilla he promptly stole a knife and jumped overboard.The Persians searched for him in the water and concluded that he must have drowned, however far from it he surfaced at night as the ships were moored and set about cutting each ship loose from its moorings. He had used a hollow reed to allow him to breathe under water and this became the first snorkel, scyllis then swam nine miles to rejoin the Greeks on the island off cape artemisium. Humans have always had the desire to be able to swim and explore underwater for long periods of times to hunt for food, recover artefacts and observe marine life, the hollow reeds worked to an extent but it was found that reeds of more than two feet in length did not work that well. People tried breathing from an air-filled bag that was taken under water but this didn't work out too well due to the re-breathing of carbon dioxide. During the 16th century people began to use the diving bell, the diving bell supplied air to those under water from the surface, this became a very effective way of staying under water for long periods of time. The bell worked by being held stationery a few feet away from the surface of the water with its bottom being open to the water and the top portion containing air which was compressed by the water pressure. The diver who would be standing upright would have his head in the air; he could then leave the bell for a minute or two while he collected sponges. He would then return to the bell for a short while until the air in the bell was no longer breathable. In England and France during the 16th century leather full diving suits were used to enable the diver to go down to depths of around 60 feet, the air was pumped down to them via hand pumps from the surface. Very soon further advancements were made by the use of metal helmets; these were able to withstand greater pressure and enabled the divers to go down to even greater depths. By the 1830`s the surface air supplied helmets were refined enough to allow the diver to do extensive salvage work. By the start of the 19th century great advancements were being made in two areas one scientific, the other technological. Two men, Paul Bert and John Scott Haldane, who were from France and Scotland, advanced scientific research greatly. It was their studies which helped to explain the effects water pressure has on the body, their studies also helped to define safe limits for compressed air diving. It was at this time that improvements were made in technology and compressed air pumps, carbon dioxide scrubbers and regulators came into play. All of these advancements of course made it so much easier for the diver to stay underwater safely for longer periods of time. |
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