| Scuba diving has been known to man from the | | | | pressure since air could be manually pumped into the |
| ancient times and was used by many civilizations as a | | | | helmets and thus it allowed divers to go even deeper |
| means to spear fish and to also compete among the | | | | down into the waters, which obviously promoted |
| locals. It was the Greeks who were often called free | | | | scuba diving a step further. |
| divers as they used diving to hunt for things such as | | | | The nineteenth century saw still more improvements |
| sponges as well as used it as a part of their military | | | | to scuba diving equipment and it was then that a |
| preparations. | | | | Frenchman named Paul Bert and a Scot named John |
| The early civilizations actually began what is today | | | | Scott made some discoveries as a result of their |
| known as scuba diving by using snorkels that were | | | | research efforts on how to deal with water pressure |
| constructed of hollowed out reeds and they also | | | | and to make diving with compressed air a lot more |
| made use of bags filled with air as diving bells. | | | | safe. Thus, equipment such as regulators, air pumps |
| However, the efficiency of such methods was | | | | and a few other useful items of equipment began to |
| questionable and obviously they are far removed in | | | | be used that further changed the face of scuba |
| their design to what modern scuba divers use today. | | | | diving. |
| For one, when using reeds, divers were not able to | | | | The twentieth century saw many more new |
| dive to any great depths while the air bags soon | | | | inventions taking place that took scuba diving |
| became full of carbon monoxide and thus were less | | | | equipment to new levels of efficiency and it soon |
| than trustworthy, and finally there was noticeable | | | | became commonplace for divers to use swim fins |
| lack of mobility when using diving bells. | | | | and masks as well as other gear that made the |
| All that of course changed after diving suits began to | | | | whole sport of scuba diving much more interesting |
| be used by the French and English scuba divers who | | | | and challenging. During the 1950's all these efforts |
| wore leather apparel into which air could be pumped | | | | bore fruit when scuba diving became a very popular |
| from above with the help of manually operated | | | | sport and there were many new stores selling scuba |
| pumps. After that, scuba was never the same and | | | | gear coming up that helped to further promote the |
| further changes took place in the form of helmets | | | | sport. Scuba diving even began to be shown in |
| that enabled scuba divers to withstand greater | | | | movies and has become a very popular sport. |