| Diving history extends to thousands of years. Ancient | | | | diving bells were mostly used to pick cargo from |
| people hunted and gathered food in a manner that | | | | shallow wrecks. |
| they were capable of implementing, and the Ama | | | | An assistant to Boyle (who made a formula with |
| people in Japan used sea for this task, diving and | | | | mathematical relationship between pressure and gas |
| catching fish by hand, as well as gathered seaweed, | | | | volume), named Robert Hooke, had invented the first |
| shellfish and sea slugs. | | | | Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus |
| According to a legend, King of Sumeria named | | | | (SCUBA) back n 1664. He equipped a diver with a |
| Gilgamesh was in search for a magic plant to become | | | | sealed lead box that fed him with air. We do not |
| immortal. His idea was to pluck it from the sea bed | | | | know how successful this experiment was. |
| and to use weights to keep him underwater while he | | | | To replace bells that were very difficult to maneuver, |
| held his breath. | | | | more lightweight equipment was introduced in 1720 |
| Mark Antony, the leader of Rome Empire, had fun at | | | | by British inventors Lethbridge and Rowe. They made |
| angling sports, but played unfair by employing divers | | | | use of proof barrels from which their legs and arms |
| to attach fish to his lines to impress his audience. | | | | were protruded. They were able to work as deep as |
| At the time diver's experience was limited by their | | | | 20 meters. They could even walk around the wrecks |
| ability to hold their breath. This problem was thought | | | | in small distances. |
| over again and again, and even Aristotle, the famous | | | | A great progress was made in 1779 with invention of |
| Greek thinker, had his own idea of using a turned | | | | a pump with a smaller diving bell, by John Smeaton, a |
| upside down cauldron to preserve air for a diver to | | | | British engineer. With a continuous supply of air divers |
| breathe. But exhaled carbon dioxide would make the | | | | could work underwater for a much longer time. |
| use of this device very dangerous after a while, so it | | | | Then, in the early nineteenth century, flexible diving |
| could be done only for a short period of time. | | | | suits were introduced, with air supplied via a hose |
| Fifteenth-century manuscripts depicted simple drawn | | | | from a pump located above the surface. It allowed |
| primitive diving helmets that were similar in idea to | | | | divers to move underwater with much more |
| Aristotle's device. Then diving bells were invented. | | | | freedom. So this is the early history of diving. We will |
| Divers were put into water in these open-ended bells, | | | | elaborate on later diving history in our future articles. |
| and breathed the air that remained on the top. These | | | | |