FEATURES FEATURES 1828 – John Deane and his brother use the A HISTORY OF SCUBA DIVING: helmet in combination with a diving suit. 1837 – The German inventor Augustus Siebe, who lives in the UK, connects Deane’s diving helmet with an air filled, rubber suit. This fully closed diving suit connected to an air pump at PasT AND FUTURE the surface, is the first reliable diving suit and is FEATURE AND photography Patrick VAN Hoeserlande the prototype of the contemporary models. In his eulogy, Siebe is called the father of diving. head. That was the start of helmet diving The Belgian Daveral private collection (‘scaphandre’) or diving with an air hose. The 1839 – Seibe’s diving suit is used in the salvaging next step was to get rid of the air hose, the of the British warship HMS Royal George diver’s lifeline from the surface. Some people at a depth of 20 meters. During this salvage found helmets and suits to not be enough operation, the divers complain of ‘cold and and decided to close the bell and by doing so rheumatism’. This is one of the first reports on invented the submarine. symptoms of decompression sickness during diving operations. Another first, is the use of This evolution shows the 4 ways invented to the buddy system. immerse and explore the underwater world in a more or less comfortable way: apnea, 1843 – After the experiences gained during with an air supply from the surface, with an the salvaging of the HMS Royal George, the independent air supply and in a submarine. Royal Navy opens the first diving school. Although the development of these four methods occurred independently of each 1865 – The French mining engineer Benoit other, they do influence each other. Apnea Rouquayrol and the Naval Lieutenant Auguste diving, followed by diving with a hose laid the Denayrouse, patent the ‘Aerophore’. This foundations for our scuba diving of today. It is device consists of a horizontally placed steel not surprising that these two disciplines play tank (pressurized to15 to 25 bar) on the back an important role at the very beginning of the of the diver which is connected through a valve scuba diving timeline. To produce a complete system to a mouth piece. The diver only gets list of important data is nearly impossible, so I air when he breathes. A membrane controls propose a quick, short dip into history: the breathing pressure as a function of the ambient pressure. In normal situations, the 1535 – Guglielmo de Loreno develops the low pressure tank is connected with a hose Is it because we feel freed from gravity in planning to attack the Greek fleet. He grabbed first real diving bell. to an air pump at the surface, but the diver water? Or is it because we return to the 9 a knife and jumped overboard. Despite their can disconnect the hose to dive ‘unconnected’ 1650 months we had felt so secure? Or are we efforts, the Persians could not find him. After – Guericke invents the first, effective air for a few minutes. The ‘Aerophore’ is the first bitten by a drive to discover other worlds? Or a while they considered him drowned. Under pump. ‘on demand’ underwater breathing apparatus do we want to push our limits? Who will tell? the cover of night however, he came back. and is the forerunner of our modern scuba 1667 One thing is for sure, from the evolutionary Using a hollow reed as a snorkel, he swam – Robert Boyle, English physicist and equipment. It is also the first application of phase we came crawling out of water to from ship to ship and cut all the anchor lines. ‘father’ of the law of Boyle, detects a gas the ‘bail out’ safety feature. For years, it’s the develop further on land; we have as human This made the entire fleet drift away and bubble in the eye of a viper after putting it standard equipment in various navies. In his beings, kept an adventurous outlook when thwarted the Persian victory. under pressure, followed by a decompression. ‘‘20,000 miles Under the Sea’, Jules Vernes it comes to water. Throughout the history The scientist observed the very strange equips his heroes with the ‘Aerophore’. of humanity, we find evidence of continuous You could snorkel with a hollow reed, but it behavior of the snake, making this the first desires to get closer to the world we know so was soon clear to forefathers that a hollow written report of a decompression bubble and 1876 – The English merchant Henry A. Fleuss well as divers. tube longer than 50cm did not work well. At disease (‘bends’). develops the first workable, independent a certain depth our lungs cannot overcome diving equipment based on the use of oxygen. WHO INVENTED DIVING? 1691 the water pressure and ventilation becomes – Edmund Halley claims a patent on a This device is a closed system in which the Somewhere in a distant past, a bearded ineffective. Breathing using a bag did not meet weighted diving bell with an air hose to the exhaled carbon dioxide is absorbed by a rope ancestor dressed in deer skins was scraping expectations, the bag was emptied too soon surface. soaked in caustic potash and is the basic design mussels off a rock when his knife fell into the and the inhalation of the same air created for our modern rebreathers. Although limited water. The knife whirled to the bottom. Only problems with too much CO . How could one 1715 – John Lethbridge builds an oak diving 2 in workable depth (the toxicity of oxygen at with caisson workers. He also suggests 1911 – The German Draeger introduces a by jumping in the water could he recuperate it. go deeper and stay underwater longer? cylinder placed under pressure through a pipe. great depth had to still be determined by trial recompression as a cure. reliable oxygen rebreather. And so he chose to dive in. At that moment, he The operator is able to work with his arms th and error) this bubbleless device allowed an opened up a whole new era, that of the ‘homo In the 16 Century, some enthusiasts began to free through holes in the cylinder. autonomy of almost 3 hours. 1893 – Louis Boutan invents the first 1912 – The US Navy tests tables published by aquatica’. Whether it’s for salvaging valuable experiment with dive bells. These were infact underwater camera. Haldane. This leads to the first US Navy dive 1825 objects or for fishing, from that moment on nothing more than a large, reversed bucket – The race for the first workable piece 1878 – The Frenchman Paul Bert (the Paul tables which will protect many divers from the the genie was out and the desire to dive was that contained an air bubble. The bell served as of scuba equipment is won by the English Bert effect!) publishes his book ‘La Pression 1906 – The British government asks the bends. no longer oppressed. The diver wanted to go an air pocket for a free diver to refresh the air inventor, William James. His system consists of Barométrique’, a 1,000 pages long description leading scientist, John Scott Haldane to deeper and stay down longer, but unless he in his lungs after every short stay outside the a cylindrical air tank with a pressure of 30 bar. of his studies of the effect of changes in research the prevention of decompression 1920 – In the USA, research starts on the use could find a way to breathe underwater, his bell. He could repeat this procedure until the There is no trace of a successful dive. pressure on the body. He demonstrates that sickness. 2 years later, he and two others of helium-oxygen mixtures for deep diving. explorations were short. compressed air supply was no longer usable. decompression sickness is caused by the publish the fundamental work ‘The Prevention 1826 Later, the air was refreshed or replenished via – Charles Anthony and John Deane formation of nitrogen bubbles and suggests or Compressed-Air Illness’. Thanks to their 1923 – W. H. Longley becomes famous for the The most famous diver from antiquity is the a pump system on the surface making longer introduce a patent for a firefighter’s helmet. a gradual ascent as a preventive measure. studies on goats, the scientists argument to first underwater colour photographs. Greek, Scyllis. 2,500 years ago, he was taken dive times possible. After a while, the divers Connected with belts to the body and Bert explains the relationship between the use decompression stages. The dive tables prisoner aboard the ship of the Persian King got a suit to sustain the cold and the bell equipped with a hose, this helmet is also used observation of Boyle and the symptoms based on this fundamental work, are very 1924 – The US Navy and the Office of Mines Xerxes I. There he learned that Xerxes was was getting smaller until it fit over the diver’s for diving. of decompression sickness diagnosed quickly adopted by the British Navy. lead the first experimental helium-oxygen 64 DIVERS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, MARCH 2014 MARCH 2014, DIVERS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT 65 FEATURES FEATURES dives. Until the start of World War II, the USA 1983 – The first commercial dive computer, unthinkable situation something goes wrong, retains the monopoly of helium. the ‘Orca Edge’, is put on the market. Several all biomedical functions are carefully and manufacturers follow and a few years later, the permanently monitored, the backpack activates 1930 – The American ex-pilot and author, Guy dive computer becomes part of the standard the emergency procedure.