Abbe Jean de Hautefeuille a priest, inventor and physicist write the book named “L’art de respirer sous l’eau”. French title for the Art of breathing underwater. In this book written in 1681, he explains for the first time why it is impossible for humans to breathe from the normal surface pressure while submerged.
Category: Diving history from Renaissance to the present time
All the diving history from the Renaissance to the present time.
Franz Kessler designed an improved diving bell
Franz Kessler drew plans for a new dive bell in 1616. An improvement was that glass ports were added to allow the diver to see. Another feature is that the bell seemed untethered. However, this bell was never used and lives only as a design.
Edmond Halley builds the first air supplied diving bell
In 1691, Edmond Halley build a diving bell with air supplied from the surface. Extending the length of the stay. This was done using weighted barrels filled at the surface with air and then sent down. Halley and five others stayed at 18 meters for over an hour during a demonstration of his invention.
The first military diving school of the Royal Navy
Based on lessons learned from the Royal George salvage Colonel Pasley persuaded the Royal Navy of the advantages of Siebe’s diving equipment over the unwieldy dockyard diving bell, Colonel Pasley detached Lance Corporal Jones, Royal Engineers to HMS Excellent in 1844 to train a party of 13 petty officers and seamen in its use. A Royal Navy diving school was established at Whale Island and RN diving became the responsibility of the Gunnery Branch at HMS Excellent while Army diving continued to be the responsibility of the Royal Engineers.
The CDG or Cave Diving Group, the world’s oldest continuing diving club
The CDG started not so long after April 1946 when Balcombe and Sheppard dedicated their time at Ogof Ffynnon Ddu in South Wales. They started recruiting others cave divers after being unsuccessful at pushing further in what is now the biggest cave in Wales. They formed the CDG or Cave Diving Group which was coordinated with 3 regional branches. Somerset, Welsh, and Derbyshire.
Since then the CDG has continued to evolve to become one of the best sources of information and knowledge on diving in sumps.
Georges Beuchat opens the first underwater activities equipment manufacturer
It was in 1934, in Marseilles, France that Beuchat, the world’s first equipment manufacturing company for underwater activities opened its doors. Because 24 years Georges Beuchat was a spear fishing enthusiast, he invented, designed and tested tools to make this sport easier and more efficient. Some of his inventions and concepts that are still in use by the most recent equipment.
The first underwater photography book
The first underwater photography book, “La photographie sous-marine et les progrès de la photographie” was published in 1900. The name translated as The Underwater Photography and the Advances in Photography was the first to cover this subject.
The first underwater photograph
It was in 1899 that Louis Boutan made the first underwater photos. He invented the first underwater camera.
Haldane build the first compression chamber
It was in the year 1907 that Haldane build the first decompression chamber, aimed to help with the safety of deep-sea divers by allowing him to test his theories. In the next year, after experimenting extensively with animals, he devised the first set of decompression tables.