In addition to the various forms of diving-bell, different water- and air-tight dresses have been invented to enable divers to remain in the water and perform various operations. Thus, Dr. Halley invented a leaden cap which covered the diver’s head; it had glass before it, and contained as much air as was sufficient for two minutes, and had affixed to it a thick pliable pipe, with the other end fastened to the bell, and which, at the cap, was furnished with a valve to convey fresh air to the diver from the bell. This pipe, which the diver was obliged to wind round his arm, served him also as a guide to find his way back to the bell[301].
Mr. Martin states that a gentleman at Newton-Bushel, in Devonshire, invented an apparatus consisting of a large case of strong leather, holding about half a hogshead of air, made perfectly water-tight, and adapted to the legs and arms, with a glass in the anterior part, so that when the case was put on, he could walk about very easily at the bottom of the sea, and go into the cabin and other parts of a ship in a wreck, and deliver out the goods; and that he practised this method for forty years, and thereby acquired a large fortune and equal fame[302].
M. Klingert also invented a similar kind of apparatus, and described it in a pamphlet published at Breslau in 1798. The armour was made of tin-plate, in the form of a cylinder, with a round end to enclose the head and body; also, a leather jacket with short sleeves, and a pair of water-tight drawers of the same, buttoned on the metal part, where they joined, and were made tight by brass hoops. Two distinct flexible pipes terminated in the helmet, and rose to the surface of the water; one was for inhaling, and terminated in an ivory mouth-piece, the other was for the escape of foul air. The body was kept down by weights.
Another method of supplying air to the apparatus was used by Mr. Tonkin in 1804. This consisted in the application of a bellows or pump, until the elastic force of the air was equal to the pressure of the water, the foul air being allowed to escape into the water through a valve, or conducted to the surface by a pipe[303].]
FOOTNOTES
[274] Instances of the dexterity of the savages in diving and swimming may be seen in J. Kraft, Sitten der Wilden, Kopenhagen, 1766, 8vo, p. 39. To which may be added the account given by Maffæus of the Brasilians: “They are,” says he, “wonderfully skilled in the art of diving, and can remain sometimes for hours under water, with their eyes open, in order to search for any thing at the bottom.”—Hist. Indic. lib. ii.
[275] Lucanus, iii. 697.
[276] Livius, xliv. c. 10. Manilii Astronom. v. 449.
[277] A Latin translation of these laws may be found in Marquard de Jure Mercatorum, p. 338. “If gold or silver, or any other article be brought up from the depth of eight cubits, the person who saves it shall receive one-third. If from fifteen cubits, the person who saves it shall, on account of the danger of the depth, receive one-half. If goods are cast up by the waves towards the shore, and found sunk at the depth of one cubit, the person who carries them out safe shall receive a tenth part.” See also Scheffer De Militia Navali, Upsaliæ, 1654, 4to, p. 110.
[278] Q. Curtius, iv. c. 3. The same account is given by Arrian, De Expedit. Alexandri, lib. ii. p. 138. We are told by Thucydides, in his seventh book, that the Syracusans did the same thing.