Historical diving equipment

[AptaMer]

This article will make you glad for having been born after Jacques Cousteau and his friends invented SCUBA gear.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-strange-and-wonderful-history-of-diving-suits-from-1262529336

and this little short from 1939 shows what diving was like, pre-SCUBA


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUeCoSRQNoE

[Echidna]

I don't do scuba, but I shudder at the sight of those medieval torture devices all the same xD

Worse, that things like eqalization and decompression sickness were unknown back then.
The italian diver who located a sunken treasure had no eardrums left; and many workers who built the GoldenGate Bridge I think it was- died from decompression sickness.

No wonder the ancient freedivers, who accessed the ocen so freely and uninhibited, were mermaids in the eyes of ordinary people.

[MerShellly]

Wait wait WAIT. There is NOT a body in the "iron man" at 1:47 is there?!?! Holy crap! That's just...wow

[Merman Dan]

I have always liked the Carmagnolle suit (http://io9.gizmodo.com/5921872/this-838-pound-diving-suit-is-the-worlds-greatest-bioshock-cosplay) from 1882.

http://i1.wp.com/www.boingboing.net/filesroot/200909221632.jpg

[MerShellly]

I have always liked the Carmagnolle suit (http://io9.gizmodo.com/5921872/this-838-pound-diving-suit-is-the-worlds-greatest-bioshock-cosplay) from 1882.

http://i1.wp.com/www.boingboing.net/filesroot/200909221632.jpg
O_O

[Kait]

Oh how times have changed!

[Odette]

This is so cool!! :swoon: