Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Commercial Diving

The History of Diving Museum is home to thousands of artifacts that represent the rich and long history of the sport of diving. I am the new intern Jonathon and I will be at the museum through October. During my first week at the museum, the Commercial Diving exhibit caught my eye and I wanted to take a closer look into the field of commercial diving.
   One of the most unique aspects of commercial diving is its long history. Beginning around the 16th century, people began diving not only to explore the ocean, but for commercial purposes like the salvage of wrecks, retrieving lost cargo, and to repair and maintain underwater structures. Through time, the commercial applications of diving have become known internationally and are currently practiced all over the world. The main “branches” of commercial diving are offshore, inland, scientific and nuclear diving. Offshore and inland diving being the most popular, focus on underwater welding and maintenance. This is why you see most commercial divers working on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and at busy ports throughout the world.

The Commercial Diving exhibit at HDM

Why are they needed?


    If you think about it, who in their right mind would want to dive 700 feet underwater in areas not only unknown to humans but also pitch black? In my opinion, this is the most interesting part of commercial diving: trusting your equipment and yourself hundreds of feet underwater while performing tasks that require extreme skill and concentration. With that in mind, commercial divers are also trained as welders and mechanics. In the field of commercial diving, welding is very broad and important. It can consist of welding ships, repairing pipes, welding bridges and many other challenging tasks. To put the importance of commercial divers into perspective, the Golden gate bridge is one of the most beautifully built and well constructed bridges in the world. Many people do not know that it was constructed and is still maintained by commercial divers. Bridges, pipelines, and oil rigs need to be closely watched and maintained and without commercial divers this would be an almost impossible task. The maintenance of bridges, dams and oil rigs requires certain skills that are demanding and difficult – requiring the commercial diver to be a very skilled and knowledgeable individual. As a result, divers in this field are highly sought, extremely valued, and well-paid. Universities all over the world provide programs that give students the skills to become commercial divers. These programs are challenging, difficult and in the end provide sustainable jobs for people around the globe.

Kirby Morgan SuperLite


 At the center of HDM’s Commercial Diving exhibit is a Kirby-Morgan SuperLite. The SuperLite is currently one of the most widely used helmets in commercial diving and has become the industry standard. Considered the most advanced helmet today, it combines many different elements that create comfort and durability for divers.  The SuperLite is equipped with a communication system, a helmet shell and ring which prevent exposure to water, and a SuperFlow regulator which provides controlled an easy breathing for the diver. The Superlight is also unique due to its ability to hold specialty items. In this picture, the superlight is equipped with a camera and light. The light is useful for providing illumination in dark depths while the camera is used for research and documentation. These are just a few of the tools used by commercial divers – many of which are on display in the exhibit.


Aquanaut Dewey Smith's Kirby Morgan

Sadly, the helmet in the exhibit once belonged to aquanaut Dewey Smith – a research diver at the nearby Aquarius Reef Base. Dewey lost his life in May of 2009 due to a re-breather malfunction. His helmet was donated to the museum by his parents in his memory, and serves as a poignant reminder of the ever-present dangers involved in the field of commercial diving.





ADCI HOF (Association of Diving Contractors International Hall of Fame)

Also located in the exhibit is the Commercial Diving Hall of Fame Monument. The CDHoF was established in 2003, nominating and inducting divers that have made a substantial contribution to the field of Commercial Diving. The monument can be seen in the History of Diving Museum year round with the exception of the annual induction ceremony in New Orleans when it is crated up and shipped to Louisiana.

You’ll see all this and more when you visit the History of Diving Museum, explore the Commercial Diving exhibit and immerse yourself in hundreds of years of diving history! -Jon







Friday, August 17, 2012

Iron Mike


One of the museum’s most popular items is the one atmosphere diving suit known as Iron Mike. But who is this lovable steel giant?  What can he do?  What has he done in his lifetime? Find out the answers to these questions and more in this blog!

Who Is Iron Mike?

Interestingly, Iron Mike wasn’t actually called “Iron Mike” when he was first patented.  Thomas Patrick (‘T.P.’) Connelly, inventor and president of the Empire Marine Salvage and Engineering Company, had dubbed the 675-pound steel diving suit “Eleanor” when it was first patented in 1935.[1]  It wasn’t until a few years later that “Eleanor” came to be known as “Iron Mike”.

Connelly designed Iron Mike to be able to be constantly submerged at depths of several hundred feet for approximately four hours before needing to resurface and restock on supplies, such as air.  Iron Mike’s steel body is also designed so that even at great depths the suit will remain upright.  The diver inside the suit may bend over by throwing his weight to one side, but as soon as he lets up on the pressure, Iron Mike will stand straight up again.[2]  In the open air Iron Mike’s copper arms and legs move with great difficulty.  But as the water pressure increases the further down Iron Mike is submerged in water, the arms and legs become more flexible and allow for fairly free movement for the diver.[3]

 Iron Mike was the first deep sea diving suit of his time to open at the waist.  The claw-like hands of Iron Mike have levers inside the arms for the diver to operate.  They have individual digits that allow for them to grasp even delicate materials with precision and care.[4] Iron Mike’s arms and head are equipped with high-powered underwater lights, which use a total of 7,000 watts of energy, to illuminate the dark waters so the diver inside can see outside the suit.[5] 

There is no hose to connect Iron Mike to an air pump on the surface.  Instead, the inside of Iron Mike is equipped with an oxygen tank as well as a bottle of soda lime, or some other material, which absorbs carbon dioxide and other harmful gasses that people exhale.[6] 


There are also gauges in the suit that the diver can easily read to determine the pressure in the suit and the oxygen tank.  Although there is no hose to connect the surface to Iron Mike for air supply, the inside of the suit is equipped with so-called “phones” for communication, which would be connected to the supply ship on the surface to the diving suit by a cable.[7]  This cable is delicate and could not be used to lower Iron Mike into or raise him from the water, however.  Instead, there is an attachment on top of his head that a strong, reinforced 2,000 foot cable would be hooked to and operated from the supply ship.[8]



What Has Iron Mike Done?

In September of 1934, T.P. Connelly and the Empire Marine Salvage and Engineering Company sent diver Roy Hansen inside Iron Mike down to search for the Hussar, a British ship said to have sunk in the East River near the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City in 1780.  The frigate has been claimed to hold 2-4 million dollars in gold and silver.  However, a month into the investigation, Iron Mike and the Empire Marine Salvage and Engineering Corporation were pulled from the waters because Simon Lake, the inventor of the submarine, had apparently bought the rights to dive for the Hussar a couple years before and did not want anyone else to find the ship.[9]  Unfortunately for Mr. Lake, the Hussar has yet to be found to this day and still remains a mystery to divers from all over the world.


In 1936 Roy Hansen and Iron Mike had a little bit more success.  The frigate Merida, reportedly carrying between 4 million and 26 million dollars in gold and silver bullion as well as the crown jewels of the Mexican Emperor Maximilian, had been struck by the Admiral Farragut and sunk off the Virginia Capes in 1911 down to a depth of 250 feet.[10]  Iron Mike was sent down in August of 1936 to try to bring up some of the treasure lost on the Merida, and was successful in salvaging part of the ship,[11] although ultimately the expedition failed to salvage much of anything valuable.[12]
In a flooded quarry near Pen Argyl, a landlocked town in eastern Pennsylvania, a 13-year-old boy drowned in early September of 1936.  Iron Mike, according to a claim made by diver Roy Hansen, dove down to a “record” depth of 510 feet in the quarry in order to retrieve the boy’s body from the water.  Only a few other diving suits, all of which were foreign-made, had recorded dives as deep as that made by Iron Mike.  Iron Mike was the first American-made one atmosphere diving suit to reach that depth as of his 1936 dive.[13]
These are only a few of the features and highlights of the life of Iron Mike found only in the History of Diving Museum!   Come on by to meet this noteworthy iron suit!


[1] Hussar October 13, 1934, The New Yorker, pg 22; see also Gold at Hell Gate October 8, 1934, Time Magazine
[2] Connelly, Thomas Patrick Deep Sea Diving Suit Patent 2,018,511 October 22, 1935 (application date July 6, 1934), pg 4
[3] Gold at Hell Gate October 8, 1934, Time Magazine; see also Connelly, Thomas Patrick Deep Sea Diving Suit Patent 2,018,511 October 22, 1935 (application date July 6, 1934), pg 5, 6
[4] Connelly, Thomas Patrick Deep Sea Diving Suit Patent 2,018,511 October 22, 1935 (application date July 6, 1934), pg 4, 5
[5] Revolutionary Treasure to be Sought in New York October 20, 1934, The Science News-Letter, Vol. 26, No. 706,  pg 254; see also Connelly, Thomas Patrick Deep Sea Diving Suit Patent 2,018,511 October 22, 1935 (application date July 6, 1934), pg 5
[6] Connelly, Thomas Patrick Deep Sea Diving Suit Patent 2,018,511 October 22, 1935 (application date July 6, 1934), pg 4
[7] Connelly, Thomas Patrick Deep Sea Diving Suit Patent 2,018,511 October 22, 1935 (application date July 6, 1934), pg 4-5
[8]  Gold at Hell Gate October 8, 1934, Time Magazine; see also Connelly, Thomas Patrick Deep Sea Diving Suit Patent 2,018,511 October 22, 1935 (application date July 6, 1934), pg 4, 6
[9] Revolutionary Treasure to be Sought in New York October 20, 1934, The Science News-Letter, Vol. 26, No. 706,  pg 254; see also Hussar October 13, 1934, The New Yorker, pg 22; see also East River Gold Seekers Ordered to Abandon Jobs October 15, 1934, The Milwaukee Journal
[10] Merida Passengers Tell of Her Loss May 14, 1911, The New York Times
[11] Ship Sails to Hunt Lost Crown Gems August 21, 1936, The New York Times
[12] Mills, Charles A. 1984, Treasure Legends of Virginia, Apple Cheeks Press: Alexandria, VA, pg. 78
[13] Record Deep Dive Claimed by Commercial Diver October 3, 1936, The Science News-Letter, Vol. 30, No. 808, pg 217; see also Makes Record Dive Bangor, PA September 18, 1936, El Paso Herald Post

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

The Writing on the Wall

On February 29, 2012 the ribbon was cut for the Bauer Diving Research Library. The personal collection of Museum founders Drs. Joe and Sally Bauer includes some of the earliest published accounts of the story of undersea exploration and is decorated with unique wall hangings. Visitors to the museum are first shown into our Research Library for a short three minute video about the exhibits. Guests can browse through the room and take a closer look at the shelves and other ephemera items along its walls.  Today we had a pleasant comment from one of our French visitors on the French Banner located near the rare books section. He smiled and said he had never seen a banner like this before and towards the end of the visit exclaimed that not only was he impressed with the collection but also with this particular item. The banner he was referring to was this one:
Banner on display in the Bauer Research Library
Photo from the HDM vault of museum founder, Dr. Sally Bauer holding the banner

The gentleman read the banner and said that he will try to explain in what he called his “broken English” to translate; he mentioned that it was about an association. He paused and started describing with his hands a deep sea diver and said it was in a port near Normandy, the sight of D-Day, North West of Paris. According to an archivist from Le Havre that we have been in contact with, “Union Amicale Des Scaphandriers & Aides Le Havre” translates as “The friendly association of helpers for the divers of the city of Le Havre.”  The banner is believed to be Samite, a luxurious but heavy silk fabric that is often weaved with gold and silver thread. We do believe the thread is real silver and was made before 1910.


It is believed that this society was formed by the families and friends of divers who were killed or injured. The banner was carried in annual procession during holy ceremonies for the Virgin Mary since the original name of the port was The Port of Grace. We are currently trying to find out more details on this particular banner. We will be sure to update you as things develop!
On the opposite wall are some interesting pieces of ephemera items. The main piece that catches visitor’s eyes are the diver cigarette cards.


The cards were used to reinforce and add structural support to the cigarette boxes during the late 19th century. The cigarette boxes during this time were made of paper and easily deteriorated.  At first some cigarette companies used the cards to advertise but later cigarette companies such as Allen and Ginter in the U.S created general interest cards. Since men were the majority of smokers, many popular subjects included famous actresses, cars and sports. In Britain, W.D. & H.O. Wills also began to produce general interest cards in 1895. This is very similar to what later developed as trading cards during the 1930’s. Although they were discontinued after World War II to save paper, one company has started printing them again. The museum managed to acquire the Deep Sea Diver cigarette cards from Victoria Gallery. They were made in 1993 and contain 50 deep sea diver related cards. They are also available for purchase in the museum store. Now you can start collecting too!


More information about each of these cards can be located on this website: http://www.ukdivers.net/history/cigcards.htm
Please feel free to ask about any items in the Library or Museum or if you would like to make a comment about our collection please do so, we would love to read them!



Saturday, June 30, 2012

Pictures from Below: The Development of Underwater Photography

Stephen Frink and I!
Hello there, my name is Denisse and I will be spending most of the summer working in the History of Diving Museum alongside Amber getting first-hand experience in museum operations and non-profit administration. I am very lucky to have joined such a welcoming, fun and knowledgeable staff here at the museum. (Not to exclude a small schnauzer named Simi and local house cat, Mrs.Snickers of course.) The first event in the many to come was the Seminar series that just occurred last Wednesday. It featured Stephen Frink who is a brilliant underwater photographer and got me thinking more about the subject of Underwater Photography. These days underwater cameras have a variety of uses. Underwater cameras can be used for archeological, scientific, building and even artistic purposes. They are also a method of documenting marine life, cave systems, and landscapes.

 

I decided to take a deeper look into our museum collection and found that it began with William Bauer, a German inventor during the Crimean War in 1865 who was the first to try and capture images underwater by taking photos through the portholes in the submarine. Also in the same year, according to the British Society of Underwater Photographers, the first underwater photograph was taken by William Thompson using a housed plate camera that was lowered to the seabed and operated from a boat. Thompson was inspired by the possibility of using underwater photography to assess the damage done to bridges in times of flood. However it wasn’t until 1893 that the first real underwater photograph was taken by Dr. Louis Boutan. An article by John Humphrey in Science states that Dr.Boutan earned a doctorate in sciences from the University of Paris and had his first diving experience in Banyuls-sur-Mer when they invited him to use the laboratory’s diving suit. He, like many divers, found himself fascinated by the underwater landscape and wanted to capture it. He proceeded to invent a camera that sustained the pressure of the water and had external controls allowing him to operate the camera underwater. Thus the first photos taken underwater emerged after a long 30 minute exposure and up to a depth of 50 meters. Here is a self-portrait of Louis Boutan I managed to dig up from the HDM photo vault, including one of Stephen Frink holding a replica of Boutan's design!

Stephen Frink holding a replica of the camera casing invented by Dr.L Boutan in 1893.
© Stephen Frink/stephenfrinkphoto.com

Now that the impossible had become possible there still remained the problem with lighting and “back-scatter.” Back-scatter refers to the reflection of tiny particles in the water. To diffuse this he invented a magnesium lamp to improve lighting and added a blue filter in front of the lens. And like all devices, underwater cameras have been improved upon and have developed enough to be used to film underwater. The first underwater films occurred in the early 1900’s by Jack Williamson who used a submersible sphere to create a film set underwater.
Submersible sphere by Jack Williamson

This would lead to the making of Jules Verne’s classic, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Other, more compact devices for filming developed in the 1930’s by Yves Le Prieur. Now that underwater housing for camera equipment had developed, it was time to tackle the issue of color. Let it be known that it was here in Florida Keys where the first color photo was taken! Dr. William Longley and National Geographic staff photographer Charles Martin captured a color photo of a hogfish in 1926. The next significant figure is Hans Hass whose special housings and other inventions in the 1940’s led to a higher quality and overall improvement in the field. It was not long before a consumer friendly underwater camera joined the market.
This photo features Hans Hass using one of his cameras.
 Nikon developed the first commercial cameras in 1960’s, the first of which was the Calypso followed by the Nikonos. Although it was discontinued in 2001 the museum has a Nikonos III which is able to take photos up to 50 meters in depth and is all weather proof!

The museum also has some of the camera housings used by Art McKee and a modern underwater camera by Amphibico Inc!
Art McKee's underwater camera housing
 Amphibico Inc

We hope you can join us as all of these can be seen as you tour the South Florida Room here in the museum!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Adventures in Greek and Roman Diving


When you walk into the History of Diving Museum, you are met with information and artifacts that have been salvaged from under the sea dating to the Greco-Roman period and even earlier.  You will encounter an intact amphora (a Greek/Roman storage jar) and an amphora fragment that still has some olives in it.  However, these items have been retrieved by modern divers and archaeologists.  What about in ancient Greek and Roman times?  What did they do?  We know from the segment of Aristotle and the image of the wall carving depicting men swimming underwater with air sacs on display in the museum that divers existed 2000+ years ago.  But how did they manage to deal with things like changing water pressure, how far could they dive, and under what circumstances were they diving to begin with?  Most of the sources of information we have that survive today regarding ancient Greek and Roman divers are literary, but this blog will serve to make some sense out of all the information and shed some light on the mysterious world of Greek and Roman diving!



THE INNOVATIVE GREEK AND ROMAN

First, let’s explore how some of the divers prepared themselves for ‘the plunge.’  In the ancient Greek work Problems, which has been attributed to the 4th century BCE Greek philosopher Aristotle (although it is not certain whether he was actually the author of the work), some very fascinating diving techniques of the Greeks are described.  For instance, divers would puncture their eardrums on purpose before they dove so that they wouldn’t have to worry about the changing water pressure the further down they went.  They could just weigh themselves down with a rock and sink to the bottom without wasting time dealing with the pressure on their ears.  Some divers would also shove sponges or even oil in their ears to prevent the water from getting in (32.2-11)

Plutarch (De Primo Frigido, 950B), a Greek-turned-Roman philosopher of the 1st century CE, and Oppian (Halieutica, V.638, 646), a Roman poet of the 2nd century CE, both mention that divers would take a mouthful of oil before each dive.  They claim that when the diver reached the bottom of their dive, they would spit out the oil so that he could see more clearly.  They did not have helmets or protective lenses to aid in their sight in salt water, so they had to improvise.  Some modern scholars, however, such as Dr. Frank J. Frost, have suggested that ancient Greek and Roman divers would take oil in their mouths for an entirely different reason.  They argue that the divers would force the oil up through their eustachian tubes, the tubes that connect the nasopharynx to the middle ear, in order to protect their sensitive ear tissue from exposure to salt water.  There does not seem to be any literary or archaeological evidence to prove this theory.  However, if it does turn out to be true that the ancient Greek and Roman divers used oil this way, it could indicate that they had a more sophisticated understanding of human physiology than what many of the extant literary sources suggest.

Although there do not seem to be too many dangerous predators in the Mediterranean sea today, ancient historians claim that sharks were a definite problem for divers and even discuss ways in which divers tried to keep themselves safe from the carnivorous animal.  For instance, the Roman historian Aelian, writing in the late 2nd/early 3rd century CE, states in his De Natura Animalium (On the Nature of Animals) that divers would blacken their hands and feet in order to try to avoid a loss of a limb from a shark attack (15.11).  What makes this interesting is that to this day it is a widespread belief that sharks are discouraged by dark colors.  Pliny the Elder, a Roman philosopher and author from the 1st century CE, figured out something that modern divers know – that swimming directly at sharks can scare them away (Natural History IX.152-3).



SO, HOW DEEP COULD THEY GO?

Another thing that modern scholars have been fascinated about regarding ancient Greek and Roman diving has been how deep the divers could have gone.  Dives of 90 feet, according to the Rhodian Sea-Law (III.47), were well within ancient Greek and Roman divers’ ranges. Isidore of Charax (Athenaeus 3.93E) mentions pearl divers in the Persian Gulf who descended to 120 feet.  While ancient literary sources must be taken with a grain of salt regarding the accuracy of the information given (ancient historians did like to exaggerate!), compared to modern ‘primitive’ divers, 90 feet for a dive does not seem that unreasonable. 


DIVING AS A BUSINESS

Diving was a way of life for many poor men in Greece and Rome.  The most common form of diving was for sponges, then the murex for ‘purple’ dye, and pearls, among other plants and animals common in the Mediterranean.  According to the Rhodian Sea-Law (III.47-8), divers could keep part of their findings, depending on the depth at which they salvaged the objects.  For instance, if gold, silver, or some other type of material was found at 8 fathoms (48 feet) down, the diver could keep 1/3 of what he found.  If the objects were salvaged from 15 fathoms (90 feet) deep, then the diver could keep half, because of the danger to the diver that deep under water.  However, if items were washed ashore or found 1 cubit (approximately 18 inches) below the surface of the water, then the diver could only keep 1/10 of what was found. 

Diving in antiquity wasn’t just something that poor men did to earn a few drachmas, but was also a business.  There were several corporations that were devoted to fishing and diving and were very competitive, especially in the Roman economy.  Diving was also used for military operations.  For instance, the earliest known documented organized military dive took place during the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE).  The 5th century BCE Greek historian Thucydides writes that when the Spartans were being attacked on the island of Sphacteria, divers from the mainland were sent down to bypass the Athenian blockade and bring food and supplies to the besieged Spartan troops (History of the Peloponnesian War IV.26).  Thucydides also describes an instance in which the military of Syracuse drove stakes into the bottom of the harbor around their anchorage to prevent Athenian triremes (a ship with three rows of oars) from getting through.  The Athenians, however, sent divers to go down and cut through the stakes so that their ships could get through (HPW VII.25.6-8).


Sunday, January 22, 2012

One Hundred Years Ago Today...


...Henry Flagler rode a train all the way to Key West. Today we don't think too much of driving over a seemingly endless chain of islands and bridges as we drive from Florida's mainland to Key West (with a stop at the History of Diving Museum on the way, of course). But in 1912, it was a very big deal. Nothing like it had ever been attempted.



The Key West Extension of the Florida Keys Over-Sea Railway was called "Flagler's Folly,"a nod to the fact that many thought it was an impossible feat. But Flagler proved them all wrong on January 22, 1912 when he and wife, Mary Lily, rolled into town on a special Pullman sleeping car. After seven years of setbacks, Flagler's dream had finally come true. For a complete historical timeline of the Florida Keys Over-Sea Railroad, visit this website: http://www.flaglerkeys100.com/fec-railroad-overseas-extension



As this month marks the centennial of this occassion, there has been an upsurge in this (almost) unbelievable story. Several new books have been published, new documentaries produced, and a host of special events held to commemorate this special anniversary.


One thing that hasn't changed much is that we still know very little about the divers who were involved in building the Over-Sea Railroad. There are only two known photographs showing divers from this project. Both are from the collection of the Pigeon Key Foundation.







The Miller-Dunn Divinhood was just coming into popularity at this time, but the divers who worked on Flagler's Railroad wore hard helmets bolted to canvas suits. In other words, they were full-dressed divers. Note the large air pumps in the two photos below. A lot of man power was needed to allow the divers simply to breathe.


We hope you enjoyed these photos. They are staff favorites here at the History of Diving Museum. As always, we're looking for more, so let us know if you know of any other photos of divers from this project or era.


Happy Centennial, Henry!


-Erin
Interim Director/Manager of Collections and Administration