Stages in the Human Conquest of the Deep Sea
1st century BC- Apnea divers called Urinators lift parts of the cargo of amphoras from the
Roman shipwreck of Madrague de Giens.
- 4th century AD
- The Roman author Flavius Renatus mentions the "aquatic man" who
moves under water, breathing air from a goatskin.
- 15th
century
- Leonardo da Vinci makes drawings in the Codex Atlantica of a pair
of flippers and a snorkel.
- 1535
- Dive by Francesco de Marchi to retrieve a wooden box and a crystal visor
from a Roman ship in Lac de Nemi.
- 1616
- Franz Kessler designs the first diving bell.
- Late
17th century
- Edmund Halley improves Kessler's bell.
- 1797
- Utilization of Klingert's apparatus. The diver is
enclosed in a submerged box containing pressurized air.
- 1837
- August Siebe develops the first heavy-footed
diving suit, which is supplied by a surface pump.
- 1855
- The Frenchman Cabirol copies Siebe's
mechanism, slightly improves, and successfully markets it.
- 19th
century
- Benoît Roquayrol and Auguste Denayronze equip Siebe's diving suit
with a
pressure regulator.
- 1926
- Yves Le Prieur builds the first autonomous diving suit, but the regulation
of its airflow is still delicate.
- 1934
- Commander Corlieu refines the flippers, which enable divers to move about
with greater ease and speed.
- 1943
- Invention of the autonomous diving suit
with pressure regulator by the engineer Gagnan and Commander Cousteau.
- 1950
- The archeologist Nino Lamboglia supervises the recovery of amphoras from
the Roman shipwreck Albenga, with the help of a mechanical bucket
- 1952
- First undersea archeological excavation on the Grand
Congloué wreck near Marseilles, supervised by Commander Cousteau.
