It might be well to mention here the divers who work by means of
apparatus. The ancients had knowledge of contrivances whereby
they could stay under water some time. Aristotle speaks of an
instrument by which divers could rest under water in
communication with the air, and compares it with the trunk of an
elephant wading a stream deeper than his height. In the presence
of Charles V diving bells were used by the Greeks in 1540. In
1660 some of the cannon of the sunken ships of the Spanish Armada
were raised by divers in diving bells. Since then various
improvements in submarine armor have been made, gradually
evolving into the present perfected diving apparatus of to-day,
by which men work in the holds of vessels sunk in from 120 to 200
feet of water. The enormous pressure of the water at these great
depths makes it necessary to have suits strong enough to resist
it. Lambert, a celebrated English diver, recovered L90,000 in
specie from the steamer Alphonso XII, a Spanish mail boat
belonging to the Lopez line, which sank off Point Gando, Grand
Canary, in 26 1/2 fathoms of water. For nearly six months the
salvage party, despatched by the underwriters in May, 1885,
persevered in the operations; two divers lost their lives, the
golden bait being in the treasure-room beneath the three decks,
but Lambert finished the task successfully.
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