Heritage Days - Sept 9th & 10th 2011

The Historical Diving Society (HDS) has been putting on a display of working “standard dress” diving, copper helmets, down at the Gosport ferry. SUCS President and HDS member Roger Forster, along with some friends from London in the Working Equipment Group (WEG), describes what it's like to go old-school.

Early saturday morning and a display stand was erected on the esplanade with photos, information and a static display. Down on the pontoon it was a hive of activity as I got on with lashing a ladder to the pontoon to allow entry and egress of the diver. Others connected the air hoses to the pump, circa 1938, and helmet, a 12 bolt helmet of slightly newer vintage. The original valve diver communication system was likewise connected to the helmet and it was time to dress the first diver.

Apparently new suits to the old rubber and twill design can be bought from China as a suit of 1940 vintage would probably not be serviceable after 70 years! The master of ceremonies with his radio mike starts to give a running commentary about the proceedings.

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First the diver sits on a bench and pulls the suit up to his middle. Then his dresser pulls the neck and an arm so that the diver can slip one arm in. The process is then repeated with the other arm. The diver sits and the boots are put on by the dressers and lashed in place.

At this point if the diver does not have rippling shoulder muscles a pad is put on to protect the shoulders. The diver then sits and the corselet is fitted starting at the back getting the suit over the brass bolts. Now it is the turn of the brass clamps to be bolted down to provide the water tight seal. The leather jockstrap is then fitted and tightened to prevent the corselet lifting with the buoyant helmet. Then it is on with the diver’s short sword (knife).

On this suit the helmet was fitted next a quarter turn to lock it and the rear spigot lowered to stop it coming off. Front and rear weights were then added and lashed in place. The diver’s hose and communications cables were also lashed in place.

Meanwhile two trust persons had manned the pump to provide air and the diver’s attendant tested the communications system. Time to screw in the glass faceplate and help to the diver stand up. The diver is now carrying about an extra 150 lbs weight or 65 kilos! Clunk clunk clunk and he is on the ladder. Plonk plonk as he goes down and the suit is compressed by the water until finally he is underwater and lost from the gaze of onlookers. Almost weightless he descends to the seabed. The mud is thick and cloying (as the dressers will find out later). The safety diver in SCUBA kit can be seen by the diver and photos taken for posterity.


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To come up one either pulled one self-up the shot line to the ladder or partially closed the exhaust valve to provide some buoyancy. As he breaks the surface the suit starts to re-inflate and the pumpers reduce their output. Swing off the ladder onto the pontoon, clunk clunk and sit. The faceplate is unscrewed and the pumpers can stop. The weights are removed (bliss) and the helmet taken off. The onlookers give a round of applause. The diver stands and the jockstrap and knife unbuckled and then one can remove the clamps and corselet. Now the dressers get mucky removing the boots covered in Portsmouth Harbour mud.

At the end of a very successful and tiring weekend of multiple dives, I think everybody got a glimpse of how much work diving used to be and for those with some scuba experience it was quite an eye-opener to see how much we take the freedom of scuba for granted. Roger.

 

 

The Gosport Diving Museum Worth a Visit It is not popularly known, but Gosport is the home of the global diving industry. The co-inventor of the diving helmet, John Deane, lived in Gosport from 1835 to 1845 during which time he discovered the Mary Rose. The first diving helmet ever sold by the inventors was to a Gosport mariner, Henry Abbinett. Gosport represents a natural home for the country's premier historical diving museum. From ancient times man has reaped the natural treasures of the oceans – pearls and coral have been collected since at least 5000 BC. The 18th century saw an explosion of interest in recovering treasures from sunken vessels. Experimentation with diving bells was followed by the invention of the diving helmet in the 19th century – commercial diving was born. After the Second World War, sport diving became popular. Today, divers can work at depths as great as 300m doing everything from military operations, oilfield support, salvage and construction to fish farming, archaeology, research – and even just for fun! From ancient to modern, it’s all at The Diving Museum. The Diving Museum is an outreach project of the Historical Diving Society and it is manned entirely by volunteers. http://www.divingmuseum.co.uk/