Communications 2. Towards the end of the 19th century a number of surface/diver communication systems were devised. The first of these consisted simply of a long tube attached to the diver’s helmet through which the surface attendant and diver shouted to each other. This proved less than adequate and in the 1880s electrically powered telephone systems were devised. At first these ‘new-fangled’ systems were resented by he divers,. replacing as they did a time honoured system of rope signals. Divers saw the intrusion of a voice from the surface as an unnecessary interference in their right to work as they wished, and failed to see how the ability to say a few words could possibly make any difference to the tasks they carried out. As time went by, surface/diver communications became established, and eventually a requirement, adding greatly to diver safety.

Communications 3. As diving tasks became more complex, divers needed to communicate remotely, for example, at either end of a sunken vessel. To begin with this was carried out by two single telephones manipulated by an attendant. This individual would speak to both divers in turn, passing the instructions and comments of one on to the other and vice versa (telephone operators were renowned for their diplomatic skills!). Siebe Gorman then introduced a double telephone system, whereby two divers could speak to each other and the attendant at the same time. Great discipline was required to keep verbal order, and the telephone operator still retained a ‘veto’ over who spoke to whom, and how. In general, telephone communications were not popular with experienced divers. They saw comments from the surface, and even other divers, as unnecessary and complicated.

Salvage 1. The 5750 tone cruiser HMS Gladiator sank in the Solent in 1908 following a collision, a huge hole in her side sending her to the bottom very quickly indeed. The Liverpool and Glasgow Salvage Association, in conjunction with the Admiralty, undertook a momentous operation to bring her ashore. Although lying in shallow water, damage to the cruiser was so extensive that huge wooden patches had to be fixed before she could be pumped out. So swiftly had she sank, most of the watertight doors – normally closed in an emergency – were still open, and divers had to penetrate the wreck in order to close them. It was harrowing work. The sorpses of sailors who had struggled to close the doors as the vessel went down were still inside and the divers, working in pitch darkneww and extremely confined spaces had literally to shoulder them aside.

Salvage 2. The salvage of sunken ships was nothing new. Long before Siebe’s diving apparatus men had found sometimes quite effective ways to raise lost vessels and cargos. However, the advent of a practicable diving apparatus provided the salver with his most valuable tool – human hands – and salvage enetered a new era. The first divers began their careers by concentrating on a vast backlog of sunken vessels left by centuries of maritime disaster, which previous salvers had been forced to abandon. Lucrative contracts were signed for the dispersal of wrecks in awkward places, whilst those vessels known, or thought, to contain treasure were quickly located and dived. However, as time went by, the diver’s role became more one of supporting traditional techniques, enabling salvers to carry out patching, pumping, and lifting more quickly and effectively than ever before.

Salvage 3. In 1885 siebe Gorman’s chief diver, Alexander Lambert, was sent by the company to the Canary Islands, and the wreck of the Alphonso Xii. Sunk on route to Cuba, the Alphonso carried £100.000 in gold coin, which the underwriters were extremely anxious to recover. Unfortunately the wreck lay in over 180 feet of water, deeper than any salvage diver had ever been. In a series of stupendous dives Lambert used explosives to blast through several decks until, at a depth never before achieved, he found the treasure. Lambert and a fellow diver recovered nine out of ten boxes of coin although, during his last dive Lambert, in a supreme effort, recovered two boxes and stayed too long at that great depth, succumbing to the dreaded ‘bends’.