DIVING

Diving in Bermuda dates from the earliest days of the colony, for a year after the original settlers arrived on the Plough in 1612, Richard Norwood was sent out by the Bermuda Company with the first supply fleet to dive for pearls. In that same year, Norwood had constructed a crude diving bell out of a heavily weighted hogshead, which he used to recover a gun lost overboard while being loaded on to Sir Henry Tynes’ ship at Lymington. Suspended on a rope slung across the open end of the hogshead, Norwood was lowered over the gun lying on the bottom and fastened another rope around the gun, by which it was raised. He was granted Patent No. 56 on 2 April 1632 for "Making and Using Engines and Instruments for Diving, etc."

Norwood’s diving adventures in Bermuda were short-lived, as there proved to be no pearls to be had. Nevertheless, he stayed on the Island and, in 1616, undertook the first comprehensive survey of the Island; replicas of his map are a favourite today with residents and tourists alike.

Until the advent of the full-suit hard hat diving dress in the mid-19th century, there was little in the record with regard to diving. Divers were brought to Bermuda to help in the construction of the rebuilding of the north breakwater and the jetties within the North Basin of the Dockyard, aided by convicts of the labour force using diving bells, and to lay wharf blocks for the first commercial docks at St. George’s and Hamilton. Somewhere along the way, these divers brought with them hard hat equipment manufactured by Siebe Gorman and Comp- any, the pioneers in the field. Their equipment was heavy and cumbersome, but well engineered and strongly built, so that much has survived to the present. Examples are on display in the Treasure House.

In 1934, Dr. William Beebe and Otis Barton captured the imagination of the world when they were lowered to a depth of 3,028 feet off St. David’s Island in the sealed Bathysphere – a record that still stands for a tethered object. During this same period, possibly inspired by Dr. Beebe’s shallow water investigations with a diving helmet, underwater tours were offered to the public. The G.H. Burland & Co. operated a boat from Hamilton to the reefs off the Dockyard, where customers were allowed to walk on the bottom wearing a copper helmet, while a similar experience could be had at the Government Aquarium at Flatts. A successor to these enterprises is to be found at Capt. Bronson Hartley’s Underwater Wonderland in Flatts Village, where the visitor can view marine life under the surface from an air-supplied helmet.

Dr. William Beebe's diving helmet,
weighted shoe and air pump. (L. Webb)

Although self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) was used as early as the 18th century, it was not until after World War II and the invention of the aqualung that diving, and particularly sport diving, became a possible recreation. Bermudians were quick to take advantage of this equipment, and wreck and reef exploring became almost a national sport. For the novice, instruction is available, which includes supervised underwater exploration after the required proficiency is achieved.

Diving pump. (L. Webb)

Professionally, the hard hat diving equipment has gradually been phased out, but a number of the old "hard hatters", such as Captain Lusher, Alec Lawrence, "Cornie" Dyer, Herbie Smith, "Busty" Duerden and Claude Williams are still around to swap stories of their exploits. Among their successors were McDaniel and Winwood, who were awarded the contract to service Argus Island in 1962. This was an oceanographic research tower, which had been erected the previous year by the United States Navy on Argus Bank 35 miles SW of Bermuda in 192 feet of water. Confronted with the task of working at what was an extreme depth at the time in laying and retrieving cable and setting up and working with experimental equipment, these Bermudians were forced to overcome many of the hazards through their own experience, and came in time to be recognized as the experts they had become. After eight years of use, the tower was condemned as unsafe in 1970 and was demolished in 1976, removing a major navigation aid for sport fisherman.