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Modern snorkeling can
trace its roots back over 5,000 years of history. As technologies
advanced through the ages, so too did efforts to explore the ocean’s depths.
Evidence from 3000 B.C.
point to some of the earliest known free divers; sponge farmers in
Crete. In a forerunner to the modern snorkel, ancient divers used
hollow reeds to allow them to breathe while submerged in water.
Later efforts to pierce
the ocean’s surface used more complicated equipment. An ancient
bas-relief dating back to 900 B.C. shows Assyrian divers using animal
skins filled with air, which they carried with them to increase the
length of their dives. In 333 B.C. Alexander the Great encouraged the
development of the first diving bell, a massive contraption designed to
trap a pocket of air when it was lowered into the water. The bell
allowed divers to take breaths without returning all the way to the
surface of the water. By 1538, diving bell technology had advanced
enough that two Greeks in Toledo, Spain, performed a demonstration in
the Tagus river, using a large kettle to descend to the bottom of the
river bed, and then surprising their audience by returning to the
surface with dry clothes and a candle still burning.
Although the diving bell
was useful for allowing people to remain below the surface for extended
periods, it was rather limited in terms of mobility. Instead, attempts
were made to allow the diver to breathe from the surface air. Aristotle
mentions divers taking air from a tube connected to the surface, which
he likened to the trunk of an elephant. Leonardo da Vinci included
among his inventions several designs for diving apparatuses, from simple
tubes leading to floats at the surface of the water to an almost
completely self-contained diving suit. He even had a sketch for webbed
swimming gloves, a forerunner of the modern fins.
Unfortunately, as people
soon found out, tubes connecting a diver with the surface were of
limited use. Water pressure below one or two feet quickly became too
high for even the strongest pair of lungs to take a breath. In 1771,
however, the invention of the air pump by British engineer John Smeaton
opened up a whole new world of diving. By moving air through
pressurized tubes, divers were soon able to descend to depths far
greater than those previously possible. Soon, designs for pressurized
suits and chambers were again feasible. This eventually led to the
invention of the SCUBA system was invented, the Self-Contained
Underwater Breathing Apparatus.
Modern technology has
not only allowed for more complex and technical
snorkeling equipment, it has also
led to improvements in the most basic diving tools. Rubbers and
plastics made possible snug fitting masks and goggles, while treated
glass improved the diver’s safety. Materials were developed which could
better withstand the corrosive ocean atmosphere and which allowed divers
to better view the underwater arena. More efficient and easy to use
snorkeling fins were developed to allow divers of all types to navigate the
waters. Ultimately, these improvements in technology and equipment have
made it that much easier to explore the ocean through snorkeling and
free diving.
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