Posted by Kevin on January 02, 2001 at 10:14:28:
In Reply to: Re: History correction posted by John Walker on January 02, 2001 at 09:40:03:
Happy New Year Frank and John, and to the whole board !
For a fantastic book on the history of cave diving you might want to check out: "Darkness Beckons : The History and Development of Cave Diving" by Mart Farr. It begins with the first cave dive made in 1878 made with a hard hat and surface supplied gas and follows the developement all the way to 'breathers. The author even added an additional 24 pages in 1991 in the second edition to bring the book up to date as much as possible.
As for the first recorded scuba dive, I have seen in a book on ancient history a relief circa 2700 BC depicting Mesopotamian warriors attacking a ship. The reason I thought this picture was fantastic is because the Mesopotamian warriors were approaching the ship UNDERWATER. You can clearly see the rocks tied to their waste and inflated bladders ( pigs ? cows ? ) filled with air that they were breathing from.
After reading the above I hope everyone finally realizes that all wreck divers do not have elongated foreheads and walk on our knuckles. We do actually read books, but just usually books about diving and even then we only look at the puctures.
Happy New Year So Cal Divers.
Kevin