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THE DIVING
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Wreathed with mystery and softness,
the marine environment has always been a source
of attraction. Since the dawn of time, human
kind never stopped improving the technique
and the equipment allowing everyone to dive
through the surface of the mirror, whether
for battle purposes in the ancient times,
or for economical reasons and more recently,
just for fun!

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a bit of history

Halley’s diving bell (1690) Le Prieur diving gear

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e e

➤ In 1690, Edmund Halley, an astronomer ➤

The means available at the time did
who became famous after establishing
s i è c l e s i è c l e

not allow for compressed air thus

the periodicity of the comet named
reducing the diving time. It’s only
after him, built a bell made of wood
on August 6th, 1926 that the autonomous
and covered with lead. The air contained
gear appears. Captain Yves Le Prieur
in it was refreshed through a complex system
experiments his invention for the first
involving barrels placed under the bell. time: a diving suit equipped with a tank
of air and a regulator.

Carmagnole brothers’ gear (1878)

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e

➤
s i è c l e The 19th century will see the consecration
of the «heavy-footed»: together with leaden What Modern diving
a job!
soles, the diver uses a helmet made of copper Modern diving was born in December
and equipped with portholes. Compressed 1942 when Emile Gagnan and Jacques-
with a piston-based machine, air is sent Yves Cousteau invented the pressure
to the diver from the surface through a hose. reducing valve. It consists of a mouth
The Carmagnole gear, despite its looks, is only piece which delivers air at ambient
114 years old. It is the symbol of a scientific pressure each time the diver inhales.
and technical world overwhelmed by history. The same mouth piece is also used
as the exhaust for the exhaled air.

Denayrouze gear (late 19th century)

Benoît Rouquayrol and Auguste Denayrouze
modernized the diving equipment by adding
the aerophore, a pressure regulator (ancestor
of the pressure valve), and an air canister
carried on the back of the diver.

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le prieur’s diving gear

1/ Mask 7
2/ Porthole 8

3/ Air hose

4/ Compressed air tank 6

5/ Pressure reducing valve 10

6/ Balancing chamber 9 11
7/ Manometer

8/ On/off valve

9/ Membrane 4

10/ Holes
5
11/ Nozzle valve
1

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 tintin’s diving gear
In 1873, Benoît Rouquayrol and Auguste Denayrouze built a new piece of
equipment, with a perfected air supply, and a total weight of 85 kilos. It
was stable, resilient, and equipped with a telephone link with the surface.
Outfitted with a large helmet with portholes and leaden soles, divers
could descend to great depths while still accomplishing a variety of mis-
sions: this was the great era of the «heavy-footed» suits.
the suit
To explore the Unicorn’s remains, Tintin dresses in
the Denayrouze and Charles Petit’s suit as built
in 1889. This diving equipment includes a suit
made of cloth and rubber, a leather belt, a breast
lead plate and leaden shoes with bronze tips.
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the helmet
The no-bolt helmet has a simplified locking sys-
tem invented by the Denayrouze brothers. It al-
lowed to unbolt the helmet in seconds instead
of the 2 minutes necessary with the three-bolt
helmet. This helped saving lives in case of a div-
ing accident. Tintin wears this type of helmet as
built since 1895.
the shoes
Deep sea swimming, as a way to admire the
marine life, its luxuriance and diversity, is a fair-
ly recent notion. For a long time, walking on
the bottom of the sea was the only way men
conceived exploration. Once the diver would
make contact with the bottom, the leaden
shoes would allow to return to the most natural
means of locomotion.
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the handwheel pump

Two men were necessary to operate the hand-

wheels. The rotation rhythm had to be fast and
regular if the diver were to work for a long time.
Divers’ survival depended on it. Thus, it was
mandatory to regularly replace the operators
whose task was exhausting. The Thom(p)sons
know all about it….

the safety rope

The diver is subject to constant surveillance.

The safety ropes allow for support and possibly
pulling the diver back up. Also, the air hose is
connected to the handwheel pump.

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 the unicorn’s shipwreck

The Captain is stuck with his calculations. Tintin
has the solution. The latitude and longitude co-
ordinates indicated on the three parchments
(see The Secret of the Unicorn) must be calcu-
lated from the Paris meridian instead of the
Greenwich meridian although.
The Sirius created by Hergé was based on the
blueprints, picture and model of a trawler from
Ostende named John - O. 88. She was built in
1936 in the Boel et Fils shipyards located on the
Temse. (Yves Horeau, Tintin, Haddock et les ba-
teaux, Editions Moulinsart).

In the book Tintin, Haddock et les bateaux (Tintin,

Haddock and boats), one can learn that the Paris
Meridian had not been adopted at the time of
Sir Francis Haddock!

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 The diver becomes heavier and
Yes, I’ve found the thus drops, by expelling air.
UNICORN!... You
can prepare the This operation requires lengthy
diving equipment! and indispensible practice.

In case of a wrong move, the

Thanks to the submersible invent-
ed by Professor Calculus (see the
sub-marine dossier), Tintin will be
able to precisely locate the posi-
tion of the Unicorn’s wreck.
Wooah!
Wooah!
diver can be exposed to major
risks such one known as the
«squeeze». It happens when
the diver accidentally drops
for several meters underwa-
ter and the air hose breaks,
or if the diver did not imme-
diately fill his helmet with ad-
ditional air in order to balance
the sudden pressure increase.

It may then turn into a situation

Due to the weight of the equipment (around 80kg), suiting up a diver is where the whole body looks as
a long and complicated operation. if sucked into the helmet.

Good! Now, don’t forget... Come on, pump hard! We are!

If you want to come up, jerk
the line twice... In an emer-
gency, give a series of quick
jerks.
Right!

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The diver always remains in a
stand-up position, maintained ver-
tically by the leaden shoes and bal-
last. The field of vision is limited to
what can be seen through one, and
sometimes two or three, portholes.
During the entire dive, he must re-
main under strict surveillance.

That’s it, he’s touched

bottom...

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Two types of archeologists survey
the bottom of the seas for hints of
possible wrecks.

One type works to increase the

size of our cultural heritage and
discover new facets of history. The
others are on the constant quest
for swallowed up treasures.

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