Vintage photos show how deep sea diving and exploration has evolved over the years

James PasleyJun 10, 2023, 18:05 IST

A diver gets ready to search for treasure in Tobermory Bay in 1954.Bettmann/Getty

Exploring the world's oceans has been one of humankind's most difficult endeavours.
Over centuries, diving technology has developed from diving bells to clunky diving suits to "air-lungs."

There's just something about the unknown.

For the last few centuries, inventors, researchers and naval forces have worked to improve human's ability to dive deep.

Things have come a long way since the diving bell. Humans have gone down more than 1,000 feet with no vessel around them, and tens of thousands of feet to the very bottom of the ocean inside vessels. One of those people was the film director James Cameron.

But still much about the deep sea remains uncertain. Tens of thousands of robots are now being used for deep sea exploration and drilling.

Here's how deep sea exploration has helped make our oceans a little less opaque.

About 140 million square miles—more than 50%—of the earth is covered by ocean. Yet scientists know more about the moon's surface than what's below the surface.

A portrait of oceanographer Emil Racovitza. It’s been digitally colorized but is one of the first underwater flash photographs from 1899.Gado/Getty

About 140 million square miles—more than 50%—of the earth is covered by ocean. Yet scientists know more about the moon's surface than what's below the surface.

One of the issues is that oceans are deep, and the deeper you go the more intense the pressure gets. At some points, the ocean floor is 35,000 feet below the surface.

A diver from the US Navy adjusts his air pressure under water, circa 1955.Al Barry/Three Lions/Getty

For centuries, there were good reasons for wanting to go deep—to explore shipwrecks, gather food, or find precious substances like pearl and sponge. But without the technology, people were restricted to shallow diving.

An underwater camera crew makes close up of a diver actor to show the correct method of adjusting an air valve in 1944.Bettmann/Getty

For centuries, there were good reasons for wanting to go deep—to explore shipwrecks, gather food, or find precious substances like pearl and sponge. But without the technology, people were restricted to shallow diving.

The diving bell–basically a solid chamber that was dropped into the sea where a person could sit and breathe, swim out and return to when they needed more air—changed everything. For the first time people could stay underwater.

An engraving of Edmund Halley’s Diving Bell.DeAgostini/Getty

The diving bell–basically a solid chamber that was dropped into the sea where a person could sit and breathe, swim out and return to when they needed more air—changed everything. For the first time people could stay underwater.

Then, in 1827, the first functioning diving suit was invented. Augustus Siebe, a British engineer, took a patented firefighters' copper smoke helmet and attached it to a diver's head with weights.

A diver leaps into the water to investigate a crash in 1915.Jun Fujita/Chicago History Museum/Getty

Then, in 1827, the first functioning diving suit was invented. Augustus Siebe, a British engineer, took a patented firefighters' copper smoke helmet and attached it to a diver's head with weights.

The diver was connected to the surface by tubes. From above, a team would pump air down to them. When the diver was done, they could close a valve in the suit and the air that was being pumped in would fill their suit and float them back up.

A diver and his equipment aboard the HMS Blake in 1895.The Print Collector/Getty

The diver was connected to the surface by tubes. From above, a team would pump air down to them. When the diver was done, they could close a valve in the suit and the air that was being pumped in would fill their suit and float them back up.

For decades afterwards, divers wore bulky suits made of heavy materials like canvas, with massive metal helmets, lead belts weighing around 60 pounds and shoes with lead soles weighing about 18 pounds.

Diving helmets stacked on a shelf at the US Navy Salvage School in New Jersey in 1955.Al Barry/Three Lions/Getty

For decades afterwards, divers wore bulky suits made of heavy materials like canvas, with massive metal helmets, lead belts weighing around 60 pounds and shoes with lead soles weighing about 18 pounds.

They had to stagger to a point where they could drop into the water, but once they were under it was all go—air was unlimited, and divers could salvage and explore wrecks, as well as search deeper parts of the ocean that were still unknown.

A US Navy School diver prepares for a dive in 1930.Bettmann/Getty

They had to stagger to a point where they could drop into the water, but once they were under it was all go—air was unlimited, and divers could salvage and explore wrecks, as well as search deeper parts of the ocean that were still unknown.

Although divers were still restricted by how deep they could go. In 1878, experts first began to understand the bends, a potentially deadly condition where nitrogen bubbles enlarge in the diver's blood if they return to the surface too quickly.

A diver prepares himself before a dive, circa 1940.NCJ/Evening World/NCJ Archive/Mirrorpix/Getty

Although divers were still restricted by how deep they could go. In 1878, experts first began to understand the bends, a potentially deadly condition where nitrogen bubbles enlarge in the diver's blood if they return to the surface too quickly.

In the early 20th century, armed forces around the world began training up their divers. In particular, beginning in 1912, with the looming threat of German military submarines, the US Navy launched a program to improve its methods.

A US navy diver being fitted with a weight belt of about 100 pounds before a dive in 1955.Al Barry/Three Lions/Getty

In the early 20th century, armed forces around the world began training up their divers. In particular, beginning in 1912, with the looming threat of German military submarines, the US Navy launched a program to improve its methods.

From 1912 to 1915, navy divers increased the depth they could to go from about 60 feet up to 274 feet.

An instructor signals through a porthole to a seaman at the bottom of a 15 foot tank, during submarine crew training in 1939.Keystone/Getty

This experience alerted the navy to the problem of breathing normal air during a deep sea dive, and it started experimenting with a helium-oxygen mix.

A US naval diver preparing for a dive in 1955.Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis/Getty

In 1930, the world's first deep sea dive in a vessel took place off the coast of an island called Nonsuch. The divers went down in a contraption called the bathysphere, which was basically a large steel ball with three quartz windows to look through.

Gloria Hollister, William Beebe, and John Teevan with the bathysphere in 1932.Bettmann/Getty

In 1930, the world's first deep sea dive in a vessel took place off the coast of an island called Nonsuch. The divers went down in a contraption called the bathysphere, which was basically a large steel ball with three quartz windows to look through.

The aim was to record what was going on below. Two skinny men (they had to be skinny to get in and out of the bathysphere) an engineer named Otis Barton and a marine biologist William Beebe went down, taking notes.

Otis Barton and William Beebe with the bathysphere in 1934.Ralph White/Corbis/Getty

The aim was to record what was going on below. Two skinny men (they had to be skinny to get in and out of the bathysphere) an engineer named Otis Barton and a marine biologist William Beebe went down, taking notes.

The dive was a success and when they returned to the surface Beebe was forever changed. He later wrote that the yellow of the sun, "can never hereafter be as wonderful as blue can be."

William Beebe climbs out of the bathysphere in 1934.Ullstein bild/Getty

The dive was a success and when they returned to the surface Beebe was forever changed. He later wrote that the yellow of the sun, "can never hereafter be as wonderful as blue can be."

Throughout this period, individual diving suits were also being modified. Here's a heavy-looking one that weighed 1,400 pounds from 1931. Attached to its shoulders are two 1,000 watt lamps to see in the dark down below.

US inventor H. L. Bowdoin with his deep sea diving suit in 1931.Imagno/Getty

Throughout this period, individual diving suits were also being modified. Here's a heavy-looking one that weighed 1,400 pounds from 1931. Attached to its shoulders are two 1,000 watt lamps to see in the dark down below.

It wasn't until 1942, when Jacques-Yves Cousteau, a French Naval officer, created the "aqua lung," that deep sea diving took a leap forward.

Oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau demonstrates his latest invention, the Aqua-Lung, in 1950.Bettmann/Getty

The air lung was revolutionary, because it let divers control their own breathing. By the 1950s, regulators were widespread.

Four deep divers using aqua lungs in Wisconsin in 1954.Bettmann/Getty

As technology developed, divers kept going deeper. In 1956, a Royal Navy diver managed to get down to 600 feet. Because of the depth his ascent back up took 12 hours.

A US navy diver on a ‘diving stage’ before a dive in 1955.Al Barry/Three Lions/Getty

The record was broken again in 1962, by a 28-year-old Swiss mathematician named Hannes Keller and his partner journalist Peter Small. The pair descended 1,000 feet to the floor of the Pacific Ocean in a diving chamber called "Atlantis."

Atlantis being lifted out of water after record-breaking 1,000 ft. dive.Don Cravens via Getty Images

The record was broken again in 1962, by a 28-year-old Swiss mathematician named Hannes Keller and his partner journalist Peter Small. The pair descended 1,000 feet to the floor of the Pacific Ocean in a diving chamber called "Atlantis."

The divers managed to close the door, which eased pressure, but Small ended up dying of decompression sickness while one of the rescue divers named Chris Whittaker went missing under water. His body was never discovered.

Peter Small being carried out after his fatal dive with Hannes Keller.Don Cravens/Getty

The divers managed to close the door, which eased pressure, but Small ended up dying of decompression sickness while one of the rescue divers named Chris Whittaker went missing under water. His body was never discovered.

Despite the dive's tragic end, Keller continued experimenting and Shell profited from his discoveries. In the following 20 years, Shell's divers went down even deeper.

Hannes Keller inspecting a diving mask in 1960.RDB/Ullstein bild/Getty

It became normal for oil companies like Shell to contract deep sea divers—mostly men between 25 and 40 who had worked in high-stakes environments—to spend months at a time in the deep sea doing maintenance and repair work.

Tanker spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 1990.Bettmann/Getty

It became normal for oil companies like Shell to contract deep sea divers—mostly men between 25 and 40 who had worked in high-stakes environments—to spend months at a time in the deep sea doing maintenance and repair work.

While commercial deep diving developed, scientific research continued too. One leader in his field was the marine botanist Sylvia Earle. In 1970, Earle and a team of women scientists spent two weeks living underwater, studying a reef off the coast of St John Island.

Sylvia Earle comes out of the underwater habitat to start an experiment in 1970.Bettmann Archive/Getty

While commercial deep diving developed, scientific research continued too. One leader in his field was the marine botanist Sylvia Earle. In 1970, Earle and a team of women scientists spent two weeks living underwater, studying a reef off the coast of St John Island.

Earle made headlines in 1979, when she broke the record for deepest untethered walk along the sea floor, at 1,250 feet below the surface. She did it 10 years after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, and like Armstrong, she planted a flag.

Marine botanist Sylvia Earle after her descent off Hawaii accompanied by a mini submarine which took her down to 1,000 feet before letting her go in 1979.Bettmann/Getty

Earle made headlines in 1979, when she broke the record for deepest untethered walk along the sea floor, at 1,250 feet below the surface. She did it 10 years after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, and like Armstrong, she planted a flag.

But eventually humans appeared to reach their limits. The deepest a person has gone without being in a vessel was achieved back in 1988 when six divers went down 1,752 feet.

Henri-Germain Delauze exploring the deep sea in 1999.Xavier Desmier/Gamma-Rapho/Getty

But eventually humans appeared to reach their limits. The deepest a person has gone without being in a vessel was achieved back in 1988 when six divers went down 1,752 feet.

By then, the shift toward using technology had already begun. According to Oceanographer Dr. Robert Ballard, it started in the late 1970s. He himself only realized while he was aboard a vessel 8,000 feet below the surface.

A diver and a two-man submarine search the ocean in 1963.OFF/AFP/Getty

By then, the shift toward using technology had already begun. According to Oceanographer Dr. Robert Ballard, it started in the late 1970s. He himself only realized while he was aboard a vessel 8,000 feet below the surface.

The moment stuck with him and he realized a few things, according to the New York Times: "It's cold and scary, time in the deep is limited, and robotic vehicles might do the same work for less money."

Dr Robert Ballard during a book tour in 1987.Bettmann/Getty

The moment stuck with him and he realized a few things, according to the New York Times: "It's cold and scary, time in the deep is limited, and robotic vehicles might do the same work for less money."

In 1985, a deep sea robot filmed the Titanic wreck for the first time. From then on, the use of deep sea robots boomed. Thirty years later, there were an estimated 10,000 of them, being used for research and for oil drilling.

A shot of the Titanic wreck in 1996.Xavier Desmier/Gamma-Rapho/Getty

In 1985, a deep sea robot filmed the Titanic wreck for the first time. From then on, the use of deep sea robots boomed. Thirty years later, there were an estimated 10,000 of them, being used for research and for oil drilling.

It makes sense. Compared to humans, robots can stay below for longer, go deeper, and send their information back instantly.

A French navy officer controls a robot during a dive operation in 2012.Patrick Aventurier/Getty

Robotic vessels have also taken a number people down to the bottom of the sea—at 35,858 feet—including two US navy men in 1960, film director James Cameron in 2012, and investor Victor Vescovo in 2019.

James Cameron sits in a model of the vessel he used in his deep sea exploration in 2018.SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images

Robotic vessels have also taken a number people down to the bottom of the sea—at 35,858 feet—including two US navy men in 1960, film director James Cameron in 2012, and investor Victor Vescovo in 2019.

According to the New York Times, the robots "have clearly won the deep-sea war."

A 3D picture of a modern diving suit from 2012.Patrick Avenurier/Getty

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Vintage photos show how deep sea diving and exploration has evolved over the years

About 140 million square miles—more than 50%—of the earth is covered by ocean. Yet scientists know more about the moon's surface than what's below the surface.

One of the issues is that oceans are deep, and the deeper you go the more intense the pressure gets. At some points, the ocean floor is 35,000 feet below the surface.

For centuries, there were good reasons for wanting to go deep—to explore shipwrecks, gather food, or find precious substances like pearl and sponge. But without the technology, people were restricted to shallow diving.

The diving bell–basically a solid chamber that was dropped into the sea where a person could sit and breathe, swim out and return to when they needed more air—changed everything. For the first time people could stay underwater.

Then, in 1827, the first functioning diving suit was invented. Augustus Siebe, a British engineer, took a patented firefighters' copper smoke helmet and attached it to a diver's head with weights.

The diver was connected to the surface by tubes. From above, a team would pump air down to them. When the diver was done, they could close a valve in the suit and the air that was being pumped in would fill their suit and float them back up.

For decades afterwards, divers wore bulky suits made of heavy materials like canvas, with massive metal helmets, lead belts weighing around 60 pounds and shoes with lead soles weighing about 18 pounds.

They had to stagger to a point where they could drop into the water, but once they were under it was all go—air was unlimited, and divers could salvage and explore wrecks, as well as search deeper parts of the ocean that were still unknown.

Although divers were still restricted by how deep they could go. In 1878, experts first began to understand the bends, a potentially deadly condition where nitrogen bubbles enlarge in the diver's blood if they return to the surface too quickly.

In the early 20th century, armed forces around the world began training up their divers. In particular, beginning in 1912, with the looming threat of German military submarines, the US Navy launched a program to improve its methods.

From 1912 to 1915, navy divers increased the depth they could to go from about 60 feet up to 274 feet.

This experience alerted the navy to the problem of breathing normal air during a deep sea dive, and it started experimenting with a helium-oxygen mix.

In 1930, the world's first deep sea dive in a vessel took place off the coast of an island called Nonsuch. The divers went down in a contraption called the bathysphere, which was basically a large steel ball with three quartz windows to look through.

The aim was to record what was going on below. Two skinny men (they had to be skinny to get in and out of the bathysphere) an engineer named Otis Barton and a marine biologist William Beebe went down, taking notes.

The dive was a success and when they returned to the surface Beebe was forever changed. He later wrote that the yellow of the sun, "can never hereafter be as wonderful as blue can be."

Throughout this period, individual diving suits were also being modified. Here's a heavy-looking one that weighed 1,400 pounds from 1931. Attached to its shoulders are two 1,000 watt lamps to see in the dark down below.

It wasn't until 1942, when Jacques-Yves Cousteau, a French Naval officer, created the "aqua lung," that deep sea diving took a leap forward.

The air lung was revolutionary, because it let divers control their own breathing. By the 1950s, regulators were widespread.

As technology developed, divers kept going deeper. In 1956, a Royal Navy diver managed to get down to 600 feet. Because of the depth his ascent back up took 12 hours.

The record was broken again in 1962, by a 28-year-old Swiss mathematician named Hannes Keller and his partner journalist Peter Small. The pair descended 1,000 feet to the floor of the Pacific Ocean in a diving chamber called "Atlantis."

The divers managed to close the door, which eased pressure, but Small ended up dying of decompression sickness while one of the rescue divers named Chris Whittaker went missing under water. His body was never discovered.

Despite the dive's tragic end, Keller continued experimenting and Shell profited from his discoveries. In the following 20 years, Shell's divers went down even deeper.

It became normal for oil companies like Shell to contract deep sea divers—mostly men between 25 and 40 who had worked in high-stakes environments—to spend months at a time in the deep sea doing maintenance and repair work.

While commercial deep diving developed, scientific research continued too. One leader in his field was the marine botanist Sylvia Earle. In 1970, Earle and a team of women scientists spent two weeks living underwater, studying a reef off the coast of St John Island.

Earle made headlines in 1979, when she broke the record for deepest untethered walk along the sea floor, at 1,250 feet below the surface. She did it 10 years after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, and like Armstrong, she planted a flag.

But eventually humans appeared to reach their limits. The deepest a person has gone without being in a vessel was achieved back in 1988 when six divers went down 1,752 feet.

By then, the shift toward using technology had already begun. According to Oceanographer Dr. Robert Ballard, it started in the late 1970s. He himself only realized while he was aboard a vessel 8,000 feet below the surface.

The moment stuck with him and he realized a few things, according to the New York Times: "It's cold and scary, time in the deep is limited, and robotic vehicles might do the same work for less money."

In 1985, a deep sea robot filmed the Titanic wreck for the first time. From then on, the use of deep sea robots boomed. Thirty years later, there were an estimated 10,000 of them, being used for research and for oil drilling.

It makes sense. Compared to humans, robots can stay below for longer, go deeper, and send their information back instantly.

Robotic vessels have also taken a number people down to the bottom of the sea—at 35,858 feet—including two US navy men in 1960, film director James Cameron in 2012, and investor Victor Vescovo in 2019.

According to the New York Times, the robots "have clearly won the deep-sea war."