DIVERS AND SUNKEN SHIPS.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 355, 19 September 1868, Page 4

DIVERS AND SUNKEN SHIPS.

The greatest depth to which a diver can descend with the presentappliances in safety is about 160 feet, and for this a burden of one hundred-weight must be disposed about his person The average depth at which he can work comfortably is about ninety feet, which was near the depth at which the operations upon the Royal George were conducted. la water from 60 to 70 feet deep, the men can work for two hours at a time, coming up for 10

minutes' rest, and doing a day's work in six or seven hours. An English diver, encased in one of Siebe's dresses, went down in the Mediterranean to a depth of 1(55 feet, and remained there- for twenty-five minutes; and we have heard that Green, the American diver, inspected a wreck in one of the Canadian lakes at a depth of 170 feet; but his experience was enough to convince him that he could not work on it without danger to life. At this depth the pressure of water on the hands is so gre:it as to force the blood to the head and bring on fainting fits, while the requisite volume of air inside the dress to resist the outside pressure of the water is so great that it would speedily suffocate the diver. Means have been tried to obviate these difficulties, but for the present a limit has been set to the extent to which men may penetrate th« secrets of the deep. A.n ingenious Italian workman has brought to this country plans for asort of scale armour dress which would resi.-t the pressure of the water ; but our submarine engineers think that this would not obviate the difficulties arising from the limits placed to human endurance.