grenvillelawrence
Dressing The Diver.
Snap shots of the 1973 Derna Adventure
Derna, Libya, July 1973.
Yours truly with John Blood acting as my tender.
In this picture the diver is wearing what is called ‘Standard Diving Dress’ this type of diving suit is very heavy and cumbersome and is now considered old fashioned. Most of the diving on this particular project was carried out wearing a wet suit and Kirby Morgan full face mask which allows communication to the surface.
The standard diving suit is made out of heavy canvas and is both water & air tight. This photo shows the suit in a semi-ballooned state, which if the diver was in the water he would be floundering around on the surface looking like a starfish. A valve on the helmet controlled by the diver is used to control buoyancy. If too much air is pumped to the diver too quickly then the suit could inflate to such a degree that the arms & legs of the suit become ridged making it impossible for the diver to reach and open the valve in order to regulate & control buoyancy thus causing a hasty uncontrolled and highly dangerous accent to the surface.
Dressing The Diver.
Snap shots of the 1973 Derna Adventure
Derna, Libya, July 1973.
Yours truly with John Blood acting as my tender.
In this picture the diver is wearing what is called ‘Standard Diving Dress’ this type of diving suit is very heavy and cumbersome and is now considered old fashioned. Most of the diving on this particular project was carried out wearing a wet suit and Kirby Morgan full face mask which allows communication to the surface.
The standard diving suit is made out of heavy canvas and is both water & air tight. This photo shows the suit in a semi-ballooned state, which if the diver was in the water he would be floundering around on the surface looking like a starfish. A valve on the helmet controlled by the diver is used to control buoyancy. If too much air is pumped to the diver too quickly then the suit could inflate to such a degree that the arms & legs of the suit become ridged making it impossible for the diver to reach and open the valve in order to regulate & control buoyancy thus causing a hasty uncontrolled and highly dangerous accent to the surface.