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Primitive Scuba
Home » Scuba » History of Scuba Diving » Primitive ScubaHow and when did Scuba begin? There is evidence that humans have been exploring the underwater world since the beginning of time. The food sources that water had to offer was reason enough for cavemen to experiment with diving. It is obvious by the artifacts that have been retrieved from land that they found some success in their dives. Shells, mother-of-pearl ornaments and sponges that have been salvaged had obvious uses on land. Also, ancient drawings have been discovered that depict divers searching underwater for food as well as attempting military exploits. The story of the Greek Scyllis is probably the most famous story of early diving shenanigans. Scyllis was taken aboard as a prisoner of Persian King Xerxes I. He escaped, while first grabbing a knife and then jumping overboard. When the shipmates could not find him, they assumed he drowned. It later became known that he made his way among the water with a reed snorkel to all the ships in Xerxes’ fleet, cutting them loose and then swimming 19 miles back to reunite with the Greeks.
Primitive divers probably started out with the breath-hold method that could keep them underwater for a minute or two. Seeing as though this could bring extreme frustration, they realized that breathing through a hollow reed could keep them underwater longer. However, it probably didn’t take long to discover that these hollow reeds, or first forms of snorkels, were only useful for diving about two feet deep. Inhaling against water pressure any deeper was impossible. The limits of the hollow reeds led to experimentation with an air-filled bag. The divers breathed into a bag that they took underwater with them. It didn’t take long to realize that the fatal flaw of this method was the re-inhalation of carbon monoxide.
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