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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 edition. Excerpt: ... SUBMARINE ENGINEERING OF TO-DAY CHAPTER I THE MODERN DIVER AND HIS DRESS Everything that pertains to the sea--that vast, unstable body of fluid, so deep, mysterious, and easily influenced by the breezes of heaven--appeals strongly to the imagination, and is of paramount importance to islanders who cannot leave their country without the aid of ships. Kipling has immortalised the man-of-warsmen, the builders of bridges, and others, and Louis Stevenson made famous the plucky deeds of lighthousemen, yet the lonely, dangerous work of those who descend into the deep is much more romantic and far less known than any other vocation connected with the sea. It must, however, be confessed that modern invention has done much to mitigate the dangers and difficulties which formerly beset the carrying out of submarine operations. If submarine engineering--so wide in its ramifications and intricate in its problems--rests theoretically with the civil engineer, it is certain that in practice it rests with the diver and his appliances. Without him no large or difficult task could be accomplished. The deep-sea diver must be as sound in wind and limb as he is skilled and courageous. The art of deep-sea diving is almost as old as the human race. Mention of its employment occurs in Homer's Iliad, though Thucydides is the first to state that divers were employed during the siege of Syracuse to destroy the submarine barriers which had been constructed to prevent the entry of Grecian war vessels. But these were examples of unassisted diving. The earliest record of mechanical appliances being used to enable men to remain under water for some considerable time occurs in the works of Aristotle, although it was not until 1819 that a really practical dress was...