The Diving Bell

We often get those apocryphal stories from the older generation that generally start with the words:  "When I was a boy (or girl)..."  One of  the legends in my dad's family was the diving bell his clan of boys had constructed and used in the mid to late 1930s.   When I was young a saw a piece of what someone claimed was the diving bell but I had my doubts - I'd been fooled before.  A few years ago, I was given some old negatives by the widow of one of dad's cousins and came across these pictures.

This shows a dock where a dive was taking place.  I'm fairly sure the boy at the pump is my dad.    The  tinkering involved in setting up this operation is impressive.

The heart of the contraption was the diving bell itself, worn by one of dad's cousins.  It was a marvel of basic engineering.   It was reported that they would have drowned because of the primate safety features had they not been such good swimmers.

It is a pleasure to have documentation that this improbable family story was true.