But let’s talk first about about why people seem to find this picture so shareworthy. Is it because in 1925 full-body diving suits were a novelty? No, because they weren’t. What’s known as a “” — consisting of a metal helmet, a hose to supply air pumped in from the surface, a canvas diving suit, and boots — was developed in the 19th century and in wide use by the early 20th. The photograph below shows a well-worn standard diving suit in use in the 1920s and ’30s.
A 1920s- 1930s professional underwater deep sea diver in diving suit with breathing gas supply and hard hat helmet. The differences between standard diving dress and the rigid, robot-like contraption in the viral photo are readily apparent. Some people may be shocked to learn that the latter was real.
“Submarine armor,” as the all-metal diving suit equipped with special rotary joints for mobility was dubbed in the title of its, was intended by its inventor, Harry L. Bowdoin of New Jersey, to offer divers a stronger, more efficient alternative to the standard dress for accomplishing underwater tasks, particularly in very deep water.
It was also intended to enrich the inventor himself. According to its prospectus, “The Deep Sea Salvage Corporation,” a company Bowdoin started in 1916, “has been organized to construct and operate a metal diving suit to be used for deep sea diving, locating and recovering specie and other valuables contained in the cargoes of sunken ships at depths which it has been impossible to reach with the diving apparatus ordinarily in use.
Kinda scary looking haha