The first diving-bell we read of was nothing but a very large kettle,
suspended by ropes, with the mouth downwards, and planks to sit on fixed
in the middle of its concavity. Two Greeks at Toledo, in 1588, made an
experiment with it before the emperor Charles V. They descended in it,
with a lighted candle, to a considerable depth. In 1683, William Phipps,
the son of a blacksmith, formed a project for unloading a rich Spanish
ship sunk on the coast of Hispaniola. Charles II. gave him a ship with
every thing necessary for his undertaking; but being unsuccessful, he
returned in great poverty. He then endeavoured to procure another
vessel, but failing, he got a subscription, to which the duke of
Albemarle contributed. In 1687, Phipps set sail in a ship of two hundred
tons, having previously engaged to divide the profits according to the
twenty shares of which the subscription consisted. At first all his
labours proved fruitless; but at last, when he seemed almost to despair,
he was fortunate enough to bring up so much treasure, that he returned
to England with the value of 200,000_l._ sterling. Of this sum he got
about 20,000_l._, and the duke 90,000_l._ Phipps was knighted by the
king, and laid the foundation of the fortunes of the present noble house
of Mulgrave. Since that time diving-bells have been often employed. On
occasion of the breaking in of the water of the Thames during the
progress of the tunnel under the Thames, Mr. Brunel frequently descended
in one to the bed of the river.
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