912 D I V 
plaufible manner, that our Charles II. gave him a (hip, 
and furnifhed hint with every thing necefTury for the un¬ 
dertaking. He fet fail in the year 1683 ; but, being un- 
fuccefsful, returned again in great poverty, though with 
a firm conviction of the pofiibility of his fcheme. He 
endeavoured, therefore, to procure another veffel from 
James II. who was then on the throne: but as he failed 
in this, he tried to find the means of executing his de- 
fign by the fupport of private perfons, and, according to 
the prevailing.practice, opened for that purpofe a fub- 
fcription. At firfi he was laughed at; but, at length, 
the duke of Albemarle, Ion of the celebrated general 
Monk, took part in it, and advanced a conliderable fum 
to enable him to make the neceffar.y preparations for a 
new voyage. Phipps.foon collected the remainder; and 
in 16S7 fet fail in a fliip of two hundred tons burden, to 
try his fortune once more, having previoufly engaged to 
divide the profit according to the twenty (hares of whiqli 
the fubfcription confided. At firfi, all his labour proved 
fruitlefs ; but at length, when his patience was alinod 
entirely exhauded, he was fo lucky as to bring up, from 
the depth of fix or feven fathoms, fo much treafure that 
he returned to England with the value of two hundred 
thoufand pounds derling. Of this fum he hihifelf got 
about fixteen, others fay twenty thoufand, and the duke 
ninety thoufand pounds. After he came back, fome per¬ 
fons endeavoured to perfuade the king to feize both the 
fliip and the cargo, under a pretence that Phipps, when 
he folicited for his majedy’s permidion, had not given 
accurate information refpefting the bufinefs. But the 
king anfwered, with much greatnefs of mind, that he 
knew Phipps to be an honed man, and that he and his 
friends (hould fhare the whole among them, had he re¬ 
turned with double the value. His majefty even con¬ 
ferred upon him the honour of knighthood, to (hew how 
much he was fatisfied with life conduCf. Phipps was af¬ 
terwards high fherift' of New England, and died at Lon¬ 
don, greatly refpected, in 1693. This atfair was attended 
witli luch good confequences to the duke of Albemarle, 
that he obtained from the king the governorfhip of Ja¬ 
maica, in order to try his fortune with other (hips funk 
in that neighbourhood : but nothing farther was found 
worth the labour of fearcliing for. 
The olded figure known of a diving machine, which 
approaches neared to the diving-bell, is in a book on for¬ 
tification, publiflied by Lorini, in 1607 ; and who defcribes 
it as a fquare box bound round with iron, which is fttr- 
ni(lied witli windows, and has a (tool affixed to it for the 
divfcr. This ingenious contrivance appears, however, 
to be older than that Italian ; at lead he does not pretend 
to be the inventor of it. I11 1617, Francis Kefsler gave 
a defcription of a water-armour, intended alfo for diving. 
In 1671, Witfeh taught, in a better manner than any of 
his predeceffors, the condrudtion and rife of the diving- 
bell ; but he is much midaken when lie fays that it was 
invented at Amderdam. In 1679 appeared, for the fird 
time, Borelli’s well known work De jnotu Aniijialium, in 
which he not only defcribed the diving-bell, but alio 
propofcd another, the impracticability of which was 
(hewn by James Bernoulli. When Sturm publiflied his 
Collegium Curiofum in 167S, he propofed lome hints for the 
improvement of this machine, on which remarks were 
made in the Journal dcs Sfavans: but it was left for the 
ingenious Dr. Halley, and Triewald, a Swede, to bring 
the diving-bell to its prefent perfection. 
The bell which Edmund Halley, fecretary to the royal 
fociety, caufed to be made, was three feet broad at the 
top, five feet at the bottom, and eight feet in height; 
forming a cavity of fixty-three cubic feet. It was covered 
with lead; and was fo heavy that it funk to the bottom, 
even when entirely empty. Around the lower edge, 
weights were difpofed in fuch a manner that it lliould al¬ 
ways link in a perpendicular direction, and never remain 
in an oblique pofition. In the top was fixed a piece of 
ftrong glals to admit the light from above, and fikewile 
2 
I N G. 
a valve to give a paffiage to the air corrupted by the 
breath. Around fhe whole circumference of the bottom 
was placed a feat, on which the divers fat; and a (tool, 
fixed to ropes, hung below, on which they could (hind 
in order to work. The whole machine was fufpended 
from a crofs beam made fad to the mad of a (hip, fo that 
it could be eafily lowered down into the water and again 
drawn up. That the bell might be fupplied with frefh 
air, under the water, large c.tfks or veffiels filled with 
air, and which had an opening below through which the 
water comprelfed the included air, were let down by 
ropes. In the top of thefe veffiels were leather pipes, 
befmeared with oil, through which the diver introduced 
air from the veffiels into the bell; and as foon as a vefl'el 
was emptied, it was drawn up, on a fignal made by the 
diver, and another let down. The foul air in the bell, 
being the warmed and lighted, arofe to the top of the 
machine, where it was-, differed to efcape through the 
valve before mentioned. By thefe means the bell could 
be continually fupplied with i'refii air, in fuch abundance, 
that'Halley, and four other perfons, remained under.wa¬ 
ter, at the depth of ten fathoms, an hour and a half, 
without differing the lead injury, and could with equal 
fecurity have continued longer, or even as long as they 
might have wiflied. This precaution, however, is ne- 
celfary, that the bell be let down at firfi very (lowly, 
that the divers may be gradually accuflomed to infpire 
the compreffied air ; and at every twelve fathoms the bell 
mud be held fome time, in order to expel the water 
which lias ruffied in, by letting frefh air into it. By fuch 
apparatus, Halley was enabled to make the bottom of the 
fea, within the circumference of the bell, fo dry that the 
(and or mud did not rife above his fhoe. Through the 
window, in the top, fo much light was admitted, that 
when the fea was dill, and the waves did not roll, he 
could fee perfectly well to read and write under the wa¬ 
ter. When the empty air-veffiels were drawn up, he fent 
up with them his orders, written with an iron (pike on a 
plate of lead, and could thus let thofe above know when 
he wilhed to be removed with the bell to another place. 
In bad weather, and when the fea was rough, it was as 
dark under the bell as at night: he then kindled a light; 
but a burning candle confumed as much air as a man. 
The only inconvenience of which Halley complained was, 
that’, in going down, he felt a pain in his ears, as if a 
(harp quill had been thrud into them. This pain re¬ 
turned every time the bell was let down to a greater 
depth, but foon went off again. A diver thought to pre¬ 
vent this pain by putting chewed paper into both his 
ears; but the bits of paper were forced in fo far by the 
air, that a furgeon found great difficulty to extraCt them. 
That he might be able to fend a diver to the didance of 
feveral fathoms from the bell on the bottom of the fea, 
Halley invented a leaden cap, which covered the diver’s 
head. This cap had glafs before it, contained as much 
air as was fufficient for two minutes, and had affixed to 
it a thick pliable pipe, with the other end faflened to the 
bell, and which, at the cap, was furnifhed with a valve 
to convey frefh air to the diver from the bell. This pipe, 
which the diver was obliged to wind round his arm, 
ferved him alfo as a guide to find his way buck to the 
bell. A reprefentation of Dr. Halley’s diving-bell is given 
at fig. 1, in the annexed engraving. 
The diving machine of the well-known Mr. Triewald, 
architect to the king of Sweden, was much fmaller than 
the diving-bell of Dr. Halley, and was made of copper, 
tinned in the infide. It is condruCted to receive one di¬ 
ver only at a time. In order to admit a very drong light, 
there are circular convex lenfes fitted in at the top, de¬ 
fended by copper lids. To its rim are appended large 
leaden weights, to fink it to any depth, without being 
didurbed by waves or currents. The ring or plate on 
which the diver is to dand, is fufpended by three drong 
chains, at fuch a didance below the bell, that when the 
diver (lands upright, his head may reach to a convenient 
altitude 
