The FIRST Diving Bell Used To Explore the Lake Nemi Ships

Italian inventor Guglielmo de Lorena's built a diving bell in 1535 to investigate, explore and recover artifacts from the the sunken party ships at the bottom of Lake Nemi in Italy. Emperor Caligula's party ships were luxurious, massive barges with accommodations that would have been impressive even by todays standards. They were ahead of their time. But they were intentionally sunk to the bottom of Lake Nemi, likely for the massive dislike of the unhinged Roman emperor. While they were sunk in the first century CE, they were never forgotten. The diving bell helped confirmed their location and allowed the retrieval of important artifacts.
While this diving bell is not the first to pop up in history, it's the first confirmed instance of use of a diving bell to descend the watery depths. The first instance is a legend involving a similar apparatus used to take Alexander the Great to the bottom of the ocean to oversee the work of free divers. This is likely untrue.
#shorts #history #nemi #lake #caligula #ancient #ancienthistory #divingbell #diving #scubadiving #submersible #water #alexanderthegreat #1535 #italy #italian #romans #roman #romans #romanempire #romanemperor #ships #ship #barge #exploration #treasurehunting #treasure

[historicaltidbits]

Italian inventor Guglielmo de Lorena's built a diving bell in 1535 to investigate, explore and recover artifacts from the the sunken party ships at the bottom of Lake Nemi in Italy. Emperor Caligula's party ships were luxurious, massive barges with accommodations that would have been impressive even by todays standards. They were ahead of their time. But they were intentionally sunk to the bottom of Lake Nemi, likely for the massive dislike of the unhinged Roman emperor. While they were sunk in the first century CE, they were never forgotten. The diving bell helped confirmed their location and allowed the retrieval of important artifacts.
While this diving bell is not the first to pop up in history, it's the first confirmed instance of use of a diving bell to descend the watery depths. The first instance is a legend involving a similar apparatus used to take Alexander the Great to the bottom of the ocean to oversee the work of free divers. This is likely untrue.

[samlyell]

very sad...both barges were raised and housed in a gigantic museum that was then bombed during ww2... we only have pieces of them now...there are a few black and white pictures of them.