Sibe Gorman & Co

From early in the nineteenth century until the present time, the image of a copper and brass diver’s helmet or hard-hat has been an easily recognisable icon which most people could associate with what has always been referred to as “deep-sea diving”.. This is the story of the company responsible for that image: Sibe Gorman & Co

Historical Diving in Ireland

While there were few diving inventors or innovators in Ireland, it is remarkable that many of the early diving pioneers worked around the Irish coast. Local entrepreneurs and salvors were quick to exploit the invention of the helmet in the early 19th century and rapidly took on salvage work on their own account.

Lost to Time and Tide

This article offers no conclusions or answers, and is only designed to record some unusual archaeological features within a beautiful bay, which seem to have been forgotten and their use gone unrecorded. One wonders, just how old they are? Suggestions please.

Concrete Ships

Irish shipyards Warrenpoint – Concrete ships Cretefield During the First world war a shortage of steel developed as replacements were being built for the huge tonnage sunk by submarines. Steel was prioritised for construction of warships. Late in the war the USA envisaged a fleet of concrete ships but few were completed before the war… Continue reading Concrete Ships

Dublin Port Diving Bell

Engineering by Cormac F. Lowth This article was first published in The International Journal of Diving History, Volume 3, Number 1, July 2010 The restored bell In  the  nineteenth  century,  several  factors  combined,  which  both  facilitated  and  necessitated  the expansion of the Port of Dublin. The seaward approaches to Dublin Port have always been hazardous… Continue reading Dublin Port Diving Bell