had
been made on the most extensive scale, and in accordance with the latest
improvements in the apparatus for submarine operations.
Buoys, made of huge canvas sacks, coated with India rubber, and guarded
by a net work of strong cordage, had been manufactured and provided by
the _New York Submarine Company_. These buoys, when inflated and working
in pairs, had a lifting capacity of 30 tons a pair. Reservoirs of air,
provided with powerful compression pumps, always accompanied the buoys.
To attach the latter, in a collapsed condition, with strong chains to
the sides of the vessels which were to be lifted, a diving apparatus was
necessary. This also the _New York Company_ had provided, and it was so
perfect in its way that, by means of peculiar appliances of easy
management, the diver could walk about on the bottom, take his own
bearings, ascend to the surface at pleasure, and open his helmet without
assistance. A few sets likewise of Rouquayrol and Denayrouze's famous
submarine armor had been provided. These would prove of invaluable
advantage in all operations performed at great sea depths, as its
distinctive feature, "the regulator," could maintain, what is not done
by any other diving armor, a constant equality of pressure on the lungs
between the external and the internal air.
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