Info Dance of the Bent Diver - "O Choros Tou Mechanicou" : Cultural and Social Impact of DCS in a 19th-century community of a Greek island

[Antonios (Holy Diver)]

The little Aegean island of Kalymnos Kalymnos - Wikipedia has a millenia-old history of sponge diving. The introduction of Standard Diving Dress in 1850's in the local sponge diving industry led to a boom in island's economy, population and wealth, as new, previously inaccessible expanses of the Mediterranean deep could be exploited. Nevertheless, the total lack of knowledge about decompression theory and procedures led to an exponential growth of casualties. Between 1886-1910 the estimated death rate for active hard hat divers was more than 40%, and the sum of divers bent reaches the stunning number of 30.000 (10.000 dead and 20.000 crippled for life) for the second half of 19th and the whole span of 20th century. It was not until mid 20th century, after WWII, with the foundation of a State Diving School, the advent of decompression tables and scuba, but mainly the spread of modern synthetic sponges (leading to a steep decline in the demand for sea sponges), that the rate of casualties plummeted.
These events had profound and deep effects on islanders' mentality and culture. Today, the most popular traditional dance is named "O Choros tou Mechanicou" - 'Dance of the Bent Mechanic' (Mechanic was the folk term for a hard hat diver). The lead dancer depicts a bent, crippled ex- diver, who trembles and stumbles on a cane as he tries in vain to dance. As the melody unfolds, the bent dancer gathers his strength, and unexpectedly tosses away his cane and dances triumphantly.

Sponge Diving in Kalymnos Island | Greeka

Kalymnos Sponge Diving: Information about the History and Tradition of Sponge Diving in Kalymnos island, Dodecanese, Greece.

www.greeka.com

Ο Μηχανικός και η ιστορία του

H τραγική μοίρα των σφουγγαράδων της Καλύμνου αποτέλεσε την έμπνευση για το δεύτερο κατά σειρά Swiss made ρολόι της ελληνικής εταιρείας Ianos και του Ιάκωβου Χατζηδημητρίου. Και το όνομα αυτού: Μηχανικός. Γραμμένο στα ελληνικά.

www.kathimerini.gr

 

[Akimbo]

I have always been curious about this. The Royal Navy's Haldane tables and the US Navy's extended Haldane-based tables were published years before World War I. Do you have any idea why decompression tables didn't seem to find their way to Greece until after World War II?

The Tarpon Springs sponge industry was started by Greek immigrants in the late 1880s and also had high DCS hit rates. I get the impression that sponge industry in Key West Florida had a lot fewer DCS hits, but don't know that for sure.

 

[JMBL]

Kalymnos is also known as the "island of the widows"... That speaks volume...

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

The current oldest surviving sponge diver told me that if he was unable to light his cigarette after back on board, he knew he was in trouble.

He's probably been bent more than I have dives.

 

[Bob DBF]

I have always been curious about this. The Royal Navy's Haldane tables and the US Navy's extended Haldane-based tables were published years before World War I. Do you have any idea why decompression tables didn't seem to find their way to Greece until after World War II?

I went hunting and found this web page about the subject. Although it does not say it directly, but I believe the the lack of education and sophistication of the divers slowed the adoption of new methods.

"A combination of several dives a day to depths up to 70 meters and then coming up without decompression stops did not miss its devastating effect: in the first years the standard suit was used, about half of the divers got paralised or died of decompression sickness. In her book "Bitter Sea", Faith Warn discribes that between 1886 and 1910 about 10.000 divers died and 20.000 got pemanently disabled.

This was also of big influence on all the people on Kalymnos. Every family had fathers, sons, brothers or other relatives that were paralised or never returned from the sponge diving season. By the end of the 19th century this caused big anxiety on Kalymnos, especially among women. In those days Kalymnos was ocupied by the Turks. The women asked the Turkish sultan to forbid the standard diving suit, which he did in 1882. Profits dropped: the divers had to go "skin diving" again. About 4 years later the suit was back and so were the decompression accidents."


"It is easy to understand why the divers used the standard suit not knowing the dangers: The knowledge of decompression and decompression sickness developed in the 19th century. The studies used sponge diver experiences as input. The first workable decompression table came available around 1910. After that it took several years to get the knowledge to the remote Greek islands. Decompression tables could not prevent all diving accidents. The first tables did not cover repeated dives and the sponge divers made several repeated dives each day. As soon as they found out how important the bottom time was to prevent accidents the bottom time was kept by somebody aboard the ship. They used an hour-glass for this that was not very accurate."

Greek sponge diving

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I went hunting and found this web page about the subject. Although it does not say it directly, but I believe the the lack of education and sophistication of the divers slowed the adoption of new methods.

"A combination of several dives a day to depths up to 70 meters and then coming up without decompression stops did not miss its devastating effect: in the first years the standard suit was used, about half of the divers got paralised or died of decompression sickness. In her book "Bitter Sea", Faith Warn discribes that between 1886 and 1910 about 10.000 divers died and 20.000 got pemanently disabled.

This was also of big influence on all the people on Kalymnos. Every family had fathers, sons, brothers or other relatives that were paralised or never returned from the sponge diving season. By the end of the 19th century this caused big anxiety on Kalymnos, especially among women. In those days Kalymnos was ocupied by the Turks. The women asked the Turkish sultan to forbid the standard diving suit, which he did in 1882. Profits dropped: the divers had to go "skin diving" again. About 4 years later the suit was back and so were the decompression accidents."


"It is easy to understand why the divers used the standard suit not knowing the dangers: The knowledge of decompression and decompression sickness developed in the 19th century. The studies used sponge diver experiences as input. The first workable decompression table came available around 1910. After that it took several years to get the knowledge to the remote Greek islands. Decompression tables could not prevent all diving accidents. The first tables did not cover repeated dives and the sponge divers made several repeated dives each day. As soon as they found out how important the bottom time was to prevent accidents the bottom time was kept by somebody aboard the ship. They used an hour-glass for this that was not very accurate."

Greek sponge diving

Sponge diving wasn't limited to Kalymnos. There were sponge divers all over the Aegean. After Chernobyl (it is debatable whether it is related) the sponge population crashed and basically killed the industry. Only the divers on Kalymnos hung on.

Being as poor as they were, they'd push the limits to get as many sponges as they could. They also found a lot of shipwrecks, some of which they looted and sold on the black market. This still continues to this day.

My first visit to Kalymnos in 2011, there was this 1 meter high half a meter wide amphora used as decoration at a laundromat. I've seen looted antiquities in homes. In 2015, due to the acceptance of the reality that most homes in Kalymnos had looted antiquities and that Greece doesn't have enough museum space for the antiquities that it has (as told to me of a former senior archaeologist in the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities), people were required to register their artifacts.

I am skeptical of the hourglass. Some may have used it. The sponge diver I know (a rather controversial one due to his son) never mentioned it. I suspect that it was trial and error that they figured out how long they could stay down. If they couldn't light a cigarette back on board, they knew they were in trouble.

 

[Bob DBF]

I am skeptical of the hourglass. Some may have used it.

Well, if they were trying to use tables and didn't have a watch... the larger point is that when they had the information, the execution of proper diving procedures still were not used. Needless to say, it took a great toll.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Well, if they were trying to use tables and didn't have a watch... the larger point is that when they had the information, the execution of proper diving procedures still were not used. Needless to say, it took a great toll.

they didn't have tables. They had trial and error. The oldest surviving sponge diver is 74 years old. Mind you, this is in the area where many non-divers live well into their 90s, some making it over 100 and living active lives. Ikaria (not far away) has been called "the island where people forget to die."

I remember going to lunch with him on the island of Levitha back in 2018. We had to walk a fair bit up to this path to the only restaurant. Yeah, it had really taken its toll.

 

[Antonios (Holy Diver)]

Many excellent postings here. I found this little bit of information in Jacques Cousteau's book "The Silent World"( Chapter : Sunken Ships, p.27), describing his meeting with greek sponge divers back in 1943:

"We met a party of Greek professionals at sea off Corsica. In old patched suits and dented helmets they leaped into the water and dropped a hundred and seventy feet in seconds. Ater ten or fifteen minutes, they came up slowly, but showed complete ignorance of stage decompression, which for a dive of that depth and duration requires an ascending diver to halt ten feet below the surface for nine minutes..."

Cousteau, Jacques - Yves, 2004, The Silent World, Washington DC, The National Geographic Society

The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Antonios (Holy Diver)]

Kalymnos is also known as the "island of the widows"... That speaks volume...

As an old Kalymnos proverb said for the island's women: "In April and May they get married, in April and May they are widowed."
In traditional Greek communities many weddings were taking place in April and May, after Orthodox Easter, as Greek Orthodox Church prohibits wedding ceremonies during the Great Lent (late February, March and early April). Nevertheless, the sponge harvesting season commenced after Greek Orthodox Easter too. As the fleet of sponge boats with divers onboard set sail for mediterranean waters, most people knew full well that many newlywed women would never again see their diver husbands. In October the sponge fleet returned home, and all the women greeting the sailors were clad in black, as a gesture of solidarity for those among them who would learn about the death of their husbands.