Oldest diving device in history may be early 17th-century Spanish invention

> “Their conclusion is that this strange piece of copper — 147 cm in diameter and dotted with rivets — is the upper part of a diving bell; …”

> “In any case, the copper bell in question, according to researchers, would not have traveled in that convoy, but on one of the salvage ships sent to recover the cargo. The promoter of that expedition was the Spanish soldier and politician Francisco Núñez Melián, resident in Havana and treasurer of the Windward Islands at the time of the shipwreck. According to a document dated 1630 and consulted by the researchers, Melián was aware of the lost riches and obtained royal permission to send a frigate to the area of the shipwreck in August 1625, piloted by a certain Francisco de la Luz. The fate of that vessel, whose name remains unknown, is still a mystery, but everything suggests that it was lost off the coast of Florida with the diving equipment it was carrying to attempt to extract the precious cargo.”