Turkey is surrounded by sea on three sides, by the Black Sea to the North, the Mediterranean Sea to the South and the Aegean Sea to the West. In the Northwest of the country there is also the landlocked sea, called the Sea of Marmara. This sea is between the Dardanelles to the South west and the Bosporus to the Northeast. These 3 pieces of water connect the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea and are a major shipping route. In 1936 an average of 15 ships weighing 13 tonnes passed through this waterway everyday, but with the discovery of oil and World trade this increased to an incredible 126 ships with an average weight of 200 000 tonnes per day in 1996.

Sponge diving was a different type of diving to most commercial operations.. Whereas the usual method would be to anchor the boat at the operations site , with sponge diving the boat would continue to motor and follow the diver's air bubbles . Huge lengths of air hose were paid out and the tender would guide the helmsman away from the floating hose . Accidents did happen with the hose becoming fouled with the propeller so a cage like device was designed by Gabriel Peterson . Sponge helmets had four lights , the top light being particularly useful as the diver often had to work in strong currents leaning into the current at an angle of 45 degrees. Chest weights were favored to the waist weight belts as these helped with the divers centre of gravity. The hose was often placed between the divers legs to help reduce the drag on the helmet where it was fastened. Air control valves were not used and exhaust air was expelled by the diver using a button on the inside of the helmet. This meant the diver's hands were free to continue the harvest and very small and delicate adjustments were possible. An experienced sponge diver was able to control his buoyancy with great accuracy. The exhaust valve was positioned further to the rear than a navy helmet as this prevented the likely ingress of water which occurs when working with the face in a downward position. The general depth the sponge divers worked was around 20 meters though some divers would work to 40 meters.
 

A four light 12 bolt Turkish helmet used for harvesting sponges off the coast of Turkey . We estimate this helmet to date back to around the 1920s. There are weight loops to the sides of the helmet and the wing nuts are the earlier butterfly design and there are 4 brailles. The side windows appears to be removable.
The side view of the helmet reveals the large face glass proportions relative to the side windows. The face glass is not removable although it is unclear if this was a later modification to the original helmet . Notice how low the breastplate is relative to other 12 bolt helmets. The bonnet appears to be similar in shape to the French helmets from around the 1900s.

The rear view clearly shows the exhaust valve which appears similar in design the the Siebe Gorman valve. There is a leaded soldered patch above the inlet gooseneck and the inlet area has been heavily reinforced and protected with the addition of a retaining strap. The helmet has numerous small dents but is in remarkable condition for its age. The helmet does not have a makers plate or badge.


Photos courtesy of Ed Fogderud.
 

Another 12 bolt sponge diver's helmet. There are no guards on these helmets as there was little chance of impact from falling objects. The breastplate is
higher on this helmet and the wingnuts are of the later design. This helmet has the Makers name plate and we estimate it dates from around the 1930s -40s.

Photo courtesy of Leon Lyons.