Sponge diving

Through trading, Europeans used soft sponges for many purposes including padding for helmets, portable drinking utensils and municipal water filters.

Until the invention of synthetic sponges, they were used as cleaning tools, applicators for paints and ceramic glazes, and discreet contraceptives.

Diving for sponges brought social and economic development to the island: the freediving method was originally used.

Freediving, he was usually naked and carried a 15 kilograms (33 lb) skandalopetra, a rounded stone tied on a rope to the boat, to take him down to the bottom quickly.

The improvement in fatality rate was ascribed to the reduced daily diving time resulting from sharing the suits.

Sponge diver putting on his diving suit in Tarpon Springs, Florida .
Display of natural sponges for sale on Kalymnos in Greece
1897 schematic of commercial sponge diving