Around 1865-70 Fotis Mastoridis, a seaman from Symi aboard an English ship, saw how shipwrecks are pulled up from the bottom of the sea at the Cape of Good Hope. A diving machine used supplied air to the diving suit via a rubber tube. The machine was operated by two people, who rotated an iron wheel connected to a pneumatic drill. That was when the Greek seaman came up with the idea to use this machine to collect the sponges around the Island of Symi.

The first try

When the English ship passed near Lemnos in order to load goods, Mastoridis fell in love with a girl and her that he would return to marry her.  But when he returned to Lemnos after many months, he heard that his fiancé had gotten sick and that she had passed away.

He then asked her sister, Eugenia, to marry him. She accepted, under the condition one of her brothers would accompany them to Symo. That is how Mastoridis returned to Symi with his wife and his brother-in-law.

A few months after his return, he wanted to show the ship-owners the diving machine that he had brought with him from his last journey. They all went to Nimporios' port in Symi to watch the show, but no men dared to try on the diving suit. Even though she was three months pregnant, Eugenia Mavriou got in the suit and dived into the dark water without hesitation. Once she reached 15 metres of depth, where the bottom is smooth, she grabbed a stone as a proof and resurfaced. The men suddenly felt more courageous and immediately hastened to try the machine. After that, sponge ship owners were convinced and decided to buy the machine.

However, several accidents took place back then, because the sponge ships threw the divers in waters deeper than 45 metres, which was the limit for the machine. Accidents decreased many years later, when a French diving machine arrived at the island, which could pump air to a depth of 80 metres.

He took over

The story was told by Tassos Anastasiadis, who manufactures and repairs diving machines in Symi. "This art can only be stolen, not taught. I remember my grandfather copying and remaking imported diving machines. He gave the cylinders a larger diameter and increased the route of the plungers, and addapted a valve, through which the air found its way into the diving suit. Fortunately my father and I looked ahead and kept some old tools. I have three warehouses full of tools. A museum has asked me to give them a diving machine, but I won't, in fact I keep it well hidden".

Tassos Anastasiadis is a different kind of artist but he hesitates to display his favorite works, afraid that people are not yet ready to appreciate them nor keep them safe. In these diving suits some of the best men of Symi left their dying breath and he doubts whether there is an official authority that can understand their value today.

Mr. Tassos is a great narrator, and he didn't forget the end of the story, mentioning that Eugenia's brother flourished, created a family and had children and grandchildren in Symi. That is how the name Mavrios still exists on the island. 
TEXT-PHOTOS: GEORGE ZAFEIROPOULOS
SOURCE: www.greecewithin.com

 MORE PHOTOS

The pneumatic drill's wheel which used to drain air in the diving suit (Folklore Museum of Symi).

Full diving suit and diving machine in a store at Symi.

Symi, perhaps the most beautiful traditional settlement of Greece.

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