1117

The use of swimming belts.

A METHOD OF ESCAPING IN A TEMPEST AND SHIPWRECK AT SEA.

Have a coat made of leather, which must be double across the breast, that is having a hem on each side of about a finger breadth. Thus it will be double from the waist to the knee; and the leather must be quite air-tight. When you want to leap into the sea, blow out the skirt of your coat through the double hems of the breast; and jump into the sea, and allow yourself to be carried by the waves; when you see no shore near, give your attention to the sea you are in, and always keep in your mouth the air-tube which leads down into the coat; and if now and again you require to take a breath of fresh air, and the foam prevents you, you may draw a breath of the air within the coat.

[Footnote: AMORETTI, Memorie Storiche, Tav. II. B. Fig. 5, gives the same figure, somewhat altered. 6. La canna dell’ aria. Compare Vol. I. No. I. Note]

Taken from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci edited by Jean Paul Richter, 1880.

Notebooks of Leonoardo da Vinci
XVIII: Naval Warfare.--Mechanical Appliances.--Music.
The ship’s logs of Vitruvius, of Alberti and of Leonardo.
1113
Methods of staying and moving in water.
1114
On naval warfare.
1115,
1116
The use of swimming belts.
1117
On the gravity of water.
1118
Diving apparatus and Skating.
1119,
1120,
1121
On Flying machines.
1122,
1123,
1124,
1125,
1126
Of mining.
1127
Of Greek fire.
1128
Of Music.
1129,
1130
Of decorations.
1131
. . .