Which disease struck the workers building the Brooklyn Bridge in the US in the late 19th century?

The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. It is 5,989 feet (1,825 meters) long. The bridge goes over the East River. It connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. It is one of the leading landmarks of New York City.

The bridge was built from 1869 to 1883. It was the first fixed crossing of the East River. It was designed by John Roebling. The construction was directed by his son Washington Roebling and Washington's wife, Emily.

Those who had been working on the first tower in Brooklyn began to come down with an illness that they called Caisson's Disease, named for the large, watertight chambers the construction workers labored in. It is now believed that the workers were getting sick because they failed to decompress after working deep underwater.

Today we know the disease better as the bends, a disease that commonly afflicts scuba divers. It occurs when a solution in bubbles releases gases that are dissolved and impact parts of the body.

When working on the tower on the Manhattan side, the workers continued to get sick from Caisson's Disease. At one point they decided that enough was enough.

Bedrock was 107 feet down (32 meters), but they stopped at 80 feet (24 meters). The Manhattan side, therefore, is built on an already existing sand bed.