Abstract: Apparatus for handling a submersible device, such as a diving bell, includes a winch mounted on a support structure and having a suspension cable with a free end at which the submersible device is suspended, a guide structure fixed to the support structure and having two guidance ramps, each having a portion thereof extending below a water surface, a traveller having two parallel side members with a guidance device thereon which slidably cooperates with the two guidance ramps, a pulley back including two upper pulleys secured to the guide structure and a movable lower pulley fixed to the traveller with the suspension cable passing over the upper and lower pulleys so as to form n strands, and a locking device for releasably connecting the submersible device to the traveller.