Comparing “diving” as most people know it to “saturation diving” is a bit like comparing an amateur bicyclist to a professional construction worker. They might share the same environment and the same need to breathe, but other than that, they are in fact doing quite different things (this applies to most types of diving, by the way). Saturation diving (meaning the diver’s tissues have absorbed the maximum of gas possible) was practically explored at the end of the 1930s in order to (A.) reduce a diver’s risk of decompression sickness when (B.) working at great depth for (C.) long periods of time — in other words, to increase both effectiveness and safety. [Read More ...]
With names like that, and since they’ve both been at the top of the game in their respective categories for their entire existence, is it any wonder these two companies got together? Seems destined, doesn’t it? And really… what tool watch nerd doesn’t go weak in the knees upon seeing or hearing that magical word, COMEX? [Read More ...]
As you may have realized from reading some of my stories I have since the beginning of my career always loved the underwater cutting jobs and so what more normal if today as a retired commercial diver that is having a bit more free time, I took it to interest me a little more in detail in the development of this technique. [Read More ...]
In the late 1950s, Mike Carson was one of the youngest hard hat divers in the Los Angeles Harbor. In 1958 he worked with Al Hansen wrapping the first pilings at the Mattson Dock in the Los Angeles Harbor. Mike and Al's son, John Hansen designed a fiberglass diving mask. Though they only sold a small number of these masks, it was from these humble beginnings that Mike went on to design and build other diving equipment such as com boxes and underwater camera housings while continuing to design and manufacture diving masks and helmets. [Read More ...]
Jacques Cousteau, in full Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (born June 11, 1910, Saint-André-de-Cubzac, France—died June 25, 1997, Paris), French naval officer, ocean explorer, and coinventor of the Aqua-Lung, known for his extensive underseas investigations.
After graduating from France’s naval academy in 1933, he was commissioned a second lieutenant. However, his plans to become a navy pilot were undermined by an almost fatal automobile accident in which both his arms were broken. [Read More ...]
For centuries fishermen from the Indonesian archipelago had visited the northern Australian coast seeking trepang (sea cucumbers) and trochus (sea snails). But it was not until the very end of the seventeenth century that a European visitor, the English buccaneer and explorer William Dampier, noticed the presence of pearlshell in the waters of Shark Bay. [Read More ...]
Muscling icebergs out of the way? Brushes with bull sharks? Just another day for commercial diver Britt Coates. The diver – and dive instructor – gives us the low-down on his very adventurous, not-quite nine to fiver – and shows off in a few shots from his base at the Divers Institute, Seattle. [Read More ...]
Serious exploration of the underwater world began in the early 17th century, when the first submarine was invented by Dutch physician Cornelis Drebbel. Then, the environment beneath the sea was considered the most dangerous and mysterious on earth – long before the prospect of exploring environments, such as outer space, was even feasible.
The invention of individual diving suits in the early 18th century allowed a more refined exploration of the ocean depths. The initial drive for the creation of diving suits was to aid salvage missions, at a time when many ships (carrying many treasures) were lost to the ocean on perilous journeys. The first diving suits were designed in 1710s and in 1715, English inventor John Lethbridge created the first fully-enclosed suit, consisting of watertight sleeves, a pressurised air filled barrel and a viewing hole. [Read More ...]
The US Navy is the forerunner in the development of modem diving and underwater operations. The general requirements of national defense and the specific requirements of underwater reconnaissance, demolition, ordnance disposal, construction, ship maintenance, search, rescue, and salvage operations repeatedly give impetus to training and development. [Read More ...]
The divers were operating from the Seaway Eagle
The divers who descended to the Russian submarine Kursk at the bottom of the Barents Sea have been talking publicly for the first time about the operation.
The six men - four Britons and two Norwegians - have emerged from a decompression chamber after their mission in more than 300 feet of water. [Read More ...]
Comparing “diving” as most people know it to “saturation diving” is a bit like comparing an amateur bicyclist to a professional construction worker. They might share the same environment and the same need to breathe, but other than that, they are in fact doing quite different things (this applies to most types of diving, by the way). Saturation diving (meaning the diver’s tissues have absorbed the maximum of gas possible) was practically explored at the end of the 1930s in order to (A.) reduce a diver’s risk of decompression sickness when (B.) working at great depth for (C.) long periods of time — in other words, to increase both effectiveness and safety. [Read More ...]
With names like that, and since they’ve both been at the top of the game in their respective categories for their entire existence, is it any wonder these two companies got together? Seems destined, doesn’t it? And really… what tool watch nerd doesn’t go weak in the knees upon seeing or hearing that magical word, COMEX? [Read More ...]
As you may have realized from reading some of my stories I have since the beginning of my career always loved the underwater cutting jobs and so what more normal if today as a retired commercial diver that is having a bit more free time, I took it to interest me a little more in detail in the development of this technique. [Read More ...]
In the late 1950s, Mike Carson was one of the youngest hard hat divers in the Los Angeles Harbor. In 1958 he worked with Al Hansen wrapping the first pilings at the Mattson Dock in the Los Angeles Harbor. Mike and Al's son, John Hansen designed a fiberglass diving mask. Though they only sold a small number of these masks, it was from these humble beginnings that Mike went on to design and build other diving equipment such as com boxes and underwater camera housings while continuing to design and manufacture diving masks and helmets. [Read More ...]
Jacques Cousteau, in full Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (born June 11, 1910, Saint-André-de-Cubzac, France—died June 25, 1997, Paris), French naval officer, ocean explorer, and coinventor of the Aqua-Lung, known for his extensive underseas investigations.
After graduating from France’s naval academy in 1933, he was commissioned a second lieutenant. However, his plans to become a navy pilot were undermined by an almost fatal automobile accident in which both his arms were broken. [Read More ...]
For centuries fishermen from the Indonesian archipelago had visited the northern Australian coast seeking trepang (sea cucumbers) and trochus (sea snails). But it was not until the very end of the seventeenth century that a European visitor, the English buccaneer and explorer William Dampier, noticed the presence of pearlshell in the waters of Shark Bay. [Read More ...]
Muscling icebergs out of the way? Brushes with bull sharks? Just another day for commercial diver Britt Coates. The diver – and dive instructor – gives us the low-down on his very adventurous, not-quite nine to fiver – and shows off in a few shots from his base at the Divers Institute, Seattle. [Read More ...]
Serious exploration of the underwater world began in the early 17th century, when the first submarine was invented by Dutch physician Cornelis Drebbel. Then, the environment beneath the sea was considered the most dangerous and mysterious on earth – long before the prospect of exploring environments, such as outer space, was even feasible.
The invention of individual diving suits in the early 18th century allowed a more refined exploration of the ocean depths. The initial drive for the creation of diving suits was to aid salvage missions, at a time when many ships (carrying many treasures) were lost to the ocean on perilous journeys. The first diving suits were designed in 1710s and in 1715, English inventor John Lethbridge created the first fully-enclosed suit, consisting of watertight sleeves, a pressurised air filled barrel and a viewing hole. [Read More ...]
The US Navy is the forerunner in the development of modem diving and underwater operations. The general requirements of national defense and the specific requirements of underwater reconnaissance, demolition, ordnance disposal, construction, ship maintenance, search, rescue, and salvage operations repeatedly give impetus to training and development. [Read More ...]
The divers were operating from the Seaway Eagle
The divers who descended to the Russian submarine Kursk at the bottom of the Barents Sea have been talking publicly for the first time about the operation.
The six men - four Britons and two Norwegians - have emerged from a decompression chamber after their mission in more than 300 feet of water. [Read More ...]