Basic gear from mid-twentieth-century Britain: Dunlop, Heinke, Siebe-Gorman etc

[David Wilson]

Next up is Sportcraft and its Seafarer swimming fin range.

Sportcraft Seafarer Swim fins

The Fenn catalogue caption reads: "Seafarer Swim fins. Designed especially for beginners and juniors. Excellent, well-finished, rigid and comfortable fins having adjustable heel straps with non-rust buckles."

When I was young, my parents bought me a pair of these fins and they helped me transform myself from a total non-swimmer into a basic "dog-paddler" and from there into a swimmer capable of completing widths and then lengths of the pool, first using backstroke and then crawl. Some people consider fins to be the sole preserve of skilled competitive swimmers, but I remain firmly of the belief that fins can be an active aid for the beginning swimmer, building the confidence and "floatability" necessary for the step beyond non-swimmer status.

Sadly, I no longer have my Seafarers, which would be too small anyway for my oversized adult feet. I recall each fin being coloured black with just one metal buckle to adjust the heel strap. The blade was quite stiff, which helped me generate enough thrust with my foot to get me off the bottom of the pool and into a prone position on the surface of the water.

I recall seeing an ad many decades ago illustrating a second model in the Seafarer range: The Super Seafarer Swim Fin. It was also an adjustable heel strap fin, but it cost more and came with a somewhat different shape.

So much for British basic underwater gear from the 1950s and early 1960s. Next time we'll look at relative newcomer: Sous Marine. This diving equipment company was established in the Channel Island of Guernsey in the late 1960s.

 

[David Wilson]

The images above are from the 1979 Sous Marine catalogue if basic diving gear. Sous Marine was founded by Collin Glass in the English Channel Island of Guernsey.

Here is one of the company's earliest advertisements in a 1970 issue of the British Sub Aqua Club journal Triton:

A late 1972 Sous Marine advertisement in the same magazine revealed the presence of a manufacturing base in the county of Dorset on the British mainland:

 

[David Wilson]

We'll go straight on to the Sous Marine range of diving masks. One of the problems any diving equipment historian experiences when exploring the contents of past company catalogues is the common failure by the company to distinguish between products made in-house, products with the company's logo but made by other manufacturers and products made elsewhere but carried by the company. The Sous Marine catalogue is no exception to this convention. Anyway, let's begin with Sous Marine's flagship diving mask.

1000 Sous Marine Allasio diving mask

So what we have here in the case of the Allasio model is an oval compensator mask with a stainless steel rim and a purge valve on the bottom of the skirt. Note the markings on the last image with spelling of "Collin Glass", the company's owner, as "Colin Glass".

By the time the 1979 Sous Marine catalogue came along, the Allasio had changed its shape from oval to rounded rectangular and the position of its purge valve from the bottom of the skirt to the front of the lens:

 

[David Wilson]

The Sous Marine Nevada began as a rounded rectangular diving mask claiming to match most people's facial dimensions.

1001 Sous Marine Nevada diving mask

The picture above is from a 1970 issue of Triton. By 1970, the misspelling of "Nevada" as "Navada" had been corrected in the BSAC journal. The mask sported a stainless steel rim and an optional drain valve and compensator bosses.

By the time of the 1979 Sous Marine catalogue, the Nevada had changed its shape from rounded rectangular to oval:

The mask had also meanwhile changed its target population from "most faces" to "ladies and smaller faces", while sporting the general features of the flagship "Allasio" model.

So much for Sous Marine's Allasio and Nevada diving masks, which appear to have exchanged their morphologies between the early and the late 1970s. Next time we'll take a look at Sous Marine's two "Supervision" diving masks.

 

[David Wilson]

On to Sous Marine's "Supervision" diving masks.

1002 Sous Marine Supervision diving mask

So this is a rounded rectangular mask with a front drain valve and compensator bosses with a stainless-steel clamp surrounding a toughened glass lens.

The second Supervision mask resembled the first but came without a drain valve.

1003 Sous Marine Supervision diving mask

These two models are certainly reminiscent of Scubavision diving masks in the Marin brand diving equipment range made in the French Mediterranean city of Nice:

Marin is known to have made gear for other companies, including the UK Typhoon company. I believe Scubapro acquired Marin at some stage of the 1970s, which displeased other French manufacturers of diving equipment.

 

[David Wilson]

Two more Sous Marine diving masks to go. Next up is the Maxi View model.

1004 Sous Marine Maxi View diving mask

While wide-view three-window masks were manufactured and marketed by a variety of companies, this model came with a rarer feature: front wires enabling ear clearing when encumbered with gloves or a single-hose regulator. This feature was not unique, however, as this 1960s Voit 50 Fathom diving mask shows:

Here are some more pictures of the Sous Marine Maxi View mask:

The last two images clearly show the provenance of the mask and suggest that Sous Marine either manufactured the mask or had it made to their specifications.

 

[David Wilson]

The final mask in the Sous Marine range is a twin-lens device.

1005 Sous Marine Bino Max diving mask

Low volume appears to be the order of the day in this case. This was Sous Marine's 1979 nod in the direction of modern twin-lens diving masks.

We'll explore Sous Marine's snorkel range next time.

 

[David Wilson]

On to the Sous Marine range of snorkels.

1014 Sous Marine Econoflex snorkel

The caption reads: "1014 Econoflex. Super comfortable and easy to clear. Black only with Glo top." This accordion-type breathing tube design was supposed to benefit scuba divers, who wanted their snorkel to be within reach but out of the way when not in use. The design dates back long before the 1970s. In an interview reproduced online at Fathoms Online Magazine for underwater enthusiasts, Scubapro co-founder Dick Bonin claims to have been the inventor of the first "flexible snorkel": "We brought out the first flexible snorkel. In Chicago, they used to sell surplus aircraft parts so I took a hose and put it on a snorkel tube, and I never forgot that. Swimaster priced it at $2.95 and everyone said we were out of our minds, but we sold them like crazy."

Rival British brands Britmarine and Typhoon manufactured similar models around the same time, also with bright safety-orange tops to alert others of the snorkeller's presence in the water:

Britmarine Mariner

Typhoon Snorkel Model "T4" (T-Flex)

 

[David Wilson]

Sous Marine's "Big Bore" snorkel combined several innovative characteristics of 1970s breathing tube design.

1015 Sous Marine Big Bore snorkel

* The L-shape eliminates the usual depth of tubing below head level. The shallow draft reduces water drag - aids in expelling water - and reduces resistance to breathing.
* The wrap-around design fits contour of head and minimises water resistance.
* The wide bore facilitates air flow from the supply end above the waves to the demand end at the mouthpiece.

The "Big Bore" snorkel closely resembles the "Model GST Wrap-around Big Barrel" snorkel manufactured in the USA by Dacor in the late 1960s:

Four more Sous Marine snorkels to go. We'll review another couple next time.

 

[Sam Miller III]

David
interesting thread - especially about the late Dick Bonin .. I was unaware the he claimed to have invented the flexible snorkel, but might have! Divemaster of Chicago whom he was associated with immediately after USN service during Korea. was known for many things -- They offered homemade SCUBA units constructed from surplus items ie 38 Cuft aircraft tanks and diluter demand aircraft regulators, on site dive classes (@drbill note) even a mail order class created by the late great E R Cross (most famous was @drbills friend Zale Parry who was DM #10 went on to become the third LA Co UW Instructor as well as # 3 in the world. Beginning about 1955 they also issued large mail order equipment catalogs -- now great silent witness as to what once was but is no more

I some how suspect the flexible snorkel was a universal discovery with out bounds ,

I constructed one about the same time and still have it packed away. Mine was made from a length of green plastic aquarium hose a flexible WW11 gas mask hose and a snorkel mouth piece. At the time I made it the idea did not seem earth shaking for I had seen several on the beach constructed that way before I made mine . Then about 10 years later they came on the market .

I recall posting "some where" about the first time I saw a home made "big bore " made by the late Duke Palowitz at Dana Point California --a story for another time and another day

Keep up the great work - your posts and you are appreciated

Sam Miller, III