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

[David Wilson]

Thanks for your kind words and encouragement, Sam. Having done some research on 1950s snorkels, I'm not sure either that Bonin's claim to have invented the flexible snorkel really stacks up date-wise.

On to another couple of Sous Marine breathing tubes.

1016 Sous Marine Superflex snorkel

Sous Marine paired this snorkel with its more conventional 1014 Econoflex flexible-hose model reviewed earlier in this thread and illustrated below:

The names of these two products suggested that the Superflex was marketed as a luxury version of the Econoflex. The Superflex very closely resembled the Spiroflex breathing tube made by the French company La Spirotechnique:

The above is from La Spirotechnique's 1967 catalogue, where the Spiroflex is labelled "Nouveau" (New), which is confirmed by its absence from the firm's previous-year catalogue. This date coincides with the founding of Sous Marine, whose Superflex snorkel resembles La Spirotechnique's Spiroflex in several ways, including the emphasis on comfort, the "convoluted" flexible mouthpiece dropping away when not in use and the security lanyard anchor point just above the mouthpiece. The two models may well have been complete replicas, Sous Marine manufacturing the Superflex under a La Spirotechnique licence or La Spirotechnique manufacturing it to be rebranded by Sous Marine.

 

[David Wilson]

The next Sous Marine snorkel to be reviewed today is a conventional J-shaped model with a distinctive mouthpiece.

1017 Sous Marine Universal snorkel

The Superflex snorkel's demand end was a complex affair consisting of a drop-away corrugated rubber elbow and an offset mouthpiece. Though relatively short and simple, the Universal's counterpart came with convoluted accordion-like neck for comfort and flexibility. Another French diving equipment manufacturer, Beuchat of the Mediterranean port of Marseilles, launched this mouthpiece design in the early 1960s:

According to the caption, Beuchat's new 251 accordion-style mouthpiece offered extra flexibility and guaranteed watertightness. Beuchat's "Silent V" snorkel came with this mouthpiece:

So true to its French name, Sous Marine was inspired by the innovative snorkel mouthpiece designs of France's leading diving equipment manufacturers such as La Spirotechnique and Beuchat.

We'll complete our review of Sous Marine snorkels in a few days' time.

 

[David Wilson]

We're down to the final two Sous Marine snorkels. First the "Silent V".

1018 Sous Marine Silent V snorkel

Déjà vu? Indeed. "Silent V" is an English translation of the French "V Silencieux", which was the name of Beuchat's flagship snorkel of the time:

Both the sharp "V"-shape bend and the accordeon-style mouthpiece of the Marseilles company's original design are present in the Sous Marine offering. Beuchat's version is reviewed in Ley Kenyon and Werner de Haas' Aqualung Diving: A Complete and Practical Guide to the Underwater World (London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1970): "Tarzan V (Silencieux). A snorkel with a slightly bent rubber tube below, linked to the mouthpiece by a V-shaped angled piece made of plastic. Water collects in the insertion so that the gurgling noise accompanying breathing is largely eliminated." Beuchat's breathing tube received mixed reviews in a Which? Consumer Report of 1965:

 

[David Wilson]

The last Sous Marine snorkel to be reviewed is the "Tahiti", whose name inevitably reminds me of Paul Gauguin's nineteenth-century paintings of Pacific island scenes (example above).

1019 Sous Marine Tahiti snorkel

Apart from this model's traditional straight barrel, the Tahiti appears to be a replica of Sous Marine's "Big Bore" snorkel (below) reviewed earlier in this thread.

So that's it for Sous Marine's range of snorkels on sale during the late 1960s and the 1970s. A half-dozen models in all, which is quite a lot for one diving equipment manufacturer. We'll take a look at what Sous Marine offered in the way of fins in several days' time.

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks, John and Sam, for your "likes".

We'll move on now to the final phase of our review of Sous Marine, focusing on fins.

10140 Sous Marine Concord Jet Fin

Note the markings on the top of the foot pocket identifying the fin as a Sous Marine product and the name "Concord Jet Fin" embossed below. The illustration is from the Sous Marine catalogue of 1979.

An earlier version advertised in the British Sub Aqua Club journal Triton at the outset of the 1970s have more generic markings:

Note the absence of the word "Concord" spelt with or without an "e" on the fin itself, which inevitably leads to the conclusion that this model is for all intents and purposes a close cousin of the original Jetfin designed and manufactured by Beuchat in the Mediterranean port of Marseilles:

The original Sous Marine Concord Jet Fin isn't an exact copy of the Beuchat Jet Fin, though, as the former has a double-vented blade while the French version's blade is triple-vented. There's no mistaking the cursive script spelling out "Jetfin" on the top of the foot pockets of both models, however.

The vented-bladed Concord Jet Fin was the only model in Sous Marine's fin range. Unlike the Beuchat Jetfin with its full-foot design in smaller sizes, the Concord only came in an adjustable open-heel version, which made it all the odder that the 1979 Sous Marine catalogue offered fin grips for use with closed-heel fins:

1010 Sous Marine Fin Grips

Note the name of Sous Marine's proprietor, Colin Glass, on the straps. Georges Beuchat, who designed the original Jet Fins, had also invented the original fin grips at the beginning of the 1960s. He called them "fixe-palmes", illustrated in the image below:

and here's how fin grips are worn over full-foot fins:

But I suspect you knew that already. Next time we'll take a look at another British diving equipment manufacturer: Namron.

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks for the "likes", АлександрД and Sam, and on to Namron, which was founded in 1968 as Namron (Aqua Products) Ltd. Here's a typical ad for the company from a late-1970s issue of the British Sub Aqua Club magazine Triton:

As you can see from the address at the bottom of the ad, Namron was based in the South Yorkshire city of Sheffield:

Namron offered a full range of masks, snorkels and fins, which will now be reviewed in this thread. While I'm unconvinced that Namron actually manufactured all the diving equipment the company marketed, idistinguishing between products made in-house by Namron and Nameron branded goods supplied by other manufacturers has proved a trifle difficult even after thorough research.

 

[David Wilson]

We'll begin our Namron equipment review with diving masks. Here's one model illustrated and captioned in a period flyer from the company:

261 Capri

So a basic oval mask for the late 1970s, fitted with a nose pinch and a split strap. Here's a second from the same flyer:

516_Archilino

So Namron was keen to target the junior market as well as adult aquatic enthusiasts.

And here's the third model on this Namron diving mask flyer.

255 Super Atlantic

This mask is reminiscent of the Cressi Pinocchio (below), designed by Luigi Ferraro in the early 1950s and still in production:

The Namron flyer comes with an image of a topless female model (below) wearing the Namron Super Atlantic mask:

The flyer reveals more of her, but times have changed since the 1970s.

There are three more Namron flyers to review, each featuring a trio of Namron diving masks as well as the young woman above. Keep tuned.

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks again to Sam and АлександрД. On now to the second trio of Namron diving masks. First up is the Neptune.

562 Neptune Mask

This model bears more than a passing resemblance to the Britmarine B140 Oceanica diving mask, which we have already reviewed in another thread:

The catalogue caption: "B140 Oceanica. Tempered glass. Double flange.Contoured compensator with optional exhaust valve." The Oceanica appeared only once in Britmarine catalogues of the 1970s.

 

[David Wilson]

The second Namron diving mask to be reviewed today is the Bahama Junior.

7400 Bahama Junior

This mask too had its Britmarine counterpart, the B109 Caribbean Junior:

The Britmarine mask's catalogue caption reads as follows:
B109 Caribbean Junior Mask
• Tempered glass lens.
• Double flange.
• Fluorescent orange clamp.
• Contoured compensator.

 

[David Wilson]

The third and last in today's group of Namron diving masks is another junior model, the Splendido.

263 Splendido

This Namron mask shares its name with the similarly designed Britmarine B109 Splendido:

So is the resemblance between these Namron and Britmarine diving masks a mere coincidence? The Kent-based Haffenden company certainly manufactured sub-aqua products not only for its Britmarine brand but also for other companies such as Namron, which rebranded them for their own underwater swimming equipment ranges. We'll move on to another three Namron diving masks in a few days' time.