Today's topic is the story of a man and his inventions. The man was Paul Dubois, who named the diving mask he invented "Squale" after the French word for "shark". We'll concentrate first on the man, whose biography can be found on a website dedicated to the history of Sanary-sur-mer (above) in South-East France at
Histoire de la Ville de Sanary-sur-Mer » Paul DUBOIS, l’Homme au Masque… SQUALE. Here it is, roughly translated from the original:
Paul DUBOIS, the Man with the Mask ... SQUALE. (By Gerard LORIDON)
Paul DUBOIS, who was never predestined to become an inventor of originality and prestige, was born in Paris on June 16, 1899 and I still feel that he is with us in the port of Sanary.
First of all, chief accountant at the Baltar covered market, he became in the 1930s a SUCHARD chocolate representative. Back then, he has distinguished himself by inventing a certain bar of this delicious product. He meets his wife Jeanine, who will occupy a big place in his adventures. They fall in love and marry on November 9, 1934.
They could have been so happy, in this world, distributing a famous exotic product ... Even though Paul, whose dynamism was not the least of his faults, was already thinking of other, more auspicious horizons. According to his wife Jeanine, he was a good salesman and was thinking of getting his managers to make him a representative for the whole French Riviera.
It is the war in 1939 that will determine his future.
In the military in 1940, in a COAA (Army centre where files are organised) In Melun, he obtains the mission to go and take care of important files in Marseille. He is given a van, gas vouchers and he takes three soldiers, a journalist, a printer and ... his wife, the charming Jeanine. He feels that the return will be difficult and probably impossible. And above all, he is getting closer to the Mediterranean ... He is demobilized on the spot and settles in Sanary (Var) in a villa rented from the stationmaster, on Lazare Fournier street, called "Villa Sam" Suffit " (it still exists).
My note: the villa's name is an in-joke: "ça me suffit" = "it's enough for me"
But what can be done in 1940, a period of defeat when restrictions begin.
In the mind of Paul Dubois, and as he confided to his wife, one must always be ready to provide what was needed and which was most needed.
So, he invents a soap after reading a few books and consulting a chemist friend.
He invests all household savings in the purchase of a ton of fuller's earth from Morocco.
He will make a toiletry product in a bag called "SAVAR Powder", which his wife will sell on the markets where she goes by horse cart. Perfecting its production, he will make soap called "SAVOR Soap".
We are far from diving, we will get there.
During the war, Frédéric Dumas, the famous pioneer of the underwater world, a companion of Cousteau and Tailliez, whom he has just met, commits himself to the joys of underwater fishing, for food purposes, in these times of scarcity.
Jeanine DUBOIS, who often goes to the beach, notices this handsome diver and talks to her husband.
Always looking for new product ideas, Paul Dubois, meets Frédéric Dumas and gets him to show him his equipment. Among the various pieces of it, he notices his mask.
This is a mask enclosing the nose and eyes, very similar to those currently used. Frédéric DUMAS, very skilful with his own hands, built it himself using a truck's inner tube and attached a round window and hoop to it, both manufactured by him. This mask is visible at the Diving Museum in Sanary, a museum dedicated to Frédéric DUMAS.
Paul DUBOIS will create and develop a famous diving mask, which he will call the SQUALE mask and which he will have patented at the Office Blétry, Paris on December 19, 1944, 14 H 05 Mn. (see said patent).
Paul will start manufacturing this mask, in a workshop next to his villa, in the Sanary railway station district. He will produce several models that he will improve (see photos attached) to arrive at the current type.
Becoming an authority in this area, he will exhibit his equipment at the Salon Nautique where you can see him next to a minister.
He will not stop at the Squale mask, he will also develop and manufacture underwater guns, fins, goggles, snorkels with ping pong balsl.
To broadcast and to manufacture his different products Paul Dubois will create 12 January 1950, the Sarl. "SEESSA" whose purpose is especially "the sale and manufacture of articles for underwater exploration and for all water sports ..."
He is a friend of Cousteau, DUMAS, Tailliez.
Commander COUSTEAU quotes in the "World of Silence" editions of 1954, page 39: "During the summer, my friend DUBOIS goes from beach to beach, with his van, giving the firstcomers scuba diving lessons ... »
Indeed, Paul's fertile mind will continue to produce Inventions, and what inventions they are.
He begins by trying to perfect the SQUALE mask, which does not need it, and tries to develop a curved window mask, which made us squint and gaves us heaves, worthy of the best seasickness underwater. He then made us try a mask with a gilded lens, which gave us a rosy view of life and was priceless. Fins arrived, the most beautiful example being the Supermarines, with a perfect finish, they were among the first to be left- and right-footed.
He had also produced, at the outset, a Cygne (Swan) mask so called, because it came with a graceful snorkel that ... disaster ... was connected to the mask (photo attached). Even with the classic ping pong ball, you were sure to have your eyes gouged out after 2 metres. He filed the patent on March 12, 1962, again at the office Blétry, with the title "improvement to periscopic breathing masks"
He will develop underwater guns, Flash models, with stainless steel and wooden stocks. As forerunners of female equality, we will find "Miss Flash and Lady Flash" models.
He will also be the first to produce underwater postcards at Aris in Sanary. The underwater views, very beautiful, even even now, had been made by Robert DIOT, another pioneer, in photography.
He will leave his studio and construct a building he will call the SQUALE building, where he will install his workshops and offices, because the production of its products increases in a good way. The Squale mask equips the entire planet, the Navy. We will keep the memory of the following anecdote for a long time. Paul DUBOIS was a colorful character and when he received an important check from the USA, the fruit of his sales, we could meet him, during the evening in the port of Sanary in the bars, where he entered waving the check in dollars and shouting, in his tenor voice:
- "Drinks all round"
Paul was a generous soul, he often met me, in the early sixties, when, with two other divers, we had just set up an underwater construction company. Our customers were few, and sometimes we were in a hungry situation. Then Paul, who was aware of it, without being told, slipped a note of 100 Fr with which we rushed to Mimile's house at La Chaumière to order a bowl of spaghetti.
He did better, or worse for the remainder of his business:
Four strong fellows had left St-Malo in July 1954, to go around the world of fishing underwater, aboard the ten-metre sailboat "MOANA"
Let's move on to the adventures of these picaresque characters that ended three years later when they returned to St. Tropez. They produced a film and wrote a two-volume book. What would become of Moana? They no longer had the means to keep up, their adventures did not transform them into millionaires.
Paul DUBOIS buys the Moana and makes him come on a trailer to Sanary, jubilant during a party he organizes. It saves this mythical boat, which is currently in very good condition in a port of the Côte d'Azur.
But, cruelly, the business world evolves, there was no room for Paul who wanted to share his joy of life and success, because too much was shared ...
The SQUALE mask has continued to live, it is still in production.
Paul DUBOIS died on March 19, 1971. He rests in the cemetery of Sanary, where we can see, on his grave, his photo alongside his dog.
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That's your lot for today, apart from a picture of the man who invented the Squale mask: Paul Dubois:
We'll take a closer look at Squale diving masks when I return in a few days' time.
