Bev Morgan's legendary humility has obscured
his diverse contributions to diving
his diverse contributions to diving
Very few Scuba divers have heard of Bev Morgan. Most that have only think of commercial and military diving. Au contraire mon ami. His legacy is reflected in every aspect of Scuba diving.
- Recreational Scuba training in the US
- Bring wetsuits to market in diving and surfing
- Publishing, he was the senior editor for Surfer and Skin Diver Magazines
- Exploring exotic Pacific diving locations
- Demand regulator development
- Equipment testing and evaluation
- Underwater systems for Hollywood production companies
- International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame in 2011
- NOGI Award for Arts in 1990 and Sports/Education in 1995 presented by the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences
- The Commercial Diving Hall of Fame , 1982
- DEMA's Hall of Fame in 1996,
- The International Legends of Diving
Full Disclosure and Personal Sidebar
Bev Morgan was one of my teenage heroes, long before I knew anything about his work in Scuba diving earlier in life. I was obsessed with advanced diving during the time that the US Navy Sealab experiments dominated diving news. I had seen photos of Kirby Morgan diving helmets, mostly in Skin Diver Magazines, but the October 4, 1968 issue of Life Magazine introduced the divers behind the hardware.
Fold-out cover showcasing the Kirby Morgan Clam Shell mask made for the US Navy Sea Lab III program and their improved heavy gear hat.
It was 1969 and my senior year in High School when I convinced my parents to let me take a week off school to attend the OECON IV and MTS-ASME conference in San Diego (OECON = Offshore Engineering CONference and MTS-ASME = Marine Technology Society and American Society of Mechanical Engineers). Dozens of famous science, military, and commercial divers were speaking. I was wandering the small exhibit hall between speakers, which was full of oceanographic instruments. I suddenly spotted a few of those famous helmets and masks when everything else around me disappeared.
Suddenly a soft-spoken voice breaks my trance and asks if he can answer any questions. I look up from the Band Mask on a manikin head and see the name tag. Trying to be cool while "OMG it's BEV MORGAN!!!" is screaming in my head, I probably said something really stupid but mercifully can't remember what it was. Mr. Morgan soon became Bev and was amazingly gracious. He spent a lot of time with me as I asked about every little part in his booth. He managed to bring the conversation around to me where I explained that I planned to join the Navy with hopes of getting into the Sealab program one day.
Bev mentioned that the Sealab program (which was technically cancelled a few months before) was desperate for divers with electronics training. That offhand remark changed my life. I signed a delayed enlistment contract that "guaranteed" electronics school a few weeks later.
Bev invited me to Santa Barbara to see his shop near the airport, which would have to wait until after completing high school. Time was tight so I skipped the graduation ceremony in order to see the Kirby Morgan factory before leaving for boot camp. Bev wasted half his day showing me anything I wanted to see and answering an endless barrage of questions. I finally got out of his hair (my interpretation in hindsight) and he said "keep in touch". I was off to Navy boot camp in San Diego a few weeks later and in a six month electronics school by fall. I submitted my first "request chit" for diving school within a few weeks of starting class.
Diving was a secondary trade in the Navy then, meaning you had to have a primary skill before going to diving school. My request was denied. I tried to make a stronger case, gathered some recommendations, and submitted a second request... which was promptly denied. Being a little thick and oblivious to the ways of the Navy, I made an even stronger case and submitted request #3. Denied.
It was starting to occur to me that the dispatchers in Washington DC might be more concerned with meeting their quota for Aviation ETs during the Vietnam War than what a tiny group of Navy divers "might" be able to use. It was getting close to the end of school when I submitted my fourth request. I wrote letters to everyone I could think of asking for help, including Bev Morgan. A set of orders to a squadron arrived soon after. I learned enough by then to know that my new CO (Commanding Officer) wasn't likely to approve a fifth request for diving school and lose a sailor the Navy just spent half a year training to work for him.
To add even more insult to my already devastated life (remember I'm still a teenager and everything is dramatic), an instructor comes up several days later and says "they want to see you in the personnel department after class". Of course what I heard was "go over and pick up your fourth rejection". I trudged into the office and get passed around between few desks before finding the right guy. He barely looks up, hands me an envelope, and says "new orders".
I'm really confused and a little scared as I open the clasp. The pre-printed form with a bunch of boxes made it hard to find where somebody typed (as-in typewriter) something like Report to US Naval Station San Diego for Second Class Diving School before proceeding to ATF-105 USS Moctobi. I had to ask the fantastically bored sailor behind the desk "what about the orders I got last week". "These cancel 'em"... which I suddenly remembered learning in boot camp. It was probably the happiest moment of my life.
It wasn't entirely clear to me how I'm going to get from a lowly E3 on a Fleet Tug in Japan to the world's most advanced deep diving program but it was a lot closer than in a squadron of sub hunters. I checked into diving school about a month later and this Chief looks at the three green stripes (meaning Airman) on my arm and says "What the hell are you doing here?". I was the first Airman or ET anyone could remember. Then his eyes light up and he says "This class is full so you'll be delayed a month. Report tomorrow and we'll find something for you to do". He leads me to a small locker/workshop below deck on the training barge, points to a stack of dusty vacuum tube diver amplifiers and says "fix 'em". It is becoming clear why my original class was suddenly too full.
Two SPs (Shore Patrol/Navy cops) come onboard a few days later to arrest me for being AWOL from that squadron I had orders to. Fortunately the school's CO went to bat for me, said my orders were legal, and "you ain't get'in him". I just chalked it up to another Navy FUBAR and went back to work.
Decades later, long after seeing Bev dozens of times as a civilian in the commercial diving industry, I started to think about that incident and a series of other strange events before eventually being assigned to the Mark II Deep Dive System that was built to support Sealab III. Things weren't adding up and my suspicions eventually focused on Bev. I finally wrote him a letter and asked if he had a hand in these events. His reply included:
Yes, I did mention to the right people some of the directions you were interested in and I think they acted on it. Sometimes getting things done requires a little push under the table.
Sorry for the long story but it illustrates a lot about the nature of the man.
Bret Gilliam chose this image of Bev for the cover of his book, Diving Pioneers and Innovators, over the twenty or so other famous divers who are far better known.
The entire chapter: Bev Morgan Pioneer, Pirate, Photographer, Entrepreneur, was reprinted in Tech Diving Mag, and can be downloaded here: Tech Diving Mag, Issue 14, December 2014
Continued in the next post