Doing a Dive History presentation, looking for some books

[psiborg1812]

Hey all, i'm doing a presentation of the History of SCUBA in the US in a few weeks, do you guys know of any good history books on the subject? Any people i could email to get more info? I'm gonna be cruising around this site and Vintagedoublehose.com for more info, but I'd also like to check out any books that have info on the subject.

Thanks!!

 

[captain]

Chronology of the Recreational Diving Industry

 

[psiborg1812]

Chronology of the Recreational Diving Industry

:shocked2:

AWESOME.

 

[Sam Miller III]

The same listing and probably the original listing can be found in James Dugans book "Man under the sea."

Also suggest that you review Scuba Diving and Recreation Center in Northwest Ohio - Portage Quarry ~ "legends of diving" ~ for articles that will provide a certain amount of insight into personalities and vintage equipment.

sdm

 

[David Wilson]

An interesting chronology indeed, but not without its imperfections. No mention of Owen Churchill being the American developer of swim fins, rather than a populariser of skin diving. I believe his fins were actually destined first to be used by lifeguards, not underwater swimmers. Then there's the dating of the development of the neoprene wetsuit five years later than it should be. There's no mention either of earlier, sponge-rubber wetsuits developed in Europe either, or even early American 1950s drysuits. You can see some of these items in the great skin diving history site at

Skin Diving History

in particular its early manufacturers/retailers section. I find it extraordinary that the name Georges Beuchat doesn't get a mention, considering his company's invention of the popular Jet Fin, and Cressi's, or more particularly Luigi Ferraro's, invention of the peep-toed full-foot fin is also passed over in silence. Strange, considering the longevity of these classic designs.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Sea Sabres Dive Site was one of the first dive clubs in the states. Organized by people work on the F86 Sabrejet. Hence the name. I use the history part of their site for my OW class. It goes back a bit. Like 5000 BC or so. So can't use all of it but pick out highlights. Click on the "diving timeline" link.

 

[Sam Miller III]

Sea Sabres Dive Site was one of the first dive clubs in the states. Organized by people work on the F86 Sabrejet. Hence the name. I use the history part of their site for my OW class. It goes back a bit. Like 5000 BC or so. So can't use all of it but pick out highlights. Click on the "diving timeline" link.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you.

I was one of the early presidents of the Sea Sabres.. in fact the first two term presidents in 1959 & 1960..The club is alive and well but the members are ageing.

I will allow you to guess my age and how many dives I have made..

SDM

 

[Walter]

I would also highly recommend picking Sam's brain. Sam has lived most of your topic and has been a leader through much of it.

 

[crd_kats]

This is a great read.

The Terrible Hours: The Man Behind the Greatest Submarine Rescue in History

May 23, 1939. Television was being advertised for the first time to American consumers. Europe was on the brink of war as Hitler and Mussolini signed an alliance in Berlin. These were the days before sonar and before the discovery of nuclear power revolutionized submarine design. Dependent on battery power, submarines were actually surface ships that "occasionally dipped beneath the waves." If a sub went down, "every man on board was doomed. It was accepted that there would be no deliverance."
Swede Momsen was, according to master storyteller Peter Maas, the "greatest submariner the Navy ever had," and he was determined to beat those odds. Momsen spent his career trying to save the lives of trapped submariners, despite an indifferent Navy bureaucracy that thwarted and belittled his efforts at every turn. Every way of saving a sailor entombed in a sub--"smoke bombs, telephone marker buoys, new deep-sea diving techniques, escape hatches, artificial lungs, a great pear-shaped rescue chamber--was either a direct result of Momsen's inventive derring-do, or of value only because of it." Yet on the day the Squalus sank, none of Momsen's inventions had been used in an actual submarine disaster.



A little more on the Munson Lung in this website: Naval Combat Demolition Unit (NCDU)


.

 

[Sam Miller III]

This is a great read.

The Terrible Hours: The Man Behind the Greatest Submarine Rescue in History

May 23, 1939. Television was being advertised for the first time to American consumers. Europe was on the brink of war as Hitler and Mussolini signed an alliance in Berlin. These were the days before sonar and before the discovery of nuclear power revolutionized submarine design. Dependent on battery power, submarines were actually surface ships that "occasionally dipped beneath the waves." If a sub went down, "every man on board was doomed. It was accepted that there would be no deliverance."
Swede Momsen was, according to master storyteller Peter Maas, the "greatest submariner the Navy ever had," and he was determined to beat those odds. Momsen spent his career trying to save the lives of trapped submariners, despite an indifferent Navy bureaucracy that thwarted and belittled his efforts at every turn. Every way of saving a sailor entombed in a sub--"smoke bombs, telephone marker buoys, new deep-sea diving techniques, escape hatches, artificial lungs, a great pear-shaped rescue chamber--was either a direct result of Momsen's inventive derring-do, or of value only because of it." Yet on the day the Squalus sank, none of Momsen's inventions had been used in an actual submarine disaster.



A little more on the Munson Lung in this website: Naval Combat Demolition Unit (NCDU)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Very good report -- But more applicable to the thread at the beginning of the SCUBA board titled "Book and Media reviews"

Suggest that it be also listed there.

Please bear in mind that the Munson lung was a early very rebreather and was employed as an escape lung on the Squalus.

Ellsberg also wrote a very good book on the Squalus published in 1940s

Note that you were from SoCal...Where?

I was in Jacksonville Florida last week -- very humid for this Californian

Thanks for the post,
sdm