Lessons from SEALAB and a golden age

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

SEALAB Author Ben H.

Contributor
Messages
70
Reaction score
34
Location
United States
So many great discussions going here – about diving gear, physiology, psychology, safety, fitness and even smoking (and gel-filled bikini tops).

I'm struck by how a lot of the same kinds of questions were being asked by the divers (and scientists) featured in my new book, SEALAB: America’s Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor, and participants in this forum might find fascinating, if a little frightening, some of the record-breaking dives that were being made just a few decades ago during what some called “a golden age for diving.”

Golden, perhaps, but without the benefit of the nifty computers and other safeguards of today – but no matter. These pioneers were determined to dive deeper and stay down longer than ever thought possible – and set up undersea bases that were like the marine equivalent of space stations.

The U.S. Navy SEALAB program and some of the related undersea ventures covered in the book – including those led by Jacques Cousteau – provide a window into a historic era, a bit of perspective on diving and some lessons that are likely as valuable today as they were back then.

I'd be interested to know what forum participants think about how far things have come in the diving world since the '60s and of course I hope they'll enjoy meeting some of the characters responsible for the progress. To get a sense of the book, by the way, there are some free excerpts on Amazon and the entire opening chapter can be read on my website, SEALAB – A book by Ben Hellwarth | About a time when most eyes were on the moon. . .but not all.

Even if you read nothing more, that first chapter will at least acquaint you with Dr. George Bond, the charismatic father of SEALAB who was a great asker of questions – and would have loved this forum!
 
Ben,

Congratulations on what promises to be an excellent book! As a retired saturation diver, I'm familiar with some of the tremendous contributions that have been made by Dr. George Bond, Edwin Link, Dr. Joe MacInnis and many others. I've had the privilege of working with many people involved in hyperbaric and hypobaric research during my tenure as the Diving Officer (Navy) at DCIEM in the 70's.

As you mentioned, "About a time when most eyes were on the moon. . . but not all." It's interesting to note that Dr. Joe MacInnis (who had attended the Apollo 11 launch) traveled to Tobermory to dive Sublimnos (an underwater habitat that he opened to recreational divers) and was looking up through the water at the moment the Astronauts made their giant leap for mankind. :)

The "diving world" has certainly changed since I first picked-up a SCUBA cylinder in 1963 at the age of 10. The areas of recreational training and equipment have undergone great revision. The introduction of PADI, the accessibility of mixed-gas and the notion of deep-water decompression have also made a large impact.

I wish you success and good luck with your book!
 
The biggest difference between "back then" and "right now"??? Here are my top ten!

10) Better Dive Opportunities. Dive Boats, LiveaBoards and resorts that take the work out of diving.
9) HID lights and LED lights after that.
8) Awesome breathing regulators. They're not the exception any more, but the rule!
7) On Line Academics for training. This has gone a long way to bring Scuba into the 21st century.
6) The Safety Sausage or SMB. Still underutilized, but a great way to mark your position even before you surface.
5) Back inflate BCs including BPs&Wings. Such an improvement in trim here.
4) Forums. Yeah, they have done a lot to mainstream tech diving and have played a pivotal role in gear development.
3) PDCs. Personal Dive Computers have been a quiet revolution and are hated by many old schoolers. They are wonderful!
2) Digital Cameras. Wow. Just Wow. While it has eliminated a few jobs, the images that amateurs are coming up with are amazing.
1) Gauges. It's no longer acceptable to dive without them, and I think that is wonderful.
 
Really enjoyed reading Chapter 1, hinting to my spouse about an upcoming Christmas present :wink:
 
DCBC:
That moment in the little Sublimnos habitat you mention might have fit nicely in my book! But I think you'll find out a lot more about Dr. Bond and co. and hope you enjoy the story. Even readers of your considerable experience (including Sealab participants themselves) have said they liked the book, learned something from it and appreciated the storytelling and the research that went into it - all of which has been a great source of satisfaction for me. But as you'll see SEALAB is written to be accessible to anyone - and I think by the end of the book everyone will have a greater appreciation for the development of saturation diving (still an unfamiliar concept to many) and the people behind it.

---------- Post added November 30th, 2012 at 11:57 AM ----------

Searcaigh:
Thanks! Glad you liked what you read and hope your hint works. SEALAB was recommended on Scuba Radio last week as a good gift idea, too - and not surprisingly, I agree! As you can see on my website, it's available through Amazon and all the usual outlets.

---------- Post added November 30th, 2012 at 12:06 PM ----------

NetDoc:
Amazing Top Ten list! Well done - and even gives me further perspective on just how risky things were for the SEALAB divers and other diving pioneers of that era. No wonder not everyone would come out OK.
 
Looks interesting. Can I get it on my Kindle (e-book)?
 
I recently read the Sealab book and found it very informative. As I recall, it presented information once and for all that should put to rest how the 60 foot ascent rate was established.

One aspect that seems to be as prevalent today is the lack of funding for sustained ocean research compared to that for space. Although in both realms the robots/autonomous underwater vehicles are minimizing the need to humans to descend into the sea, the fact of the matter is that deep sea research still does not capture the imagination to the extent that deep space research does, just look at the continue buzz and coverage of the Mars rover for the latest example. This aspect would not be so remarkable except for the reach of the NOAA public relations machine with its celebrity connections and so on, which seems very much like the reach of the NASA public relations machine in the 1960s. NOAA did never quite achieve the status of becoming a "wet NASA" the reasons of which are complex, some dealing with budgets, the other with the agency's sense of mission and its place in the Department of Commerce. NOAA needs to be revamped, as discussed in the National Oceans Commission report "An Ocean Bluepring" which is unlikely to happen in this day and age.
 
Ben, a BIG compliment to you and your publisher is that your book transferred to Kindle format flawlessly! It is not fragmented ----which I've found in other Kindle books. I won't name names here, but it's obvious, someone in the publishing department reviewed the Kindle edition before it was published to Kindle users.

Ten thumbs up!!!
 
Thanks, SeahorseDeb! I'll pass along the compliment - and hope you'll have thumbs up after you read SEALAB, too. It's such an overlooked but significant part of diving history and of history more generally, which is why I was glad to be able to shed light on the program, the people involved and their legacy.
14S2Team1.jpg
 

Back
Top Bottom