The ‘Polly-Gaff’ Gas Analyser

Technology has enjoyed considerable advances since the Polly-Gaff’ Gas Analyser was first announced – almost thirty years ago, in the May 1997 pages of Scuba Diver Magazine —————– The inherent problem with gas analysers is their frailty.  While primary diving… Read More ›

Recent Posts

  • Old Bottles

    For more than two hundred years, Sydney Harbour has been a focal point of Australian life.  For immigrants fleeing countries either torn apart by war, or facing economic collapse, arrival in Sydney Harbour marked the beginning of a new life. … Read More ›

  • ‘Margaret’ and Me

    In the early ‘seventies the heavy demand for divers to work on the North Sea gas and oil platforms exceeded supply.  Wages were high.  So was the diver mortality rate. Confronted by a harsh environment and difficulties not previously encountered… Read More ›

  • “Water, Water, Everywhere. ….”

    A reminder to never again take a valuable resource, like water, for granted with a tale of a long-ago visit (nominally, as the, “Associate Manager – Asia” for the Australian Financial Review) to a country that, then – the late… Read More ›

  • Vale John Whitehead

    Death seems intent on proving itself to me to be life’s last ‘Great Adventure’. On the weekend of October 4th & 5th 2025, yet another of my closest – and longest lasting – friends died.  John Whitehead was a man… Read More ›

  • Dive ‘Talk’ 3 – Visual

    A continuation of the two earlier pieces on underwater communications, “Dive ‘Talk’ 1 – Manual”, and, “Dive ‘Talk’ 2 – Accoustically Speaking.” Flags: Flown from a vessel tendering to divers, or from a tethered surface safety float – especially when… Read More ›