In January, 1991, AUSCDT Three (Australian Clearance Diving Team Three – last formed in 1967 to serve in Vietnam) was reformed with personnel drawn from across the Clearance Diving branch and despatched to Bahrain to help the U.S. Marines prepare… Read More ›
General
Things that go “bang” in the night
Accounting for more shipping losses during the Second World War than any other weapon, mines – and the measures developed to neutralise them – have played a pivotal role in the evolution of military diving. It’s a relationship symbolised in… Read More ›
Diving for pearl
A rarity of nature prized for its soft-glowing beauty, the pearl has long been a symbol of the sea’s bounty. Plucked by chance and good fortune from the fleshy folds of the humble oyster the discovery of a perfect, naturally… Read More ›
Fish and ships … and divers
Originally intended as ‘stiffeners’ for the flimsy paper packets that, during the late 19th century, ready-made cigarettes were then sold in, ‘cigarette cards’ became one of the first collectibles available to the masses. At first nothing more than plain pieces… Read More ›
“SUBSUNK”: The ‘AFFRAY’ tragedy
The following article – by George Wookey and David Strike – was first published in Professional Diver Journal in 1997. ______________________ On the 16th April, 1951, a British submarine – HMS/M Affray, one of several of her class built during… Read More ›
The men from Snowy River
Australia’s most ambitious civil engineering project teetered on the brink of disaster when, in 1961, sluice gates governing the flow of water from Lake Eucumbene – a key element in the Snowy Mountains hydro-electric scheme to divert the course of… Read More ›
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