One section of Sir Robert H Davis’ classic work, ‘Deep Diving and Submarine Operations’ is devoted to Divers’ Yarns. One such story concerns a diving operation to salvage the cargo of a sunken merchant vessel. Wearing standard diving dress, a… Read More ›
ADEX
The Conshelf 1 Experiment
“Under water man shall walk, Shall ride, shall sleep, shall talk”: Prediction by Mother Shipton; 16th century prophetess Increasing the efficiency of working divers, Dr George Bond’s concept of saturation diving (a concept in which divers would live and work… Read More ›
Hydrogen in the Mix
In the early part of the 20th century, American physicist and chemist, Professor Elihu Thomson – the person credited with putting the eventual use of helium on the diving menu – had originally proposed the use of hydrogen as a… Read More ›
An Audience With Ho Chi Minh
In the late ‘Eighties – before tourism to that country had taken off – Sylvia and I were granted visas to visit Vietnam, spending just over two weeks visiting Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An and Saigon (re-named Ho Chi… Read More ›
The Search for X5
Developed by the Royal Navy during WWII, the X-craft were midget submarines manned by a crew of four – one of whom was the designated diver. Because of their limited range, the smaller X-Craft would be towed by a ‘mother’… Read More ›
The Pearl Diver*
“Kanzo Makame, the diver, sturdy and small Japanee, Seeker of pearls and of pearl-shell down in the depths of the sea, Trudged o’er the bed of the ocean, searching industriously. Over the pearl-grounds the lugger drifted — a little white… Read More ›