commercial diving

The Submarine Refreshment Bar

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 ›

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 ›

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 ›

‘Under Pressure’

Encouraged by the comments of a former U.S. President, Theodore Roosevelt, who wrote that,   “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty…”, I have no hesitation in stating that Gareth Lock’s book,… Read More ›

The Wonders of Salvage

Periodically, I make the decision to sell off all of the diving-related books, manuals and documents that I’ve acquired over many years.  It’s a ritual that involves taking them down from the book-shelf, blowing off the dust and then  taking… Read More ›

“I’m A Diver”

Dating back to an age when divers enjoyed celebrity status, “I’m A Diver” is an old music-hall song celebrating the independent life of a diver. A little less than a hundred years ago scratchy sound recordings were at the cutting… Read More ›