technical diving

Raising A Navy

At the conclusion of WWI hostilities, the German High Seas Fleet was interned at the Royal Navy’s northern base at Scapa Flow, in the Orkney Islands of Scotland.  On learning of the proposal to give the vessels to the victorious… Read More ›

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 ›

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 ›

Colour Me Blue

Suffering for one’s art is a cross that all of us underwater photographers learn to bear.  I say “us”, because while my talents in this field have never been properly recognised, I’ve more than paid my dues in terms of… 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 ›