underwater navigation

Saying No To JIM

In diving’s pre-computer age, many occupational divers compiled their own work manuals filled with essential safety information like decompression and therapeutic recompression tables, basic treatment for pressure-related illnesses, and useful trivia … including, in some instances, job offer letters.  My… Read More ›

“To Hidden Depths”

In 1945, Captain Philippe Tailliez (later becoming a leading pioneer in self-contained diving exploration in cave and open ocean) was appointed Commander of the French Navy’s newly-formed, Undersea Research Group, whose members included Jacques Cousteau and Frederic Dumas. Earlier, in… Read More ›

“Oxygen Pete”

Inspired by the successful 1941 attacks – carried out by Italian divers riding ‘chariots’ armed with detachable explosive warheads – on the British battleships, ‘H.M.S.Queen Elizabeth’ and ‘H.M.S.Valiant’, in Alexandria Harbour, the Royal Navy began to devote greater resources to… Read More ›

Anatomy Of An Industry

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important lesson that history has to teach.”  – Aldous Huxley As a concept, Australia’s former peak industry diving body had much to commend it: Particularly… Read More ›