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[Bubble2Bubble]

FYI
People have been going under water holding their breath since man first entered the water. In the past 2300 years though we have started making advances in our ability to explore and understand the underwater world. Here is a list of some significant milestones that have been achieved with guts, determination and ingenuity.



4500 BC - Coastal cultures such as those found in Greece, Mesopotamia, China, and probably many other parts of the world, engage in diving as a form of food-gathering, commerce, or warfare.



1000 BC - The writings of Homer mention Greek sponge fishermen who plummet to depths of almost 30 meters (100 feet) by holding a heavy rock. They knew little about the physical dangers of diving. To try and compensate for the increasing pressure on their ears, they poured oil into their ear canals and took a mouthful before descent. Once on the bottom, they spit out the oil, cut as many sponges free from the bottom as their breath would allow, and were then hauled back to the surface by a tether.


500 BC - A diver named Scyllias and his daughter Cyana are commissioned by the Persian King Xerxes as treasure divers during one of the numerous wars between the Persians and the Greeks.


414 BC - The first account of diving used in warfare is found in the narration of the siege of Syracuse by the Greeks, written by the historian Thucydides. He tells of Greek divers who submerged to remove underwater obstacles from the harbor in order to ensure the safety of their ships.



360 BC - Aristotle mentions the use of a sort of air-supply diving bell in his Problemata: "...in order that these fishers of sponges may be supplied with a facility of respiration, a kettle is let down to them, not filled with water, but with air, which constantly assists the submerged man; it is forcibly kept upright in its descent, in order that it may be sent down at an equal level all around, to prevent the air from escaping and the water from entering...."



332 BC - Alexander the Great, in his famous siege of Tyre (Lebanon), uses demolition divers to remove underwater obstacles from the harbor. It is reported that Alexander himself made several dives in a crude bell to observe the work in progress.



100 BC - Salvage diving operations around the major shipping ports of the eastern Mediterranean are so well organized that a scale of payment for salvage work is established by law, acknowledging the fact that effort and risk increase with depth.



77AD - Plinius the Elder mentions the use of air hoses by divers.



100 AD - Divers probably began using snorkels made of hollow reeds



200 AD- Peruvian vase shows diver wearing goggles and holding fish.



1300 - Persian divers were using underwater eye-goggles, made from
the polished shells or tortoises



1500s: Leonardo da Vinci designs the first known scuba. His drawings of a self-contained underwater breathing apparatus appear in his Codex Atlanticus. Da Vinci's design combines air supply and buoyancy control in a single system, and foreshadows later diving suits. There is no evidence that he ever built his device. He seems, instead, to have abandoned scuba in favor of refining the diving bell.



1519 - Ferdinand Magellan and his fleet depart Portugal on March 20, to begin a daring voyage of discovery. The fleet would become the first sail around the world. Magellan does not live to see their accomplishment. He dies on the Island of Mactan in the Philippines in 1521 from the poison arrows of the local natives.



1535 - Guglielmo de Loreno developed what is considered to be a true diving bell. Guglielmo de Lorena is one of the first to use a diving bell to complete a one-hour dive.



1578 - The first submarine design was drafted by William Borne but never got past the drawing stage. Borne's submarine design was based on ballast tanks which could be filled to submerge and evacuated to surface - these same principles are in use by today's submarines.



1620 - Cornelis Drebbel, a Dutchman, conceived and built an oared submersible (the first successful submarine). Cornelis had designed a wooden submersible vehicle encased in leather. It was able to carry 12 rowers and a total of 20 men. Amazingly enough, the vessel could dive to the depth of 20 meters and travel 10 km. He conducted several series of trips below the surface of the Thames River which lasted many hours. This early submarine was the first to address the problem of oxygen replenishment while submerged. In constructing his submarine, Drebbel incorporated some of the ideas of William Bourne, a British mathematician and naval writer who had outlined a practical submergible vessel in 1578. Drebbel's experimental boat was made of wood covered by tight-fitting sheets of greased leather. Oars that protruded through the boat's sides propelled it through the water. The vessel traveled at an average depth of 4 m (13 ft) during its run from Greenwich to Westminster. Two tubes, kept above the water by floats, supplied air to the submersed vessel, which carried a dozen rowers plus several passengers



1622 - A Spanish treasure fleet on its way home is scattered and largely destroyed by a hurricane near the Florida Keys. The Spaniards will salvage a small part of the treasure with a custom-built diving bell, but most of it stays on the bottom.



1650 - Von Guericke developed the first effective air pump.



1667 - Robert Boyle observed a gas bubble in the eye of viper that had been compressed and then decompressed. This was the first recorded observation of decompression sickness or "the bends." This law (Boyles Law) is very important for divers.



1669 -George Sinclair, a professor at Glasgow University, writes a treatise describing the theory and techniques for using diving bells.



1680 - Italian physician Giovanni Borelli imagines a closed circuit "rebreather." His drawings show a giant bag using chemical components. to regenerate exhaled air. This, he suggests, should allow the air to be breathed again by a submerged diver. Borelli also draws rather bizarre, claw-like feet on his diver. This leads one historian to stretch things a bit and credit Borelli as the inventor of swim fins. Others recognize Borelli as the first to envision the scuba diver as a free-swimming "frogman."



1681- A French priest named Abbe Jean de Hautefeuille writes The Art of Breathing Underwater, explaining for the first time why, "It is not possible for man to breathe air at normal atmospheric pressure when he is himself underwater at depth."



1685 - Based on Sinclair's theories, Sir William Phipps uses a bell to recover nearly a million dollars' worth of treasure from the wreck of the Spanish galleon La Nuestra Senora de Almiranta in the West Indies.





Halley's diving bell, late 17th century. Weighted barrels of air replenished the bell's atmosphere. (U.S. Navy Diving Manual)

1691 - Edmund Halley (of Halley's Comet fame) patented a diving bell which was connected

by a pipe to weighted barrels of air that could be replenished from the surface.



1715 - John Lethbridge built a "diving engine", an underwater oak cylinder that was surface-supplied with compressed air. Water was kept out of the suit by means of greased leather cuffs, which sealed around the operator's arms. Using a diving bell he salvages numerous treasures from ship wrecks off the coasts of Great Britain and South Africa.



1771 - A Frenchman named Freminet produces a crude brass diving helmet with eye holes. Air is supplied by a bellows into a small air reservoir, then pumped down to the diver.



1776 – David Brusnell built the first authenticated attack by military submarine - American Turtle vs. HMS Eagle, New York harbor.



1786 - John and William Braithwaite develop an improved version of Freminet's helmet, as does a German named Klingert in 1787.



1788 - John Smeaton nn American, incorporates several improvements to the diving bell, including: a bell made from cast iron; the first efficient hand-operated pump to sustain the air supply via a hose; an air reservoir system and nonreturn valves to keep air from being sucked back up the hoses when the pump stops. This is the first truly modern diving bell.



1797 - First Diving Suit German mechanic Karl Heinrich Klingert creats a device which is the first to be called a "diving suit”. It consists of a jacket and trousers made of waterproof leather, a helmet with a porthole, and a metal front. It is linked to a turret with an air reservoir. The reservoir cannot replenish itself, so the suit has a limited dive time duration.



1798 – Robert Fulton built the submarine Nautilus which incorporated two forms of power for propulsion - a sail while on the surface and a hand-cranked screw while submerged. Robert Fulton used the principles that were used in developing the Turtle to make the Nautilus. The Nautilus had a streamlined shape to reduce water resistance and it also had ballast tanks to raise and lower the craft. It also had diving planes which could be adjusted to determine the vessels angle of ascent of descent. The vessel was 21-24.5 ft long and carried a crew of 4. The only armament on board the Nautilus was an explosive mechanism called a torpedo. Basically, if was a box of dynamite. Some people have stated that the Nautilus could stay under sea for 24 hours at a depth of 8 meters while others say it could stay submerged only up to 6 hours. Fulton also was the first to experiment with compressed air for the replenishment of oxygen while under the sea. However, when he tried to get government support money he did not receive any so the whole project was dropped. (READ: "The History of American Deep Submersible Operations," by Will Forman, Best Pub. Company.)



1808 - Friedrich von Drieberg develops his "Triton" apparatus. The system uses an air reservoir worn by the diver but requires that the tank be supplied by surface hoses. The diver obtains air from the backpack reservoir through a valve operated by nodding his head.



1823 - Charles Anthony Deane patented a "smoke helmet" for fire fighters. This helmet was used for diving, too. The helmet fitted over the head and was held on with weights. Air was supplied from the surface.



1825 - An Englishman, William James, develops a system that several historians consider to be the first true scuba. It employs tanks of compressed air and a full diving dress with a helmet. Limits on useful depth and duration keep it from widespread adoption by commercial divers.



1825 - Charles Condert, an American, develops a compressed air reservoir consisting of copper tubing bent into a horseshoe and worn around the diver's body. The system includes a valve to inflate the diver's suit



1828 - Englishmen Charles & John Deane, based on earlier work in 1823 developing a "smoke helmet," devise a similar helmet with a diving suit. However the suit was not attached to the helmet so a diver could not bend over or invert without risk of flooding the helmet and drowning. Never the less, the diving system is used in salvage work, including the successful removal of canon from the British warship HMS Royal George in 1834-35. This 108-gun fighting ship sank in 65 feet of water at Spithead anchorage in 1783.



1835 - John Bethel gets patent for a closed dress diving apparatus



1835 - John Fraser gets patent for a closed dress diving apparatus



1836 - William Bush gets a patent for a closed dress diving apparatus.



1836 - Charles Deane publishes the first "how to" diving manual.



1837 - Augustus Siebe sealed the Deane brothers' diving helmet to a watertight, air-containing rubber suit.



1840 - The British Navy orders the Siebe Closed Dress for work on the recovery of canon from the Royal George and subsequent blasting to clear the anchorage (first use of underwater explosives). The Admiralty hails the Siebe diving equipment as a significant improvement in diving equipment for the time. Subsequently, the "Siebe Improved Diving Dress" is adopted as the standard diving dress by the Royal Engineers.



1843 - The first diving school was established by the Royal Navy.



1844 - A. Schrader’s Son Inc. diving equipment company founded in Brooklyn, NY



1855 - Seeteufel (Sea Devil) also named "Chimäre" by the Russians, built in the Leuchtenberg`schen shipyard, St.Petersburg, by Wilhelm Bauer. It was designed to go to a depth of 150 feet. It was 16.32 meters long, 3.45 meters wide, 3.92 meters high, and made at least 134 test dives. It had a four men crew and a similar tread wheel system as on the Brandtaucher. On October 2, 1856 a valve was left open and the submarine sank.



1863 - Alligator, was the first submarine purchased by the U.S. Navy, to mine Confederate harbors. She sank in April. Alligator included two crude air purifiers, a chemical-based system for producing oxygen and a bellow to force air through lime.



1864 - the Hunley rammed into the USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. A torpedo on the Hunley's spar exploded and sank both of the vessels. This was the first submarine that made a successful attack on a warship, during the civil war



1865 - Benoit Rouquayrol and Auguste Denayrouse patented an apparatus for underwater breathing. It consisted of a horizontal steel tank of compressed air on a diver's back, connected to a valve arranged to a mouth-piece. With this apparatus the diver was tethered to the surface by a hose that pumped fresh air into the low pressure tank, but he was able to disconnect the tether and dive with just the tank on his back for a few minutes.



1869 - Jules Verne popularizes the concept of scuba in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. His central character, Captain Nemo, specifically cites the Rouquayrol/Denayrouze system and theorizes about the inevitable next step - severing the diver's reliance on surface-supplied air.



1870-1883: New York's Brooklyn Bridge is built, but many of the workmen pay a high price. Emerging after extended hours in high-pressure caissons (dry construction compartments sunk into the riverbed) they become crippled by "caisson disease." Because of the cramped and frozen joints caused by the affliction, reporters dub it "the bends."



1873 - Benoît Rouquayrol and Auguste Denayrouze built a new piece of equipment, a Rigid Diving Suits with a perfected air supply, and a total weight of 85 kilos.



1878 - English merchant seaman, Henry Fleuss, develops the first workable, self- contained diving rig that uses compressed oxygen. This prototype of closed-circuit scuba utilizes rope soaked in caustic potash to absorb carbon dioxide so that the exhaled gas can be re-breathed.



1878 - Paul Bert published La Pression Barometrique, a book length work containing his physiologic studies of pressure changes.



1887 - El Peral - Designed by Isaac Peral. The first electric submarine that fired torpedos. The torpedos had a range of 400 meters @ 24knots



1892 - Frenchman Louis Boutan develops a variant of the closed-circuit system. The Boutan scuba can be used for up to three hours at shallow depths.



1893 - Louis Boutan invented the first underwater camera. He later publishes a handbook for underwater photography, La Photographie Sous-Marine.



1904 - The Fulton by John Holland, (considered by some to be the father of the modern submarine) (the prototype for the type 7 design ie., type 7-P) was sold to Russia, 1905 Russia purchased license to build 5 submarines of type 7-P "The Fulton". it is rumored that the five were built.



1908 - John Scott Haldane, Arthur E. Boycott and Guybon C. Damant, publish their landmark paper on decompression sickness. "The Prevention of Compressed-Air Illness" lays the foundation for staged decompression. Decompression tables based on this research are eventually adopted by the British Navy and later the United States Navy, saving many divers from the bends..



1910 - J.S. Haldane develops a procedure to prevent decompression illness (caisson disease) and publishes the first five dive tables.



1911- Draeger of Germany introduces an oxygen re-breather.



1912 - The U.S. Navy tested tables published by Haldane, Boycott and Damant.



1915 - An early film of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea marks the first commercial use of underwater cinematography. Cast and crew use modified Fleuss/Davis rebreathers and "Oxylite," a compound that generates oxygen through a chemical reaction. (Oxylite explodes if it gets wet, a trait that tends to limit its popularity as a scuba component.)



1917 - Draeger produces a true scuba system that combines tanks containing a mixture of compressed air and oxygen (oxygen-enriched air) with rebreathing technology. It is sold for use at depths to 40 meters (130 feet).



1917 - The U.S. Bureau of Construction & Repair introduced the Mark V Diving Helmet. It was used for most salvage work during World War II. The Mark V Diving Helmet became the standard U.S. Navy Diving equipment.



1918 - The Ogushi Peerless Respirator passes field tests at 324 feet (99 meters). The Japanese device combines modified false-lung style closed-circuit rebreather technology with a compressed air reserve. It supplies air to the diver through a manually controlled on/off valve.



1919 - C. J. Cooke develops a mixture of helium and oxygen (heliox) for use as a breathing gas by divers. The mixture enables divers to avoid nitrogen narcosis while diluting oxygen to non-toxic concentrations. It allows commercial divers to extend their useful working depth well beyond previous limits.



1921 – Harry Houdini (yes the famous escape artist) patents a "diver's suit" that permits divers to quickly escape out of the suit while still submerged and swim to safely



1923 - The first underwater color photographs were taken by W. H. Longley.



1923 – The"Neufeldt-Kuhnke" diving was used in the early twentieth century to work in deep waters: its shell actually resists pressure up to a depth of 160 meters (590 feet), the breathing system is managed in a closed circuit, a telephone lets the diver stay in contact with the surface, and the grips serving as hands are mobile enough to accomplishment exacting tasks.



1924 – The first helium-oxygen experimental dives were conducted by U.S. Navy and Bureau of Mines.



1925 - A very successful self-contained underwater breathing unit is introduced by Yves Le Prieur.



1928 - Invention of the Davis Submersible Decompression Chamber (SDC) diving bell



1929 - Lieutenant C.B."Swede" Momsen, a submariner and diver, develops and proves the escape lung that bears his name. It was given its first operational test when 26 officers and men successfully surfaced from an intentionally bottomed submarine.



1930 - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution In Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is founded. Woods Hole would become one of the world's leading oceanographic research institutions.



1930s - Guy Gilpatric pioneered the use of rubber goggles with glass lenses for skin diving. By the mid-1930s, face masks, fins, and snorkels were in common use. Fins were patented by Louis de Corlieu in 1933 .



1930 - William Beebe descended 1,426 feet (435 meters) in a bathysphere attached to a barge by a steel cable to the mother ship.



1933 - Jack Prodanovich, Ben Stone, and Glen Orr (later joined by Jack Corbley, Bill Batzloff and Wally Potts) start a skin diving club in San Diego - the Bottom Scratchers. This pioneering group, the first of its kind, helps define the sport and creates its own folk legends. (In an era preceding the availability of swim fins, would-be members are required to dive to 30 feet (9 meters.) They have to capture three abalone on one dive, grab a five-foot horned shark by its tail, and bring up a "good-sized" lobster) Those who pass the test include underwater filmmaker Lamar Boren and Jim Stewart, a diving officer at Scripps Institute.



1933 - Yves Le Prieur modified the Rouquayrol-Denayrouse invention by combining a demand valve with a high pressure air tank to give the diver complete freedom from hoses and lines.



1933 - Louis Ce Corlieu patents the first swim fins in France and later in the US.



1934 - William Beebe and Otis Barton descended 3,028 feet (923 meters) in a bathysphere. The record holds for 14 years.



1935 - Louis de Corlieu designs a broadbladed fin to be worn on the feet by swimmers. The fins make a big splash among free-swimming "goggle" divers. With their help, skin divers and their sport really start going places!



1937 - Hans Hass developed the horizonal motion underwater, using the rebreather.



1937 - The American Diving Equipment and Salvage Company (now known as DESCO) develops a self-contained mixed-gas rebreather. It uses a compressed mixture of helium and oxygen in combination with a fully sealed diving suit. Using the new system, DESCO diver Max Nohl sets a new world depth record of 420 feet (128 meters).



1937 - Georges Comheines creates a scuba system by combining the Rouquayrol/Denayrouze valve with le Prieur's system of compressed air tanks. This breakthrough finally brings to reality the scuba device anticipated by Jules Verne in 1869. Comheines and a group of friends demonstrate the device in a "human aquarium" exhibit at the Paris International Exposition.



1938 - The Compleat Goggler by Guy Gilpatric is released. This book becomes a popular inspiration for skin divers.



1939 - The McCann-Erickson Rescue Chamber, actually developed by Momsen, is proven when the USS Squalus, carrying a crew of 59, sank in 243 fsw. Under the direction of Lieutenant Commander Swede Momsen, the rescue chamber made four trips and safely brought 33 men to the surface.



1939-1940s: Owen Churchill helps popularize skin diving, making it a hot sporting craze among cool cats living in coastal areas of the United States.



1940 - Owen Churchill first produces swim fins. Initially less than a thousand pairs are sold, but in later years production increases substantially as thousands are sold to Allied forces.



1941-1944 - During World War II, Italian divers used closed circuit scuba equipment to place explosives under British naval and merchant marine ships.



1942-43 - Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan acques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan design and test the first Aqua-Lung. This device is a vast improvement on earlier SCUBA devices and will completely change the sport diving community over the next decade. Early testers of the first prototypes included Philippe Tailliez, Frédéric Dumas, Simone Cousteau, Philippe Cousteau, and Jean-Michel Cousteau. The Aqua Lung was born.



1942-43 - In the Pearl Harbor salvage operations, navy divers spent about 16,000 hours under-water performing some 4,000 dives. Contract civilian divers contributed another 4,000 diving hours to the effort.



1943 - Cousteau, Frederic Dumas and Philippe Tailliez, make over 500 dives with the Aqua Lung, gradually increasing the depths on each dive. This is the first workable, open-circuit demand-type scuba regulator. In October Dumas reaches 210 feet in the Mediterranean Sea.



1946 - Cousteau's Aqua Lung was marketed commercially in France. (Great Britain 1950, Canada 1951, USA 1952).



1946 - Mar-Vel Underwater Equipment was founded and would become an early source for skin and scuba diving equipment as well as the commercial equipment that they specialize in.



1947 - Dumas made a record dive with the Aqua Lung to 307 feet (94 meters) in the Mediterranean Sea.



1948 - A British Navy diver sets and open-sea record of 540 feet



1948 - Otis Barton descended in a modified bathysphere to a depth of 4500 feet (1372), off the coast of California.



1948 - Rene's Sporting Goods in Westwood, CA imports some of the new Aqua-Lungs to the U.S. Rene Bussoz, a relative of Cousteau, sold these first Aqua-Lungs and word began to spread within the diving community. While it is certain that some very influential early divers owned and used this first few Aqua-Lungs imported it is a sad fact that more individuals claim to have bought them from Rene than he had stock to fulfill. Careful research was done by Zale Parry and Al Tillman on this matter and their results will appear in Scuba America: The History of Sport Diving in America.



1950s - August Picard with son Jacques pioneered a new type of vessel called the bathyscaphe. It was completely self-contained and designed to go deeper than any bathysphere.



1950s - The distinctive red and white "diver down" flag to warn boaters to stay clear or slow down to avoid injuring nearby divers is introduced This is in dispute as I found one place it was said in 1956 Ted Nixon cam up with it. You decide and let me know.



1950 - The International Underwater Spearfishing Association was founded. The primary person responsible in the United States was Ralph Davis. The first U.S. National Underwater Spearfishing Championships were also held that year.



1950 – Cousteau acquires the Calypso, She was originally built to serve as a minesweeper for the British, to clear explosives from ports and harbors. Christened J-826, she was lowered into the water on March 21, 1942



1951 - The Reserve Valve, later commonly known as "J" valve was developed.



1951 - Deepest Ocean Point Found The British ship Challenger II bounces sound waves off the ocean bottom and locates what appears to be the sea's deepest point. Nearly seven miles down, it is subsequently named the Challenger Deep. Located off the coast of the Marianas Islands in the Pacific ocean, the site is known today as the Marianas Trench. If you could put Mount Everest on the ocean floor in the Marianas Trench, its summit would lie about a mile below the ocean sirface.



1951 - Hans Hass published "Diving as Adventure"



1951 - The first issue of Skin Diver Magazine appeared in December. Skin Diver Magazine was formed by Chuck Blakeslee and Jim Auxier. The magazine became the central source for information on the industry. Chuck and Jim were both avid divers and put much of the magazine's profits toward improving the sport. Among the projects they funded or created over the years were the first sport diving museum, The National Diving Patrol, NAUI, The International Underwater Film Festivals, the Hannes Keller dive, and many other early projects and events.



1952 – NAUTILUS.SSN 571 Her keel was laid by President Harry S. Truman at the Electric Boat Shipyard in Groton, Connecticut on June 14. This brings Jules Verne’s vision of the submarine in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea that can stay down for indefinite periods of time to reality.



1952 – Through the use of echo soundings, Marie Tharp discovers that the Mid-Atlantic Ridge conceals a long rift valley, which turns out to be part of a hidden volcanic mountain range that extends the entire length of the Atlantic ocean.



1952 - Silent World was released by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Frédéric Dumas, and James Dugan. Silent World tells the story of the invention and underwater adventures of the early Aqua-Lung and becomes one of the most influential books in bringing new people to the sport of SCUBA diving. Many skin divers decide to buy an Aqua-Lung based on this book.



1953 – The first SCUBA club in the United States (2nd in the world) , The Sea Sabres SCUBA Club is started by a group of engineers working for Rockwell International on the Sabre jet. http://www.seasabres.com



1953 - Dr. Hugh Bradner develops and introduces the so-called "wet suit" made of neoprene.



1953 - Popular Science gives directions on how to make your own scuba equipment using surplus military parts.



1953 - "Underwater Safety" containing important basics on diving safety, was published by E. R. Cross.



1954 - The National Cooperation in Aquatics published the "Science of Skin and Scuba Diving" and it becomes the main textbook for diver education.



1954 - The television program Kingdom of the Sea starring Zale Parry is aired in the US. That same year Parry broke the depth record by diving to 64 meter near Catalina, CA. Her record attracted many female to scuba diving.



1954 - Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Paul Lukas, and Peter Lorre star in Walt Disney's popular remake of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It wins Academy Awards for art direction and special effects.



1954 - Georges S. Houot and Pierre-Henri Willm used a bathyscaphe to exceed Barton's 1948 diving record, reaching a depth of 13,287 feet (4050 meters).



1954 - The first formal instructor certification program was created by Al Tillman and Bev Morgan. The Los Angeles County program quickly becomes the template for all programs that were to follow.



1954 - The Science of Skin and Scuba Diving is published by the Council for National Cooperation in Aquatics. This becomes the cornerstone textbook for diver education.



1954 - The television program Kingdom of the Sea starring Zale Parry is aired. Parry becomes a national celebrity, especially within the diving industry. That same year Parry also broke the depth record by diving to 209 feet near Catalina, CA - only stopping because she hit bottom. After the show and the record dive she becomes a hero to women around the world and many new female divers join the sport.



1954 - Al Tillman and Bev Morgan develop the first public skin and scuba diver education program in the United States. The Los Angeles County program quickly becomes the template for all programs that were to follow.



1955 - The first formal instructor certification program was created by Al Tillman and Bev Morgan.



1955 - Sam Davison, Jr., introduces the "Dial-A-Breath," a double-hose, double-diaphragm regulator, complete with a built-in low-pressure reserve and variable breathing resistance. It helps touch off a competitive frenzy, as other manufacturers seek special features to distinguish their own lines of equipment. Davison goes on to build his own equipment manufacturing company, Dacor.



1956 - A group of scientists at the University of California are researching thermodynamic principles as applied to the protective properties of Arctic long johns. Instead of perfecting polar underwear, they invent a new type of outerwear for divers. The fabric: a neoprene foam manufactured by Rubatex as automobile insulation. The concept: replace a physical barrier (the supposedly watertight diving suit) with a more user-friendly thermal barrier. That means that the wearer gets wet but stays warm anyway. The product becomes known, logically enough, as the wetsuit. Early production models are 1/8-inch thick, made by EDCO, and marketed by the Beaver company of La Jolla, California.



1957 - The first segment of Sea Hunt aired on television, starring Lloyd Bridges as Mike Hunt, underwater adventurer.



1957-62 Genesis Project experiments conducted as the pre-cursor of navy saturation diving



1957 - Al Tillman and Zale Parry organize the first International Underwater Film Festival. Subsequent festivals were held in various cities around the world.



1958 - Sherwood Manufacturing announce the piston regulator.



1958 - USS Nautilus successfully passes under the North Pole First Submarine ever to cross over the top of the world



1958 - Sea Hunt airs and becomes the driving force in bringing in unprecedented numbers of new divers to the sport. The show stars Lloyd Bridges as Mike Nelson and is produced by veteran producer Ivan Tors. Famous divers including Zale Parry, Lamar Boren, and Al Tillman work in front of or behind the cameras on the show.



1959 - YMCA began the first nationally organized course for scuba certification



1959 - The Underwater Society of America was formed.



1960 - Jacques Picard and Don Walsh descended to 35,820 feet (10,918 meters) in the bathyscaphe Trieste.



1960 - Dick Birch opens the four-room Small Hope Bay on Andros Cay in The Bahamas ­ the earliest known dedicated dive resort. Small Hope Bay offers a remote location sheltered by the Andros Barrier Reef, less than 200 miles from Miami. Now with 20 rooms, it is still in business.



1960 - Al Tillman (Founder of the Los Angeles County Underwater Unit) and Neal Hess (Columist and Director of the of the National Diving Patrol for Skin Diver Magazine), with help from Garry Howland and John Jones, create the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) and hold its first instructor certification course in Houston during the Underwater Society of America Convention. Tillman adapts the Los Angeles County course to be taught to individuals from any diving venue and NAUI incorporates as a non-profit agency. NAUI becomes the first international certification agency. Early financing and administrative assistance for the agency came from Skin Diver Magazine.



1960 - Diving pioneer Connie Limbaugh drowns while diving in a cave in France. Limbaugh, the first chief diving officer at Scripps Institute, is among the most admired divers in the world and a leading marine scientist. His death saddens everyone in the industry ­ and makes divers everywhere feel vulnerable.



1961:- Maurice Fenzy patents a device invented by the underwater research group of the French navy. The device includes an inflatable bag with a small attached cylinder of compressed air. It rapidly becomes the first commercially successful buoyancy compensator. Within a few years, divers throughout Europe, and a few well-traveled Americans, are wearing "Fenzys."



1961 - Ed Replogle invents a "sonic alarm" that automatically warns its user (and everyone else in the vicinity) of low air pressure. The device, manufactured by Sherwood and sold by Healthways, signals that safety remains a major concern in the recreational diving industry.



1961 - The National Association of Skin Diving Schools (NASDS) was founded by John Gaffney.



1962 - US Navy Seal Teams 1 and 2 formed



1962 - Beginning in 1962 several experiments were conducted whereby people lived in underwater habitats.



1963 - In the "Man in the Sea" project Ed Link spends 24 hours at 61 meter (200 feet.)



1963 - Dick Bonin and Gustav dalla Valle found Scubapro. Gustav later becomes internationally famous as one of the primier wine producers in the world.



1964 - SEALAB I, began in July 1964. This was a scheduled three week stay for four divers, Barth, Manning, Anderson and Thompson, at a depth of 193 feet (69 meters.)



1965 - SEALAB II August 28, 1965, three teams of divers spent 10 -16 days each at a depth of 205 feet (65 meters) in the La Jolla canyon off Scripps Institute of Oceanography in California



1965 - CONSHELF III began in September 1965 when the habitat reached the bottom off Cap Ferrat at a depth of 328 feet (100 meters) A six-man team spent 22 days on the bottom



1965: Thunderball, starring Sean Connery, glamorizes and updates the image of scuba with waves of diving extras and starlets galore. Agent 007 saves the world but gives diving retailers fits as customers demand to buy scuba gear "just like James Bond's." The special visual effects win an Academy Award.



1966 - The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) was founded by John Cronin and Ralph Ericson..



1968 - John J. Gruener and R. Neal Watson dove to 437 feet (133 meters) breathing compressed air.



1970s - Important advances relating to scuba safety that began in the 1960s became widely implemented in the 1970s, such as certification cards to indicate a minimum level of training, change from J-valve reserve systems to non-reserve K valves, and adoption of the BC and single hose regulators as essential pieces of diving equipment.



1970 - Bob Clark founded Scuba Schools International (SSI).



1977 - NOAA Established The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is established. This U.S. Government agency is responsible for all U.S. weather and climate forecasting, monitoring and archiving of ocean and atmospheric data, management of marine fisheries and mammals, mapping and charting of all U.S. waters, coastal zone management, and research and development in all of these areas.



1971 - Scubapro introduces the Stabilization Jacket.



1972 - First Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) for the Navy becomes operational



1975 – JAWS The movie filled theaters with people, but emptied the seas of people. Stephen Spielberg's bodacious beast makes a bunch of bucks for novelist Peter Benchley but takes a big bite out of the diving business. Shark-o-phobia, ending 15 consecutive years of industry growth. Aftershocks echo in 1977 with The Deep and in 1978 and 1983 with. Jaws 2 and Jaws 3.



1977 - Hydrothermal Vents Discovered Scientists aboard the deep sea submersible, Alvin, discover and document incredible deep sea hydrothermal vents in the eastern Pacific ocean. Scalding hot water pouring from these vents enriches the water with nutrients and provides food for bacteria and a host of other organisms. This discovery rocks the scientific community because, for the first time, an ecosystem was found that thrives without the energy of the Sun. Instead of relying on sunlight and photosynthesis, these ecosystems rely on chemicals energy through a process known as chemosysnthesis.



1977 - The first DEMA trade show is held.



1979 - Sylvia Earle walked unassisted on the sea floor: at a record depth of 1,250 feet below the surface. She wore a special pressured suit, and was carried by a vessel down to the 1,250-foot depth off the island of Oahu. At the bottom, she detached from the vessel and explored the depths for two and a half hours with only a communication line connecting her to the submersible, and nothing at all connecting her to the world above. She describes this adventure in her book Exploring the Deep Frontier.



1980 - The Nautilus, the worlds first nuclear powered ship was decommissioned on March 3, after a career spanning 25 years and almost half a million miles steamed She now is based at Groton, Connecticut and is a nation historical monument open to the public.



1980 - Divers Alert Network “DAN” was founded at Duke University as a non-profit organization to promote safe diving.



1981 - Record 2250 foot (685 meters)-dive was made in a Duke Medical Center chamber.



1983 - The Orca Edge, the first commercially available dive computer, was introduced.



1985 - Mel Fisher's team finds the main body of the 1622 wreck Atocha, along with its fabled $400 million in gold, silver, emeralds, and priceless historic artifacts. The event marks the ultimate fulfillment of the treasure hunter's fantasy. Publicity given Fisher's find (not to mention the lawsuits that follow) helps fuel America's reviving fascination with recreational diving.



1985 - The wreck of the Titanic was found by Dr. Ballard, turning him into an instant celebrity.



1989 – Sheck Exley, March of 1989, using Trimix, descended to a world record depth of 881 feet inside the cave at Rio Mante, returning to the surface after 14 hours of decompression with no harmful effects. Only commercial divers, working from diving bells which supplied their breathing mixture through umbilical tubes and provided shelter for days or weeks of decompression (a level of support not possible in a cave) had ever been deeper.



1990s - An estimated 500,000 new scuba divers are certified yearly in the U.S., new scuba magazines form and scuba travel is big business. There is an increase of diving by non-professionals who use advanced technology, including mixed gases, full face masks, underwater voice communication, propulsion systems, and so on.



1993 – Sheck Exley and his team continued their explorations of deep caves and springs. In August, Exley reached 863 feet in Bushmansgat, South Africa.



1993 - September Ann Kristovich, team physician, descended to 541 feet into Pit 6350, north of Tampico, Mexico, a new cave depth record for women



1994 - On April 6, Jim Bowden and Sheck Exley entered the water at Pit 6350. After months of meticulous calculations and planning, their descent would be over within a few moments. In 11 minutes, Bowden had reached a new record depth of 925 feet, and turned upward to begin 8 1/2 hours of decompression at shallower depths. Sadly as Sheck tried to go deeper he had a fatal accident.



1994 - Bret Gilliam and Mitch Skaggs formed Technical Diving International (TDI)



1997 - Navy diving and salvage assets are used in the recovery of TWA 800



1998 - Scuba Diving International (SDI) was created.



1999 - Chuck Driver and John Bennett descend to 200 meter (656 feet.) The deepest oceanic dive ever completed. The same year Barte Vestor set a challenging 225 meter (738 feet) mark.



2000 - Record of 664 ft (202.5m) on SCUBA set in March by Belgian Ben Reymenants at Dahab in Egypt.



2000 – Record 833ft (254m) SCUBA open-water dive in the Philippines in August in which 41-year-old Briton John Bennett set a world record depth



2001 - John Bennett John Bennett reaches 1000ft (308m) depth British technical diver John Bennett has smashed his own world depth record and become the first man to dive below 1000ft on scuba. He completed a dive of 308m at Puerto Galera in the Phillipines on Tuesday 6 November using open-circuit equipment and mixed gas. With decompression, the dive took more than nine and a half hours. He experienced a problem with one of his ears on the ascent, but is said to be fit and well and ready to go diving again in a few days I'm sorry to say, that as of 12.45 Monday the 15th of March, 2004, while doing a salvage dive, John Bennett went missing. His buddy on the dive said they were both at 147ft or 45m on top of the ship, water temp 7c or 43f visibility one to two meters no current.



2002 - London Marathon runner clad in a deep sea diving suit - finally finished the course.
Lloyd Scott hopes his time of five days, eight hours, 29 minutes and 46 seconds will win him a place in the record books - for the slowest ever marathon



2002 - The last issue of Skin Diver Magazine appeared in November.



2002 - Dr. Wheeler North passed away on December 20, 200. He was 80 years old. He was a pioneer and leading expert in kelp forest research. He helped find many of the uses for kelp and the safest methods of harvesting kelp. Over 220 products are made from harvested kelp.



2003 - The Co Founder of PADI, John J. Cronin passes away July 15.



2003 - Tanya Streeter in July, smashes women’s single breath hold record of 312 feet (95 meter) by going all the way down to 400 feet on one breath (122 meters.).



2003 – New Depth record on SCUBA December 21 Mark Ellyatt, British diving instructor, has set a new world record of 1,026.9 feet in Thailand for the deepest scuba dive, besting the previous mark by 16.4ft..It took 12 minutes to find his way into the depths off the resort island of Phuket in southern Thailand - but he needed six hours and 40 minutes to return safely to the surface, according to the Phuket Gazette.



2004 - Albert Alvin Tillman, 76, co-founder of NAUI and the Los Angeles County instructor program passed away January 16 in Seattle.



I have no way to prove the accuracy of this infromation but If its true I think its a pretty cool read!B2B

[Walter]

Off the top of my head..........

1864 - the Hunley rammed into the USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. A torpedo on the Hunley's spar exploded and sank both of the vessels. This was the first submarine that made a successful attack on a warship, during the civil war

For over 100 years it was believed the rush of water into the massive hole in the hull of the Housatonic pulled the Hunley into the hull and both vessels sank together. We now know the Hunley sank on its return to port. The Hunley was discovered by diving adventure author Clive Cussler and is currently being preserved in Charleston.

1942-43 - Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan acques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan design and test the first Aqua-Lung.

Gagnan designed and built the Aqua-Lung, Cousteau tested it.

1947 - Dumas made a record dive with the Aqua Lung to 307 feet (94 meters) in the Mediterranean Sea.

1954 - The television program Kingdom of the Sea starring Zale Parry is aired. Parry becomes a national celebrity, especially within the diving industry. That same year Parry also broke the depth record by diving to 209 feet near Catalina, CA - only stopping because she hit bottom. After the show and the record dive she becomes a hero to women around the world and many new female divers join the sport.

The record was set at 307 feet seven years earlier, in fact, Dumas reached 210 feet in 1943. Perry's dive was a record, but it was a women's record.

1950s - The distinctive red and white "diver down" flag to warn boaters to stay clear or slow down to avoid injuring nearby divers is introduced This is in dispute as I found one place it was said in 1956 Ted Nixon cam up with it. You decide and let me know.

Nixon marketed the flag, it was designed by "Doc" Dockery.

1957 - The first segment of Sea Hunt aired on television, starring Lloyd Bridges as Mike Hunt, underwater adventurer.

No one should actually be named Mike Hunt, in fact, the character's name was Mike Nelson.

1983 - The Orca Edge, the first commercially available dive computer, was introduced.

The Deco Brain was available a year or two earlier, but never became popular. A buddy of mine won a Deco Brain in a contest.

Edited by Walter, 14 October 2006 - 07:11 AM.

[Dennis]

It is now believed that the Hunley was sank by a rifle bullet through the glass porthole in the top view port on the vessel. After the Hunley exploded the torpedo, the US marines directed heavy rifle fire on the Hunley. The Hunley was very near the surface and the viewing port was above the surface. While the Hunley was retreating, they believe the sub dived to get away from the rifle fire and took on too much water to surface again.

Ok, for those of you who have read this post, I had a brain fart. The post is corrected. I read an article in National Geographic, I think, that discussed the raising and excavation of the Hunley.

Edited by Dennis, 14 October 2006 - 09:08 PM.

[drbill]

1975 – JAWS The movie filled theaters with people, but emptied the seas of people. Stephen Spielberg's bodacious beast makes a bunch of bucks for novelist Peter Benchley but takes a big bite out of the diving business. Shark-o-phobia, ending 15 consecutive years of industry growth. Aftershocks echo in 1977 with The Deep and in 1978 and 1983 with. Jaws 2 and Jaws 3.

I was one of those people who stopped diving after I saw Jaws, but seeing Jaws 2 was what brought me back to the sport!

Interesting history B2B... I may base one of my newspaper columns on the info here (including the corrections by Walter).