An Historic Overview of Recreational Scuba Diving

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An Historic Overview of
Recreational Scuba Diving
Frans J. Cronje, MBChB, MSc
President and CEO DAN Southern Africa
Man has always held a fascination for the beauty and mystery of the sea. Fired by
a desire to embrace its charm and challenge its fury, we engage in various pursuits
from sailing its surface to delving its depths. The latter, diving, has a special appeal
to all of us; its history is a remarkable tale of the triumph of human ingenuity over
environmental adversity - a battle against all odds.
The history of diving features three collections of people: those who captured the
imagination of mankind and kindled our desire to enter the sea; those who invented
the equipment and diving techniques to overcome the many physiological and
physical barriers; and those who bravely, and often foolishly, applied these ideas and
methods to pave the way to what is now called recreational scuba diving.
Surprisingly, the acronym SCUBA - meaning Self-Contained Underwater Breathing
Apparatus - has relatively recent origins. It started as military jargon coined by the
U.S. Navy underwater demolition teams (UDT). Today, scuba distinguishes selfcontained breathing devices from surface-fed "habitat," "hard hat" or diving in one
atmosphere submersible vessels and containers.
SCUBA started as military
jargon coined by the
U.S. Navy underwater
demolition teams.
(Note: Any historic record is by definition both biased and incomplete; this is no
exception. A needfor brevity or ignorance inevitably results in omissions. For this the
author requests the good humor andforbearance ofthe readers.)
The Early Days (3000 B.C. - A.D. 1500s)
The origins of diving are lost in antiquity. The first actual record is found in the
Persian Epic of Gilgamesh, dating back to 3000 B.C. Here a description is given on
how the hero retrieves oysters to restore "lost youth to a man."
The next historic reference is to a Greek sponge diver, Glaucus, who, apart from his
successful sponge diving exploits, also has the dubious honor of drowning. Rather
than admitting this rather humiliating truth, his peers elevate him to the status of a
god.
Ancient Persian friezes dating around 865 B.C. depict men swimming with a type
of breathing bag - either for flotation or perhaps as the first primitive breathing
apparatus.
By 600 B.C., sponge diving had become a very important industry in early Greece;
this is reflected in much of the ceramic art of that time. Two of these early Greek
divers were a father and daughter diving team - Scyillias and Cyana - enslaved
by the Persian King Xerxes to assist with the recovery of goods from sunken ships.
Unfortunately for the king, he refused to grant them their freedom after many years
of loyal service, so they retaliated by cutting the anchor lines of his ships during a
storm, causing a great naval catastrophe, allowing them to escape. Cyana is the first
recorded female diver. Since then, women have featured ever increasingly in the
history of diving - particularly breath hold diving (e.g., the Ama in Japan).
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By the 1500s Leonardo da Vinci started drafting designs for various diving devices,
including the first known scuba equipment. Da Vinci's inventions, contained in his
Codex Atlanticus, combined air supply and buoyancy control in a single system and
foreshadowed later diving suits. There is no evidence that he actually built the device
or that anyone used it. In fact, he largely abandoned the pursuit of scuba in favor
of refining the diving bell, which offered both protection and endurance in an era
preceding the availability of compressed air.
The Lure of Sunken Treasure (1622-1733)
In 1622, a Spanish treasure fleet on its way home was scattered and largely destroyed
by a hurricane near the Florida Keys. The Spaniards salvaged a small part of the
treasure with a custom-built diving bell, but most of it was never recovered. Storms
continued harassing treasure transport between 1715 and 1733, with hundreds of
people drowning. The economic losses intensified Spain's national deficit, accelerating its decline as a world power. The lure of sunken treasure was a side effect of this
misfortune, however, and this remained a powerful stimulus for man to enter the
sea over the following 350 years. Unfortunately, sunken treasure has rendered more
people poor than rich.
The Age of Progress (1622-1900)
The change in emphasis from diving bells to dive suits came when a German
physicist, engineer and natural philosopher, Otto von Guericke, invented the
first air pump in 1662 to study the phenomenon of vacuum and the role of air in
combustion and respiration. His invention also, for the first time, allowed air or
gas to be pumped to pressures greater than one atmosphere, either to supply a diver
underwater or for storage as compressed gas. However, in the absence of materials
able to store compressed gas, efforts continued to provide a continuous air supply to
the diver at depth.
Nevertheless, in 1680 an Italian physician, Giovanni Borelli, imagined a selfcontained closed circuit "rebreather." His drawings show a giant bag using chemical
components to regenerate exhaled air. This, he suggested, would allow the air to be
breathed again by a submerged diver. Borelli also drew rather bizarre, claw-like feet
on his diver, which some have suggested may have been the first renditions of swim
fins and the metamorphosis to becoming "frogmen."
Borelli also drew rather
bizarre, claw-like feet on
his diver, which some
have suggested may have
been the first renditions
of swim fins and the
metamorphosis to
becoming Ilfrogmen."
In 1808 Friedrich von Drieberg developed a device he called the Triton. The system
used an air reservoir worn by the diver, but because it could not contain sufficient
pressure to provide any meaningful duration it had to be supplied by surface hoses.
The diver could obtain air from the backpack reservoir through a valve operated by
nodding his head forward.
Then in 1819 two brothers - Charles and John Deane, who were employed as
merchant seaman - designed a smoke helmet to fight fires in ships. Although the
original concept failed, their invention became the blueprint for the most successful
diving system in history - the so-called hard hat or standard dress. Without the
capital or manufacturing skills, the brothers approached their employer, who
eventually contracted a German coppersmith and inventor in London by the name
ofAugustus Siebe. After producing the first smoke helmet, Siebe's interests turned
to diving. By 1836 he had introduced the concept of "closed dress," i.e., sealing the
helmet to the suit to prevent flooding. The system was so successful that it was used
in the salvage of the Royal George in 1839 from the harbor at Spithead, England.
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This won Siebe the endorsement of Her Majesty's Royal Navy and established his
firm, Siebe and later Siebe, Gorman & Co., as the leading manufacturer of diving
equipment in the world.
Many parallel efforts were under way as materials and artisan skills started to better
support man's dream to enter the sea. In 1825 an Englishman, William James,
developed what several historians consider to be the first true SCUBA. It employed
tanks of compressed air and a full diving dress with a helmet. Limits on useful
depth and duration kept it from widespread adoption by commercial divers, who
eventually favored Siebe's standard dress.
Then in 1864 two Frenchmen, Benoit Rouquayrol and Auguste Denayrouze,
developed the first demand valve. The diver carried a tank on the back, fed from
the surface from which the diver could obtain air through an ambient pressurecompensating, membrane-controlled "demand" valve. The diver was able to breathe
with minimal effort, and their system of a surface pump, pressurized air cylinder
and demand regulators went into commercial production in 1867. This was the first
recorded respirator-controlled demand valve in history and is similar to the one used
in modern scuba.
Using simple but elegant
experiments, Bert
recognized nitrogen as
the cause of "caisson
disease," concluded that it
was the same affliction as
decompression sickness in
divers and predicted its
occurrence at altitude.
Jules Verne added intrigue to the quest for depth in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in
1869 by having Captain Nemo and his crew use the Rouquayrol/Denayrouze system
with the next envisaged development - independence from the surface.
The building of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York introduced "Caisson's Disease"
or "the bends" when the workers or "sandhogs" spending hours under pressure
dredging river beds in pressurized containers would emerge with bizarre neurological
and musculoskeletal symptoms. These clinical labels for the affliction of human
effervescence were eventually transferred to diving as greater sophistication in diving
systems supported combinations of depth and duration able to produce symptoms.
This was to remain one of the primary occupational hazards to caisson workers and
divers for another 25 years.
Following the discovery of oxygen, Henry Fleuss, an English merchant seaman,
revived the idea of the closed-circuit rebreather in 1876. His self-contained system
was useful for working in smoke and noxious air environments and even underwater
for short periods of time. Fleuss ultimately went to work as an engineer for the
Siebe-Gorman company, which put his design into commercial production.
Paul Bert, a French physiologist, was able to tie many loose ends in the evolving
fields of diving and aviation medicine. In his monumental work - "La pression
barometrique" - using simple but elegant experiments, he recognized nitrogen
as the cause of "caisson disease," concluded that it was the same affliction as
decompression sickness in divers and predicted its occurrence at altitude. He even
recommended breathing oxygen as a remedy. However, his experiences with oxygen
toxicity convulsions under pressure - credited to him as the "Paul Bert" effect
- appear to have prohibited him from recommending the combination of oxygen
and pressure in the treatment ofDCS.
In 1892 Louis Boutan perfected the first underwater camera system to show an
excited world the first pictures from beneath the waves.
The History of Modern Diving (190o-present day)
One of the most important milestones in the advancement of diving safety is
attributed to the British physiologist John Scott Haldane. Charged by the Royal
Navy to solve the riddle of DCS, he approached nitrogen uptake and elimination in
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the body from a pharmacological paradigm; he developed the concepts of tissue halftimes and "stage decompression," thereby producing the first useful dive tables and
the foundation of modern decompression theory.
In 1909 the Drager Company of Liibeck, Germany, plunged into dive gear
production. Formerly a manufacturer of gas valves, firefighting equipment and
mine safety devices, the company now manufactured self-contained dive systems,
combining a "hard hat" style helmet with a backpack containing compressed oxygen.
Building on their success and stimulated by the First World War, Drager quickly
took the lead in developing the first modern rebreathers from 1917 - combining
tanks with a mixture of compressed air and oxygen (i.e., the first enriched air nitrox).
Their devices were sold for use up to 40 meters (130 feet), and Drager remained the
leading manufacturer of rebreathers for military and research applications for many
years.
The original cinematographic version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by the
Williamson brothers appeared in 1915. This landmark provided the world with
a first glimpse of the dynamic beauty and commercial potential of underwater
cinematography. Cast and crew use modified Fleuss rebreathers and "Oxylite,"
a compound that generated oxygen through a chemical reaction. Unfortunately,
Oxylite explodes if it comes in contact with water, a significant limitation.
In 1926 Yves Ie Prieur, an officer in the French Navy, patented the Fernez/Le Prieur
diving system based on compressed air carried in tanks. Le Prieur's device fed air to
a full-face mask worn by the diver. This was the first system to open diving to the
public and resulted in the forming of the first scuba club - des scaphandres et de La
vie sous I'eau.
In 1935, the American Diving Equipment and Salvage Co. (now known as DESCO)
developed a self-contained, mixed-gas rebreather with the help of basement genius
Dr. Edgar End in Milwaukee. It used a compressed mixture of helium and oxygen
in combination with a fully sealed diving suit. Using the new system, DESCO diver
Max Noh! set a new world depth record of 128 meters (420 feet). DESCO was also
the U.S. manufacturer of the Siebe-Gorman equivalent hard hat - the U.S. Navy
Mark V - until it was discontinued in 1983.
The original
cinematographic version of
20,000 Leagues Under the
Sea appeared in 1915 and
provided the world with a
first glimpse of the dynamic
beauty and commercial
potential of underwater
cinematography.
In 1939 Owen Churchill helped popularize skin diving by introducing the Churchill
dive fins.
The next cinematographic landmark was provided by John Wayne in 1942. In
Cecil B. de Mille's Reap the Wild Wind, he played the role of a hard hat salvage diver
who was eventually killed by a giant squid. Cinematographer Victor Milner was
nominated for an Academy Award, but the squid won the Oscar for special effects.
In 1943 Jacques Cousteau and Emile Gagnan, an industrial gas control systems
engineer with LAir Liquide, combined their talents and insights to provide the
world with what was to become one of the most popular scuba devices: the
AquaLung® or twin-hose regulator. During the summer of 1944 Cousteau and two
close friends, Philippe Tailliez and Frederik Dumas, tested production prototypes
in the Mediterranean Sea. The devices proved to be safe, reliable and simple to use.
Dumas demonstrated the safety of the device by diving to 63 meters (210 feet).
Later that same year they released their first film, "Sixty Feet Down." Cousteau's
brother-in-law, Rene Bussoz, then started importing the AquaLung® to Southern
California through Rene's Sporting Goods (which ultimately became U.S. Divers, a
leading manufacturer of diving equipment).
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From 1950 to 1960 scuba diving started taking the United States by storm:
Entrepreneurs and businessmen alike turned their focus to the evolving industry of
diving; the ensuing promotion awakened wide public interest and began shaping the
as yet undefined world of recreational diving. The world of media and publishing
was not far behind. Never before had there been so much publicity and coverage of
the subaquatic realm.
In 1951 Chuck Blakeslee and Jim Auxier created Skin Diver magazine. Many early
skin divers refused to use the new "bubble machines" and looked on scuba as a sport
for weaklings. However, Skin Divel; originally a leading spear fishing and underwater
hunting magazine, eventually shifted its attention to scuba as the latter's popularity
grew. Skin Diver remained an important influence in nurturing industry growth by
promoting underwater photography and travel. Sadly, the company was liquidated
in 2000, and a beacon for diving was lost.
Rachel Carson also published The Sea Around Us in 1951. Her scholarly and poetic
book about the oceans won several prestigious awards and topped bestseller lists for
almost seven months. It remains an inspiration and ode to the deep blue.
John Steinbeck followed suit and published The Logfrom the Sea afCortez, which
chronicled a 1940 research and collecting expedition undertaken by Steinbeck and
Ed Ricketts. It attracted many adventurous scuba divers to the area and promoted
dive travel.
During the same period in Austria, Hans Hass started to riddle an expectant world
with books and films on diving. Hass became a role model for the diving public.
Lloyd Bridges immortalized
scuba diving with one of
America's most popular
television series between
1958 and 1961: IISea Hunt."
A year later in 1952, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Frederik Dumas and James Dugan
publish Silent World, a book about the early days ofAquaLung® diving. It, too,
became a bestseller with the film being released four years later in 1956.
In 1953 Eugenie Clark published Lady with a Spear. It became a Book-of-the-Month
Club selection and was translated into eight languages - even Braille. The popular
book gave women divers a role model of their own.
Then in 1954, the first full textbook appeared on recreational diving as a sport
The Science ofSkin and SCUBA Diving, published by the Council for National
Cooperation in Aquatics. By the time the fourth edition appeared in 1974, more
than a million copies had been sold.
-
The introduction of television provided a new conduit for promoting the sport. In
1954 research diver Zale Parry introduced the first underwater documentary series,
"Kingdom of the Sea." The program included live broadcasts of diver education. The
same year, Parry made a record-setting dive to 63 meters (209 feet) near Catalina
Island with national media coverage. Four years later, Lloyd Bridges immortalized
scuba diving with one ofAmerica's most popular television series between 1958
and 1961: "Sea Hunt." Produced by Ivan Tors and photographed by Lamar Boren,
it captured the exploits of Mike Nelson (Bridges), making him a role model for a
future generation of scuba divers.
The silver screen had its turn in the following year with Jane Russell, Richard Egan
and Gilbert Roland starring in a Howard Hughes film, Underwater, in 1955. Some
guests even wore scuba gear to the premiere.
As the popularity of the sport continued to increase, so did the need for safe and
user-friendly equipment. In 1955 Sam Davison Jr. introduced the "Dial-a-Breath"
- a double-hose, double-diaphragm regulator, complete with a built-in lowpressure reserve and variable breathing resistance. Davison went on to develop his
own equipment manufacturing company, Dacor. Then, the next year, a group of
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scientists at the University of California invented a new type of outerwear for divers
- the wetsuit. The fabric, a neoprene foam manufactured by Rubatex as automobile
insulation, provided a wet but warm way to dive.
In 1956 Ted Nixon from U.s. Divers forever branded scuba diving with the
introduction of the distinctive red and white "diver down" flag - brain child of
Navy veteran Denzel James "Dic" Dockery. The flag - a diagonal compromise
between the Austrian National (horizontal white line on red) and the Navy's No.7
signal flag (vertical white line on red) - served to warn boaters to stay clear or slow
down to avoid injuring nearby divers.
The next area of development was organized scuba training. In 1959 the YMCXs
National Aquatic Council offered the first nationwide diver training and certification
program in the United States. In the same year CMAS was formed in Monaco.
These two organizations led the growth spurt in recreational diving in the United
States and Europe for many years. Twenty-one years later, in early 1980, YMCA
scuba was granted equivalency by CMAS for YMCA-qualified scuba instructors and
divers. This distinction positioned the YMCA as part of the world's largest diving
organization composed of some 12,000 diving clubs, 65 national federations and
3.5 million divers.
In 1959, the Boston-based Northeast Council of Dive Clubs hosted the First
National Convention of Skin Divers. The group forms an umbrella organization
representing many diving clubs, councils and constituencies - the Underwater
Society ofAmerica.
Then in 1960 Chuck Blakeslee, Jim Auxier and Neal Hess decided to hold a major
instructor certification course. AI Tillman, director of the Los Angeles County
Underwater Program, was invited to design and direct the course. The National
Diving Patrol was renamed the National Association of Underwater Instructors
(NAUI), and it was incorporated as a nonprofit educational organization. Tillman
became its first president, and Hess became executive secretary. The course qualified
53 out of76 candidates and became the first international instructor certification
course in history; this marked a whole new era in sport diving. Over the next three
and a half decades NAUI went through many organizational changes, becoming
NAUI Worldwide in 1996, moving its world headquarters to Tampa, Fla., and
accepting international representatives on its board of directors.
In 1956 Ted Nixon from
U.S. Divers forever
branded scuba diving with
the introduction of the
distinctive red and white
lldiver down" flag.
The British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) was formed in London in the autumn of 1953.
The club's founder, Oscar Gugen, was assisted by Peter Small, who died tragically
a few years later during a 303-meter (1,OOO-foot) dive with Hans Keller. BSAC
quickly became a significant force in sports diving. During 1959 the BSAC became a
founding member of CMAS. Today BSAC has some 45,000 members, which makes
it the largest single diving club in the world.
In 1961 Maurice Fenzy patented an inflatable buoyancy device invented by
the underwater research group of the French Navy. It rapidly became the first
commercially successful buoyancy compensator. Within a few years, divers
throughout Europe, and a few well-traveled Americans, were all wearing "Fenzys."
Dive travel got a boost when Richard Adcock launched the first dedicated liveaboard dive boat in Mexico in 1964. Liveaboards have since become one of the
mainstays of recreational diving.
From 1962 to 1966, several underwater habitat experiments provided valuable
publicity to diving and offered the world a glimpse of underwater experimentation
and research. Edwin Link became the "Man in the Sea" with an experimental
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24-hour dive on helium-oxygen at 200 feet. Jacques Cousteau conducted Conshe/f
One, with a habitat housing six men breathing oxygen enriched air (nitrox) at
11 meters (35 feet) for seven days. Conshe/fII and III followed, as did Hydrolab.
Then in 1964 the u.s. Navy launched Sealab L In this first experiment, performed
under the watchful eye of Capt. George Bond, four divers stayed underwater for
11 days at an average depth of 58 meters (193 feet). Sealab II followed in 1965 with
team leader Scott Carpenter, living and working in the habitat at a depth of
62 meters (205 feet). Scott amazed the world when he spoke with astronaut Gordon
Cooper in a Gemini spacecraft orbiting 320 kilometers (200 miles) above the surface
of the Earth.
In 1965 AI Tillman developed the UNEXSO Diving Resort at Freeport in the
Bahamas. Created at the beginning of the jet age, it soon became a major diving
destination for dive training and travel. UNEXSO became a prototype of a
complete, dedicated dive travel destination.
Then in 1965 Thunderball starring Sean Connery, glamorized and updated the
image of scuba with streams of diving extras. Diving retailers had to face expectant
customers asking for equipment "just like James Bond's." The special visual effects
won an Academy Award.
John Cronin and Ralph Erickson formed the Professional Association of Diving
Instructors (PADI) in 1966. Erickson developed the idea of continuing education.
Cronin died in 2003, and Drew Richardson took over as the new president of PAD I.
Diving retailers had to
face expectant customers
asking for equipment l'iust
like James Bond's."
In 1967 the Undersea Medical Society (later called the Undersea and Hyperbaric
Medical Society, UHMS) was founded in Maryland. The UHMS and its members
continue to advance knowledge of the medical aspects of diving.
With the increase in diving activity came an increase in diving injuries and fatalities.
In an effort to collate these statistics, John McAniff created the National Underwater Accident Data Center (NUADC) at the University of Rhode Island in 1968.
The statistics and accident information gathered, analyzed and reported by McAniff
advanced industry awareness of many aspects of diving safety.
In July 1970, President Nixon proposed creating a National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to serve a national need" ... for better
protection of life and property from natural hazards ... for a better understanding
of the total environment ... [and] for exploration and development leading to
the intelligent use of our marine resources ...." On Oct. 3, NOAA was established
under the Department of Commerce. In addition to serving the country through
timely and precise weather, water and climate forecasts, managing fisheries, building
healthy coastlines and monitoring changes in the oceans, NOAA became one of the
springboards for professional diving activities and the cradle of recreational nitrox
and technical diving.
Dr. Sylvia Earle forever changed the macho image of underwater exploration in
1970 when she led an all-female team of aquanauts in a successful and highly
publicized mission in the Tektite habitat. The two-week saturation at 13 meters
(42 feet) provided researchers with much valuable data.
In 1972 the U.S. Congress passed the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries
Act. The Act recognized that marine sanctuaries were "part of our collective riches
as a nation" and charged NOAA with managing the program. Today the system
embraces 13 sites, many of which are havens for divers as well as fish.
A profound setback to recreational diving occurred when Hollywood released Jaws
in 1975. Stephen Spielberg's rendition of Peter Benchley's book chased people out
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of the water in droves, ending 15 consecutive years of industry growth. Aftershocks
echoed in 1977 with The Deep and in 1978 and 1983 with]aws 2 and]aws 3.
Fortunately, popular affection for the underwater world was rekindled in 1984 and
1985 when two movies, Splash and Cocoon, respectively portrayed the ocean as a
revitalizing, nurturing environment and featured lovingly photographed underwater
scenes.
Although already formed in 1963, the national trade association - the Diving
Equipment Manufacturers Association (DEMA) - hosted its first trade show in
Miami in 1977. The show established itself as "neutral ground" where the entire
industry could meet. DEMA has become a potent force for professionalism and
unity within the recreational diving industry based on the mission of "promoting,
fostering and advancing the common business interests of the members as
manufacturers of diving equipment."
Co-inventors Craig Barshinger and Carl Huggins, together with ORCA Industries'
founder Jim Fulton, introduced the Edge@ in 1983. This first commercially
successful American electronic dive computer device automatically tracked dives and
continuously calculated remaining "no decompression" time and depth limits. It
sparked a new era in dive instrumentation and the development of technical diving.
The Birth of DAN
As the increase in recreational diving led to an inevitable escalation in diving-related
injuries, the need arose for a dedicated system to council and care for recreational
divers. In 1980 Jeff Davis created Leofast, a hotline service at Brooks Air Force
Base in San Antonio, Texas. This provided 24-hour assistance and advice to injured
recreational divers and their healthcare providers. However, it was not possible to
sustain this service indefinitely within the U.S. military. Therefore, in 1981, this
initiative, together with support from NOAA, the UHMS and the diving industry
culminated in the creation of Divers Alert Network at Duke University Medical
Center as a section 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization under the leadership of
Dr. Peter Bennett. Around the globe similar initiatives developed, and ultimately
these organizations gave up their own identities and converged to become regional
DAN organizations and formed International DAN.
As the increase in
recreational diving led to
an inevitable escalation in
diving-related injuries, the
need arose for a dedicated
system to council and care
for recreational divers.
The Future
To this day, the various recreational dive training organizations continue to provide
safe entry to the underwater world for the aquatically inclined. Though they may
each have unique business and educational nuances, these organizations collectively
share a common mission for providing a safe metamorphosis into homo scubiens.
While the future of recreational diving is unkwown, this last frontier on earth - the
sea - is likely to remain a popular attraction for the foreseeable future, just as it
has always been. History has shown that recreational diving will continue to evolve;
industry and popular norms will keep changing. Therefore, those in the diving
medical profession will be increasingly challenged on controvercial issues, e.g.,
entry-level scuba diving age criteria, dive medical fitness issues, and the physical and
physiological challenges of technical diving. (Note: The latter is covered in the paper by
Simon Mitchell.) We shall wait with bated breath.
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