1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1969 1970 1971 October 2 at 10:31 a.m. 1972 1973 1974 1975 STAN WATERMAN and the first 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 GREAT WHITE 1981 1982 1983 1984 SHARK MOVIE 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Photo: Ron and Valerie Taylor 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 162 STAN WATERMAN DIVE ADVENTURES 163 and the first great white shark movie STAN WATERMAN AND THE FIRST GREAT WHITE SHARK MOVIE Stan Waterman is one of the best-known divers in the world. He was one of the first in everything: dive operation owner, liveaboard captain and the first diver who filmed a documentary on great white sharks in the open ocean, making him the first to dive with “Jaws” outside the cage. “We descended in two cages tethered to the giant whale the water and chunks of blubber and bone hung in the water carcass… miles offshore in bottomless depths. We viewed a column. Then Gimbel made a spontaneous decision to break scene that was stunning… overwhelming to our senses. every rule imaginable at the time. Stan Waterman recounts, Hundreds, maybe a thousand, oceanic white tip sharks and “When Peter opened the cage door and exited into the feed- other dangerous species filled our masks in every direc- ing sharks, I felt I had to back him up. It was like stepping off 1969 tion.” Waterman is still thrilled, explaining the first shark the edge of a precipice. I have never been so scared in my life. 1969 encounters while filming the great white shark. Stan was We took up station back-to-back and started filming.” the first filmmaker to swim freely with these sharks in the The movie that launched sharks forever into the public’s open ocean. consciousness had begun. Blue Water, White Death was Peter Gimbel had conceived the expedition as a cinéma a reality. vérité documentary to locate and film the legendary great Stan Waterman first met Peter Gimbel in 1964 when he white shark. But at the start of the project, there was an visited Waterman’s home in Maine to lay out his idea for a unscripted change that placed the dive team amidst the cha- movie based on filming the great white shark. This was, at os of a feeding frenzy, something previously not witnessed the time, generally considered to be both impossible and by divers. It was remarkable enough to take in the sight of insane. Gimbel had experimented with some early shark the fierce predators from the relative safety of the shark cages. models to film blue sharks off the New Jersey coast, but little The sharks were actively feeding and tearing pieces out of the memorable footage was obtained and the cages were too dead whale with their jaws agape. Blood streams blurred restrictive. Waterman was the established underwater filming Photo: Bret Gilliam STAN WATERMAN Stan Waterman’s career in diving has world and, with Hans Hass and Jacques- Hollywood feature movies as The Deep, two-hour film about his diving career incredibly spanned seven decades since Yves Cousteau, rose to prominence. His where his skills brought the underwater called The Man Who Loved Sharks. Stan “Hundreds, maybe a thousand, oceanic white tip sharks and he first plunged beneath Maine’s frigid films earned him international honors as sequences to life with a new vibrancy. recently celebrated his 90th birthday other dangerous species filled our masks in every direction.” water following his Navy service in World well as multiple Emmy Awards for his tele- Waterman has been widely published in leading a diving expedition, and he is still Stan Waterman War II. A uniquely gifted writer and speaker, vision documentary works. He was spon- the world’s diving and mainstream press, going strong underwater and as a widely he studied under the famous author and sored by National Geographic, the Smith- and his 2007 auto biographical book of sought public speaker. He is revered by his poet Robert Frost at Dartmouth College, sonian Institution, the world’s television essays titled Sea Salt chronicles his fasci- professional peers and colleagues as well and developed a passion for oration that networks, Sports Illustrated, and later on nating career. He was part of the film team as audiences worldwide for the remark- mesmerized audiences on his early lecture such specialty venues as the Discovery that created the Oscar-winning stunning able career that has inspired and men- tours about the mysterious adventures Channel. Countless other entities also Blue Water, White Death documentary on tored so many in diving. Together with Hans of scuba diving. He taught himself both realized that a film by Waterman would sharks that is still regarded as the defini- Hass, Stan Waterman epitomizes the most photography and filmmaking to enhance command a large and enthusiastic audi- tive work on the subject. In 1992 the famous diving pioneers. his interpretation of the underwater ence. He also was sought out for such Discovery Channel honored him with a 164 STAN WATERMAN DIVE ADVENTURES 165 and the first great white shark movie TV STARS. Hans Hass and expert and Gimbel needed him for both his expertise and for banging the aggressive sharks away with their camera hous- Stan Waterman on German credibility with the production company. He was skeptical at ings, wooden sticks, and even their hands, had audiences television in 1978. first, but listened attentively: “The concept was intriguing. glued to their seats in fascination and horror. Diving was a The first larger-than-life-size moving images of that most decidedly macho sport and the footage of the petite, feminine, CAGE IMPRESSIONS. Peter Gimbel, feared predator would be the capstone of the production. blonde Valerie Taylor provided another element of intrigue. Valerie and Ron Taylor and Stan with Without enough imagination to even wonder how it all Several days of frenzied continuous action, including even their special buoyancy-controlled could be accomplished, I enthusiastically applauded the idea more first-time daring filming at night while the sharks tore shark cages designed for Blue Water, and agreed to sign on as co-director. But I had commit- the whale carcass to bits, left the film’s viewers speechless. White Death off South Africa, 1969. ments to other projects and Peter had to raise the money “We were jostled and bumped by the sharks and so busy Photo: Cinema Center Films and convince a Hollywood studio to back the project. He pushing them off that we soon drifted apart… loose from the also had to design an independent cage system with its own cages and totally unprotected. We ended up aiming our cam- MOMENT IN TIME. Stan relaxing built-in ballast system to allow the dive film crew to control eras at each other to catch the action of the divers being with his pipe on a shark film project, its ascent and descent in the water column and to hold besieged by the sharks even as the sharks were besieging us! circa 1990. position at a desired depth. Five years went by before we Had even one shark attacked us, there was nothing we could were ready to start.” have done. The first sparring was terrifying… they hit us from Ron and Valerie Taylor, from their remote trips in south- behind, in the head, at our legs, directly at our bodies. We ern Australia, probably had more experience observing great learned immediately to react with counter-punches to the whites than any other divers. Gimbel signed them on as well, sharks’ heads, gills, and sides. At times, it was chaotic mess of but didn’t take their advice about locating in Australia as the survival instincts. But apparently the abundance of food from first choice for finding the sharks. Instead, Gimbel opted to the whale carcass was an easier meal than we were since we bring his crew to South Africa based on accounts from whal- fought back with all vigor!” Stan relates the encounters from ing ships that reported overwhelming sightings of white 45 years ago without missing a beat. His breathless narration sharks. The problem, as the film crew quickly learned, was rocks me back in my seat as I scramble to take notes. 1969 that in the parlance of the South Africans, their term After several weeks off South Africa, Gimbel decided to RON TAYLOR AND STAN WATERMAN. 1969 “whites” referred to pelagic oceanic white tip sharks, not the relocate the ship into the Indian Ocean, once again based on Outside the safety of the shark cages more grandiose great white sharks that Gimbel had based bad information. Months of fruitless searching for the great filming feeding oceanic white tip shark his film on. white ensued until Ron Taylor finally prevailed and con- school off South Africa 1969 during the Stan remembers, “As fate would have it, that communica- vinced Gimbel to go to Dangerous Reef in South Australia. Blue Water, White Death project. tion error provided the most exciting experience in our Local shark expert Rodney Fox, who had survived a near entire travels.” Indeed, the sequences filmed of the virtually fatal attack from a great white, was brought in to run the RIVAL. Stan Waterman in shark cage… uncountable schools of oceanic white tips were simply over- chumming and baiting from a local vessel. By this time, still going strong at nearly 90 years of age.