The Journal of Diving History, Volume 22, Issue 3 (Number 80), 2014 Item Type monograph Publisher Historical Diving Society U.S.A. Download date 04/10/2021 12:41:42 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/1834/31688 The Journal of Diving History of Diving Journal The The Journal of Diving History Third Quarter 2014 • Volume 22 • Number 80 Third Quarter 2014, Volume 22, Number 80 Volume Quarter 2014, Third Lad Handelman: Profile of a Pioneer Lad Handelman Profile of a Pioneer Laissez les bon temps roulez UNDERWATER INTERVENTION 2015 FEBRUARYPresented by the 10-12Association of Diving • Contractors NEW International ORLEANS and The Marine Technology Society‘s ROV Committee HISTORICAL DIVING SOCIETY USA A PUBLIC BENEFIT NONPROFIT CORPORATION PO BOX 2837, SANTA MARIA, CA 93457 USA TEL. 805-934-1660 FAX 805-934-3855 e-mail: [email protected] or on the web at www.hds.org PATRONS OF THE SOCIETY HDS USA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Ernie Brooks II Carl Roessler Dan Orr, Chairman James Forte, Director Leslie Leaney Lee Selisky Sid Macken, President Janice Raber, Director Bev Morgan Greg Platt, Treasurer Ryan Spence, Director Steve Struble, Secretary Dan Vasey, Director ADVISORY BOARD Bob Barth Jack Lavanchy Dr. George Bass Clement Lee Tim Beaver Dick Long WE ACKNOWLEDGE THE CONTINUED Dr. Peter B. Bennett Krov Menuhin SUPPORT OF THE FOLLOWING: Dick Bonin Daniel Mercier FOUNDING CORPORATIONS Ernest H. Brooks II Joseph MacInnis, M.D. Texas, Inc. Jim Caldwell J. Thomas Millington, M.D. Best Publishing Mid Atlantic Dive & Swim Svcs James Cameron Bev Morgan DESCO Midwest Scuba Jean-Michel Cousteau Phil Newsum Kirby Morgan Diving Systems NJScuba.net David Doubilet Phil Nuytten Dr. Sylvia Earle Torrance Parker Marine Surplus Supply, UK North Coast Divers, Inc. Rodney Fox Zale Parry Oceaneering Int’l, West Coast Pacific Comm. Diving Supply Lad Handelman Carl Roessler Santa Barbara City College R & D Technology Services Lotte Hass Dr. Ross Saxon Searchwise Ltd. Bob Hollis Lee Selisky Mike Hughes Robert Sténuit T N J Marine, Inc. Hannes Keller Valerie Taylor Webb Diving Services Ian Koblick Stan Waterman SPONSORS Aquala REMEMBERED FOR THEIR SERVICE Aqueos DIVE STORES Scott Carpenter (1925-2013) Billy Meistrell (1928-2006) Assn. of Diving Contractors Int’l Aquatic Sports & Scuba Schools E.R. Cross (1913-2000) Bob Meistrell (1928-2013) Body Glove Aquatics Wetsuit Henri Delauze (1929-2012) Surgeon Vice-Admiral Sir John Rawlins, Cal Dive David Deboer Bernard Eaton (1926-2012) KBE, FRCP, FFCM, FRAES (1922-2011) Andre Galerne (1926-2008) Andreas B. Rechnitzer Ph. D. (1924-2005) Divers Supply, Inc. Great Lakes Scuba, Inc. Professor Hans Hass (1919-2013) Ron Taylor (1934-2012) Epic Divers & Marine Michael Vandiver Dr. Christian J. Lambertsen (1917-2011) DAN Princeton Watches DEMA Wateree Dive Center, Inc. DESCO FOUNDING BENEFACTORS Dive Commercial International Arthur Bachrach, Ph.D. Andy Lentz Global Diving and Salvage Antonio Badias-Alonso Paul Linaweaver, M.D. International Scuba Diving INSTITUTIONS Roger Bankston Scrap Lundy Hall of Fame Alpha Training Group Thomas Barnes Jim Mabry IUC Brooks Institute of Photography Ron Benson Mitchell A. Melnick, Jr. Murray Black Krov Menuhin Jack W. Lavanchy Divers Academy International Ernest H. Brooks II Nyle Monday K.B. Associates Divers Institute Of Tech. Inc. Kenneth Paul Brown Andrew R. Mrozinski Kirby Morgan Diving Systems Giant Panda Management Wayne Brusate Ronald E. Owen Nautilus Explorer NYCD of Carpenters Labor William Castle Torrance Parker Mr. P.K. Chandran Alese & Morton Pechter Oceaneering International Technical College Steve Chaparro Greg Platt Oceanic Scripps Institution Of John Churchill Bob Ratcliffe PADI Oceanography Raymond Dawson, Jr. Bob Rusnak Subsalve USA Ships Of Exploration & Jesse & Brenda Dean Vincent Scarponi Skip & Jane Dunham Lee Selisky Wyland Discovery Research Hugh Frame Robert D. Shepard Woods Hole Oceanographic Howard & Michele Hall Don Slack Institution Randy Hanks Edward Lee Spence CORPORATE MEMBERS Philip Hawes Rodney Stanley Fred Johnson Hironao Tanaka American UW Contractors Buck Kamphausen John W. Thielst Amron International LIBRARIES Ron & Christl Karlsson Charles S. Thornton Bamboo Reef Enterprises Long Beach Public Library Woody Kenney James Vorosmarti, M.D. Bowman Diving Corp. Mendocino County Library, Robert & Claudia Kirby Gene & Elizabeth Webb Leslie Leaney Robert P. Weed DECA Diving Ft. Bragg Robert & Caroline Leaney Captain Ed White DRS Rancho Palos Verdes Center Dryden Diving Co., Inc. Library Hypertec, Inc. Redondo Beach Public LIFETIME MEMBERS Idelson Gnocchi Publisher Library Dr. Sally Bauer Jim Mermis Rich Riley JS Marine Comm. Diving San Pedro Public Library W.J.Castle Jon Mark Meshejian Kent Rockwell Marine Surplus Supply Torrance Civic Library Robert Dion Scott Naughton Chip Scarlett Marion Hill Associates, Inc. Earl Gerrard Phil Newsum John Skelton Martha Watkins Gilkes Mary Patricia O’Malley Steve Struble McGriff Seibels & Williams of Bret Gilliam Charlie Orr Ed Uditis Capt. Jon Hazelbaker Ace Parnell Bill Wissel Dr. Felix Huang Nestor Palmero Robert P. Weed THE SOCIETY IS OFFICIAL Kevin Lengyel Mike Pelissier HISTORICAL AFFILIATE OF: Third Quarter 2014, Volume 22, Number 80 The Journal of Diving History 1 COLUMNS THE JOURNAL 3 EDITORIAL A Pioneer for Diving and HDS OF DIVING HISTORY By Leslie Leaney 28 THE SUBMARINE LENS Third Quarter 2014 • Volume 22 • Number 80 The Visiola. A French Connection By Sid Macken ISSN 1094-4516 42 HELMETS OF THE DEEP DESCO U.S. Navy Mark V Helium FEATURES By Leslie Leaney Lad Handelman. 23 VINTAGE SCUBA 8 The Northill Air-Lung Regulator Profile of a Pioneer By Ed LaRochelle By Chris Swann 38 IMAGES IN HISTORY The initial diving career of Lad 19th Century British Diver CDV Photo By Gary Pilecki Handelman is similar to many west coast professional divers of the late 1950s and early 1960s. As one of 40 BOOKS IN DEPTH Witness to War. Truk Lagoon’s Master the top-producing abalone divers, Diver Kimiou Asiek Lad was in the right place at the Reviewed by Nyle Monday right time to make the transition into the fledgling, but very rapidly 39 COVER STORY expanding, field of offshore oilfield diving. That industry’s continual The French Collection III requirement to dive deeper, and longer, created a revolution in By Peter Jackson commercial diving equipment. While the names of Kirby, Morgan, and Ratcliffe were associated with developing the cutting-edge 46 VINTAGE PATENTS A Very Strange Diving Apparatus equipment, and are internationally known, the divers who founded (J.J. Devine Diving Armor) and built the companies that used the equipment are far less well- By James Vorosmarti, MD known. These early entrepreneurial divers were often voluntary guinea pigs on the deep end of the dive hose and they risked their 52 HDS USA QUARTERLY REPORT lives to get a competitive edge over their business rivals. One of At the Shows and in the Movies these was Lad Handelman, and in part 1 of his two-part article, Chris By Sid Macken, President Swann tells how Lad and his small group of colleagues survived, and then thrived, in the new oilfield diving world where the recently introduced mixed-gas technology dominated the present, and drove THIS ISSUE the future. 4 2014 Hans Hass Fifty Fathoms Award Presented to Professor Weicheng Cui and the Chinese State Oceanographic Administration. 32 The Tom Hering 6 In The Mail Collection at Boston 48 Camera Auctions: by Sid Macken Harbor Auctions 50 Scuba Auctions: by Ed LaRochele By Leslie Leaney 56 In Memory: Walter F. Mazonne 59 In Memory: Read Admiral John Bradford “Brad” Mooney Long-time HDS member Tom Hering 59 In Memory: Teddy Tucker, MBE was a second-generation commercial 60 In Memory: Dr. Han Sie Batuna diver who sadly passed away in 64 Classifieds 2011. His father, Martin Hering, was a member of the salvage team that ON THE COVER refloated the French liner, Normandie, From leaving this 40-foot water stop, a diver has four minutes after it capsized at Pier 88 in New York’s Hudson River in 1942. in which to resurface, remove his weights, climb into the This father and son diving tradition resulted in the accumulation decompression chamber and of decades of diving equipment and diving-related ephemera that repressurize to 40 feet. Then he would spend 2-½ hours was put up for auction at Larry Lannan’s Boston Harbor Auctions in more decompressing, mostly on pure oxygen, before exiting the Boston, Massachusetts, on April 6, 2014. The auction was a very rare chamber. During the early days before figuring this all out, divers opportunity to review and bid on over 25 helmets and dozens of lots got mild cases of the bends, forcing them to re-enter the of pumps, knives, dresses, weight belts, tools, fittings and associated chamber. equipment. This article covers some of the helmets that were sold. EDITORIAL The Journal of Diving History (Formerly Historical Diver Magazine, founded by Leslie Leaney in 1993) A Pioneer for Diving and HDS ISSN 1094-4516 The Official Publication of: rd The Historical Diving Society U.S.A. s HDS enters its 23 year we are at last able to publish an The Historical Diving Society Canada accounting of the career of our long-serving Advisory Board memberA Lad Handelman. Lad was in the first group of nine divers MAGAZINE STAFF who were the Founding Advisory Board in 1993 and he has Leslie Leaney, Publisher & Executive Editor Nyle Monday, Senior Editor remained a permanent and influential part of the Board ever since. Daron Jones, Managing Editor As a co-founder of the pioneering deepwater company Cal Dive, the hugely profitable Oceaneering, and several non-profits, his COLUMNISTS experience was invaluable in establishing HDS USA as a viable Peter Jackson, Ed LaRochelle, Leslie Leaney, educational non-profit entity Sid Macken, Nyle Monday, Gary Pilecki, Jim Vorosmarti during its formative days.