College of Oceaneering Rally
August 7, 2004
Twelve divers took a "dip" in the practice tanks at the College of Oceaneering in Wilmington on August 7th. At each COO open house, whether in Wilmington or San Diego, our group has been invited to attend and demonstrate to the students and guests a variety of vintage scuba and classic hard hat diving equipment. It gives the students "hands on" experience with equipment that many of them would never encounter and a chance to meet the "pros" like retired Navy salvage diver, Ken McElvain.
Ben Briggs brought his Aqua Bell shallow water hat for the guys to play with. Chest weights are still fairly new to the group, so Bill (aka Corky) Kurka demonstrated, to the delight of the students and faculty, his explosive feet first ascent technique. Some are saying Bill cleared the surface by several feet. Rocky Rockwell brought his Australian made, beautifully restored, Dolphin equipment. Christian von Stentzsch, from Dive and Surf, brought his Chinese TF 12-Y4 and Charlie Orr brought his Desco Kirby for everyone to try.
The member who traveled the farthest to this event was Travis Robinson from Salem, Oregon. Several drove up from San Diego, and Rocky braved the L.A. Freeway system to drive in from Corona.
At 4:30 p.m. the group called it quits until the next event. Later, the majority, including Mom Orr and Com Line editor and chief, Dor Barstad, meet at the Acapulco Restaurant in San Pedro for a great Mexican dinner served with plenty of "after the dive" BS. Charlie Orr ordered the biggest Margarita anyone had ever seen. (He claims it was all because of Bill Kurka's demo of the feet first ascent.)
Our thanks to Ella Morgan and staff for the terrific day and the wonderful BBQ lunch complete with watermelon. And a really big "Thank You" to all the guys and gals who showed up to haul equipment. ~ Charlie Orr
Next COO Rally in Wilmington - December 4, 2004
Setup 8:00 a.m. Diving to continue until about 4:00 p.m. Lunch will be provided by the COO. Call Charlie @ (310) 834-7051 for info.
NOTE - COO-SD OCT. 16
COO-San Diego - We will be diving at the COO in San Diego on Saturday, October 16th. Be sure to mark your calendar as we will not be sending out a reminder. Setup 10:00 a.m. Diving to continue until about 4:00 p.m. Lunch provided by the COO-SD. Call Charlie @ (310) 834-7051 for info.
HDS-USA Annual Conference & Dive Demonstration
The 2004 HDS Annual Conference held in the L.A. Harbor area was a great success. On Saturday, September 25, everyone gathered at the Banning's Landing Community Center in Wilmington. Philippe Rousseau, Vice President, HDS-France spoke on the little known French Commeinhes Scuba Apparatus which he brought along to display for the first time in the US. Phil Nuytten's (President, HDS-Canada) topic was Emile Gagnan who co-invented the Aqua Lung. After hearing these two speakers, Mark Howell commented that he was now able to fill in some missing information in his own research of the vintage scuba gear.
A two hour break followed the morning speakers giving everyone a chance to enjoy the catered lunch from Guiliano's in Redondo Beach, check out the displays and buy a few T-shirts, books, etc., from the HDS and CCED booths. The L.A. Fireboat also put on a demonstration of their water pumping capabilities spraying water from all the hoses simultaneously to the delight of everyone who gathered along the old Banning's Landing sea wall. Inside, the CCED display featured E.R.Cross's helmet, a plexiglass practice helmet used at the Sparling School, a Morse McCray Commercial, Schrader Mark V, and a TOA retrofitted by Lee Hixon using Al Hanson's design. Mark Howell and Jocko Robinson brought out a nice collection of vintage scuba regulators, mask, and tanks. Also Nick Icorn displayed some of his large collection of vintage scuba gear and Dr. Bob Innallo brought out his FERO re-breather.
Afternoon speakers included Sid Macken, HDS-USA, E.R. Cross Award Recipient, who spoke on the History of Underwater Photography and screened a short unedited film made by E.R. Cross onboard his yacht Four Seasons during his voyage in the 1950's to Mexico and Hawaii. Last speaker for the day was Norma Hanson, Women Divers Hall of Fame Inductee. Norma's delightful story of her life and adventures as a diver and tender along side her husband, Al Hanson, was a perfect ending to the Conference.
The Awards Banquet was held the same evening at the Marina Hotel in San Pedro. The Historical Divers Magazine Pioneer Award was presented to Lad Handelman and the E.R. Cross Award went to Andy Lentz.
Sunday, back at Banning's Landing for the day, the gear was quickly unloaded on the boat dock, the old DeVilbus Compressor was cranked up and "Big" Al Pilkington was first man in the water. The highlight of the day was diving Philippe Rousseau. Not only did he dive, but like a true pro, rather than using the ladder, he jumped from the dock into the water while the crowd cheered.
At the end of the day, a very tired, sunburned crew gathered up all the gear and headed home looking forward to the next time they can get together and dive the old gear.
What's Happening
Alan Pilkington - Congratulations and Best Wishes to Alan Pilkington and Sue Willess on their engagement. The wedding is set for May 14, 2005.
Harold Nething - Sadly, Harold remains in a rehabilitation facility in Long Beach and has shown little or no improvement since his stoke and the resulting surgery in June. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.
"Rocky" Rockwell - Congratulations to Rocky who is now the new Associate Editor of the HDS Historical Diver Magazine.
Joint Meeting - On August 24th we held a combined meeting with the California Wreck Divers. Our group met to discuss the importance of rope pulls,safe diving and the HDS Conference dive. Charlie Orr than spoke before the combined group on modifying the Chinese TF12 Y-4 and the recent problems experienced in ordering the hats from China.
Barbara McElvain - Many "thanks" to Barbara (Ken McElvain's wife) for all her work selling T-shirts at the HDS Conference. Barbara sold 20 shirts!
Autumn Sea Fair
Cabrillo Marine Aquarium
We will be participating in the Autumn Sea Fair on Sunday, October 24th from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro. We are planning to have a display of helmets and feature the development of the L.A. Harbor and the contributions of the early commercial divers. We would like to do some dry dress-ins and have the "diver" chat with the visitors. Especially with the children, many of whom will be seeing the old standard dive gear for the first time. Over 4,000 visitors are expected! Anyone interested in helping with the booth or be a "diver" should contact Charlie ASAP. (310) 834-7051 or e-mail: Neverbent@aol.com
Admission to the Fair is FREE! There will be games, contest, exhibits, demonstrations, arts & crafts, films & videos, sand sculpture contest, a buried treasure hunt, music, etc. Bring a picnic or buy lunch from one of the food venders. Limited beach parking is $7.00, but there will be a free park-and-ride from 22nd St. and Miner St. which is recommended and encouraged.
This should be a lot of fun for the whole family. We encourage you to attend and have a great time. The event is sponsored by the Friends of the CMA and the Port of Los Angeles.
Buyer Beware!
The old adage "if it is too good to be true" is something we should all take to heart. This summer, while checking eBay, I found a Miller-Dunn MkV up for auction. There was only one picture of the hat which was a beautiful, authentic looking MkV, but didn't quite look like a Miller-Dunn. Starting bid was set at $1200. The spiel from the seller was:
"This hat belonged to my father and I have the original certificate proving its authenticity. I had to move and need the money. Contact me for a "buy it now" price."
The "buy it now" was by direct e-mail to the seller and not through eBay.
I contacted the buyer for more pictures and a quote of the "buy it now" price which was very low ($1800) and the seller would pay the shipping from somewhere in Europe (England?). He wanted an International Money Order sent within one week. He also sent pictures of the "proof" and the name tag. The proof was nothing more than a front page from a Navy Mark V Manual and the tag image was blurry and appeared to be a Morse rather than a Miller-Dunn.
We e-mailed back and forth over a period of several days. Me, holding back for additional pictures, while he cooked up a scheme to have the International Money Order wired to him, but with my sisters name on it, to be held until I examined the hat, then have her release the Money Order to him. (What????)
By this time, the hat had been withdrawn from eBay so I was dealing directly with this guy and it was sounding stranger by the minute. After about a week, and after consulting with Leslie Leaney, I simply stopped responding to the seller's e-mail and dropped the whole thing.
Imagine my surprise when a few days later, low and behold there is the hat on eBay again. Same picture, same story, but a different seller. Again I contacted the seller for his "buy it now" price. He was now up to $1900, would pay the shipping, wanted a money order, but when I ask for pictures, he responded that he had already sent me the pictures. So - same guy????
Again, after a few days, the hat is withdrawn from eBay. And, a week or so later, there it is again with yet a different seller's name. Over a period of about a month and a half, Dorothy and I saw this hat listed at least six times! Same story - "it belong to my Dad," a "buy it now offer" - but not through eBay, a very low price with seller paying the shipping and each time with a different seller. This I believe was an outright scam! I wonder just how many unsuspecting novice collectors, thinking they were picking up a collectors helmet worth probably $5000 or more, mailed this guy a money order, never to hear from him again. And, what recourse would you have when dealing with someone in another country?
While all this was going on, I received a phone call from a fellow in Modesto, California. He had a Morse Mark V, inherited from his grandfather, and offered it to me for $1500. He wanted a money order or Cashier's Check and would ship the hat as soon as he received payment.
I ask a few questions to verify the hat, and requested he send me some pictures, either by mail or e-mail. He said he didn't have any pictures and didn't have the hat with him and would call back at 7:00 p.m., with the hat in front of him, to answer my questions. After waiting until 9:00 p.m., I tried calling him, but no answer.
The next morning I called him again several times before wising up, switched to my cell phone and he picked up. (Different number showing up on his caller I.D.?) I ask him what happened, and got the reply that he had been out with friends and wasn't able to call at the time we had set up. I said "O.K., I can understand that," so we again set up a time for him to call and answer my questions. At this time, I told him that if his answers satisfied me, I would drive to Modesto on Saturday, cash in hand, to pick up the hat.
Again I waited as the hands on the clock slide on by the appointed time and no call came in. Was it authentic? A repo? Another scam? Who can say. But in both cases, I managed to dodge the bullet so to speak.
If it seems too good to be true, BEWARE! If the price is way below the actual value and they want payment NOW, back off! If you are dealing with someone you do not know, make arrangements to personally pick up the hat or at least have someone you trust look at it before writing out that check or money order. Even if the seller has sent pictures, there will be no guarantee that what is in the box is what you bought - that is, if you ever get a box.
~ Charlie Orr
And Then - Another Hat Story
A couple of years ago I wrote an article (Issue 17) about the possibilities of finding a wonderful old hat in some forgotten storage facility or old barn. The dream of every collector is that once in a lifetime chance of making such a find.
In spite of the two bad experiences I had this summer, when the plain white business envelope arrived in the mail with nothing inside other than a business card with the words on the back "Morse Commercial," I couldn't help but get fired up in anticipation of calling the number listed on the card.
A couple of days went by before I finally had time to sit down and make the call. The gentleman on the phone said the helmet was a plain Morse Commercial - nothing fancy. After making sure that he did want to sell the hat, I set up a day and time to meet with him at his home located in the high desert area east of San Bernardino. (Too often I have made a long trip and found they actually just wanted to know what the item is worth).
On the appointed day, Mom, Dorothy and I piled into my truck with plans of driving up to Oak Glen, having lunch somewhere, and checking out the hat. First stop, of course, was to see the hat!
We arrived on time, just before noon and found the house with no problem. After greeting the elderly gentleman, we walked
around the house to his "barn" which was actually a large workshop. With Mom waiting in the truck, Dorothy followed me
on around the house, arriving several minutes later. She said she could tell the minute she saw my face that this was
something special.
The hat sitting on a work bench was a Morse McCray Commercial in almost pristine condition. The story he told was that he had attended the Sparling School of Diving in the early 1950's and trained to be a diver. He had bought the Morse from another student who was from the Seattle, Washington area, but who wanted to buy a Mark V hat from E.R. Cross. (Too bad he wasn't able to remember the name of the other student). After graduating from the Sparling School, instead of becoming a diver, he went back to doing carpenter work and became a building contractor. He dove the hat one time in the training tank at the Sparling School. The hat had been boxed up in an old wooden India Tea crate and stored for 50 years.
I dug deep into my pocket and was thankful he was willing to part with the hat for what I could offer. (Actually, he called later and tried to give me back $500 as he thought he had taken advantage of me.) It wasn't until after we got home and Dorothy started surfing the web to see what she could find on the McCray hat, that we realized that we had indeed found a true treasure.
Morse McCray Commercial
The McCray style of helmet was developed in the Seattle, Washington area during the 1940's. Known as the McCray, McCray type, or Pacific Northwest Modified, these helmets have become symbolic of commercial diving in the Northwest US.
The most significant difference between the McCray style and typical helmets is the size and shape of the bonnet. Art McCray came up with the idea of reducing the helmet volume to reduce the diver's required ballast. Art's original design consisted of a low volume, flat-topped-pot shaped bonnet, with the air inlet at the back of the neck ring. The air passes through a channel in the neck ring to the front of the helmet and blows across the diver's face. This design required a smaller volume of air to circulate and clear the CO2 than did the standard hat.
Even though the flat-topped bonnet was used on only a few McCray helmets, the distinguishing characteristic remains that the bonnet has the same diameter as the neck ring and is more cylindrical than traditional helmets.
Another significant difference in the McCray helmets is the three ports; a large round front port and two horizontal, oval side ports. A notable characteristic of the McCray hat is that the cast, brass port frames have a scalloped shape where the mounting screws are located. The original McCray used automotive safety glass for the ports.
Although other Northwest divers modified and developed other helmets to meet their individual needs or designs, there were actually only eight true McCray helmets. The hats were built in the mid-1940's by A.J. Morse of Boston according to Art McCray's original design.
Source: Sid Macken "Deep in the Past" column
More information about the Pacific Northwest Modified Diving Helmets may obtained by visiting the website: www.northwestdiver.com. Then click on the "Deep in the Past" column written by Sid Macken.
Early Aqua Lung Regulators - Part 1
By Mark Howell
For the older Frog's this article may spark some fond memories. For the newer Frog's, hopefully it will give them some perspective on the history of the early double hose regulators.
In early 1949, Commander Doug Fane finally got his hands on a few sets of Aqua Lung regulators. Testing and evaluating continued on through the year. The results were very positive. Gone were the problems of blackouts with the oxygen re-breathers. Commander Doug Fane could now envision expanding UDT operations from surface swimming to underwater operations. Frogmen could now swim deeper and further, and stay longer.
Pleased with the test results Commander Fane in late 1949 placed an order for about 150 Aqua Lung regulators. These were French built models. Half of them went to West Coast Teams 1&3, and the other half to East Coast Teams 2&4. Number 941, the subject of this article, is from that first order. Jim Hazlewood has been the owner of this regulator since 1953. Jim joined UDT in 1953 and while doing some Aqua Lung training he noticed they were using new regulators. Wondering where the old 1949 units were, he was told they were being surveyed, they were metric and becoming difficult to service. Jim asked Fane if he could have one and Fane said fine, "just put it to good use". Hoses on these early models were clamped onto the regulator body and screwed on to the mouthpiece. An interesting note, these early regulators had hoses that were left over from WWI gas masks. The mouthpiece and hose assembly were wet. It wasn't until 1955 that the Kleer E-Z mouthpiece was introduced which had check valves that kept the hoses dry and made clearing easier.
The next regulator we'll look at is #3098. It's a 1952 model. At this time US Divers were bringing in the parts from Canada and assembling them here. They were then distributed as complete units. The internal working parts were identical to the 1949 French model. The only major difference is the smaller identification tag.
These early regulators were dependable and relatively easy to service. However, as we move to the mid 1950's, metric parts were becoming harder to get. 1953 brought the first units built in the US. We'll continue in Part 2 with these first American built Aqua Lungs.
Chest Weights
Senior member and pro diver, Ace Parnell, after review photos of our dive at Banning's Landing, pointed out that our suits were too buoyant when using the chest lead and jocking with the rope. He said to look at the pictures of Norma and Al Hanson in their book "More than Nine Lives." In addition to the chest weights, they wore a belt, similar to a weight lifters belt. It would be perfect to locate the "bail out" and would help with our inflation. I'll see what I can come up with between now and the COO-SD dive on October 16th. We'll test it out. ~ Charlie Orr
New Dutch Diving Helmet
Kees de Jonge, Dutch Diving Helmets, has started production of a shallow water helmet made of cast bronze with a lifting handle on the top. Three large windows are mounted to provide the diver with excellent vision. Two lashing eyes and the company plaque are fitted to the front of the helmet. An air supply and communication fitting are located at the rear of the helmet. Communications can be installed by custom order. The helmet operates as an "open" helmet and is expected to be popular with diving resorts and tourists as well as enthusiasts of traditional shallow water diving helmets.
Several companies around the world are using plastic shallow water helmets for underwater tourism. These activities are based on personal interpretations of how to use these helmets. Accidents have already occurred as there was no standard procedure to operate them. This has now changed! A manual on shallow water diving has been written by Kees and has been approved by PADI. This means more safety and a more structurised activity.
The helmets are beautifully made and are sold only through Dutch Diving Helmets (See note below). For more information about the helmet, check the webpage at: www.dutchdivinghelmets.com or contact Kees de Jonge at 31-4925-11795
Note from the Dutch Diving Helmet website: Recently one of the helmets appeared on an on-line market place. This is the work of frauds that try to get you to wire the money to them. Don't fall for this trick!
Swap & Sell
CCED T-Shirt
A new shipment of T-Shirts are now available but are selling fast! Shirts are Hanes Beefy-T's in grey, black or navy blue - size medium to XXL. $15 plus $4 postage.
Shirts are also available at most of our events. Contact Charlie (310) 834-7051 or neverbent@aol.com