It's with a heavy heart that I report the passing of a loyal Navy Diver. Harold
Nething was born October 31, 1924 and passed away November 29, 2004. In the
midst of World War II, February 1943, eighteen year old Harold enlisted in the
United States Navy. Assigned to the Destroyer Livermore he spent two years
escorting convoys across the North Atlantic. After the war ended Harold attended
Deep Sea Diving School at the Naval Gun Factory in Washington D.C.
He graduated 1st Class Navy Diver and was assigned to the Sperry, a large submarine tender out of San Diego. Here he honed his diving skills with the heavy Mark V gear doing the many required underwater inspections and repairs. His duties also included running the dive locker, maintenance and repair of all diving gear and the re-compression chamber. In 1952, while assigned in Korea salvaging two LST ships, he saw a notice that volunteers were needed for UDT. Always looking for an opportunity to further his diving skills he put in for a transfer. His orders came through and he was off to Coronado for UDT training. Besides the extensive underwater demolition training, Harold also learned to use the Aqua-Lung. Because of his back ground as a 1st Class Navy Diver, he was part of the training staff for the Pirelli oxygen rebreather.
Assigned to the Naval Ordnance Test Station in Long Beach he worked on the Polaris Missile project. Navy divers were responsible for setting and maintaining the underwater launch pads. February 1963, after 20 years active service, Harold retired from the Navy. A year later he went to work for Ocean Science and Engineering in Long Beach. One of the diving projects was deploying the WEBS (weapons effect buoy system) off Nassau in the Bahamas.
Later he worked on a Deep Mooring Project for the U.S. Coasts & Geodetic Survey. This project involved deploying and recovering magnetometers on the sea floor to record the effects of magnetic fields on the earth. In 1976 Harold retired from Ocean Science and Engineering and moved on to Ocean Design and Engineering where he worked until 1980. Harold often said, "diving was the best thing that ever happened to me."
A few years ago Harold's interest in diving was revived. He found a group with similar interests, The California Classic Equipment Divers. Harold showed up at the CCED dive meets, helped tend the young divers and was always ready to pass on what he'd learned over the past half century. Harold is survived by his wife, son and two daughters, three brothers and six grandchildren. ~ Mark Howell
What a great time everyone had at the Sea Fair! Since this was our first year, we really didn't know what to expect. We were truly surprised to find a well organized event with lots to do for everyone of all ages and free admission to everything including the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.
Our crew quickly set up a large display of helmets, including the Morse McCray, E.R. Cross' Morse 5-Bolt, the Schrader Mark V, Japanese TOA and several others. Jocko Robinson brought a nice glassed case of vintage Scuba regulators and Ben Briggs brought his Chinese hat complete with a skeleton head inside which delighted the youngsters as they peeked inside the faceplate.
We had an ideal location - across from the entertainment area and right next to the bathrooms. The entertainment provided by the various groups was first rate. Japanese Taiko Drummers, Hawaiian Dance Troup, "Sequoia" The Bald Eagle, Puppet Show, Queen of the Sea Contest, Croatian Folk Singers and the list goes on and on of the activities and entertainment provided throughout the day. The Brethren of the Coast, dressed in authentic pirate customs strolled through the crowd flashing swords and sounding like Long John Silver (Har har thar Matey!) from Treasure Island. After lunch, a dress-in demonstration was presented by our group with Ken McElvain as the Navy Diver. In spite of wearing almost 200 pounds of gear, Ken gave families an opportunity to have the children get their pictures taken with him.
All in all it was a super day and we will definitely plan on participating again next year.
The dive planned for October at the San Diego campus was canceled and rescheduled for November 20. Even though we had only six hard hat dives, it was a busy day. Jocko Robinson brought his well traveled, now world famous, Chinese TF 12-Y4C helmet with the automatic "ditch and don" feature. Charlie Orr brought his Desco Jack Brown Commercial and the old Schrader Mark V.
Other members participating were Alan Pilkington , Mark Howell, Rocky Rockwell, and Kevin Monahan. Alan brought his young friend, Robbie McCracken, who has joined us this past year at several dive rallies. The COO's drawing winner was Russ Parmenter who was given the opportunity to dive the heavy gear.
Many thanks to Bob Cave, as well as the other instructors and SD-COO staff who go out of their way to make us feel welcome at their Open House events.
Mark your calendar for this one! This event is sponsored by Diving Unlimited International (DUI) D.O.G. Rally and Demo Days. We will be primarily diving vintage scuba and hard hat gear as we usually do, but the DUI folks will also be demonstrating their equipment. A large crowd is expected. This should be a lot of fun and a little different than our regular dive rallies.
After talking to several members, it has been decided to make Saturday, March 12 our big day. However, anyone who wants to stay over for the Sunday activities can give me a call. Final plans will be made in late February so watch your mail for additional info.
Charlie Orr (310) 834-7051 - Neverbent@aol.com
After much consideration, the December 4th Rally was held at the COO in Wilmington as scheduled. Harold Nething's funeral services were held on the previous day, December 3rd, but we all agreed that Harold would have wanted us to carry on. The dive was held in his honor.
Along with the regulars, we had two of our newest members. Tobin George, Deep Sea Supply in Pasadena and Dale Swift from Santa Rosa, California. Dale is in the process of moving to Arizona and was on his way back to Santa Rosa, but took a day to stop and join in the fun.
Ken McElvain, Jocko Robinson and Mark Howell took charge for the day. Everything went smoothly with eight dives in the heavy gear and several in vintage scuba. Even though it was raining cats and dogs, the COO staff managed to have their BBQ lunch and feed all the crew.
Many thanks to Ella Morgan and the COO instructors and staff for allowing us to take part in their activities and making us feel like part of the family.
Setup at 8 a.m. Diving to continue until about 4 p.m. Lunch will be furnished by the COO. See ya there!
The COO - The College of Oceaneering is now a division of the National Polytechnic College of Engineering and Oceaneering - (Whew!)
Tim Nething - Many of you are probably not aware that Harold Nething's 47 year old son, Tim Nething, had a heart attack within a day or two after the death of his dad. Tim was buried at the same cemetery as his father on December 6, 2004. Those who would like to send a note to the Nething family may send it to Ruby Nething, 4380 Adenmoore Ave., Lakewood, CA 90713.
Mr. Box and Mr. Thirst - Ever wonder who works on those commercials we all see on TV? How about our friend, "Big" Al Pilkington. This past year, Al worked on the commercials for the new spokesperson for Sprite, Mr. Thirst, and also on the holiday commercial for Jack in the Box. Al also worked on the films Riddick and National Treasure as well as several other commercials.
I was born in Wichita Kansas on 20 June 1954 while Dad was serving in the Air Force. I was the second of four children, and grew up in Stanwood, IA where we had moved from Wichita in '56 and Dad set up a large animal veterinary practice. I graduated from high school in 1972 and went to the US Naval Academy, graduating with the Class of 1976. From there I attended various Navy schools and eventually served for three years on a guided missile destroyer, the USS Lynde McCormick, DDG-8. Subsequently, I attended the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA and following graduation from NPGS served for four years at the Naval Ocean Systems Center in San Diego as an Engineering Duty Officer.
I left the Navy in 1987 and worked for several different companies over the past 18 years, doing applied research in optics, optical communications and electro-optical sensor systems for both military and commercial applications. I currently manage the Advanced Technology Division for Apogen Technologies, a medium-sized "high tech" company headquartered in McLean, VA. I met my wife Janet, a former Navy nurse, while we were both stationed in San Diego. We have two grown children, Julie (23) and Scott (22).
Like a lot of divers my age today, I became interested in diving through such shows as Sea Hunt, National Geographic specials featuring Jacques Cousteau, magazine articles, books and movies. I was certified as a PADI SCUBA diver in 1970 by Mike Ster in Cedar Rapids, IA, and became a YMCA SCUBA Instructor in 1976. Initially, I dove in lakes, rivers and rock quarries in the Midwest, and made my first trip to Grand Cayman in 1972. While I was in the Navy, I was able to dive where ever various assignments sent me, including Hawaii, Mazatlan, Guam, Bora Bora, Thailand, American Samoa, and the Philippines. Later, after leaving the Navy and settling down in San Diego, I did little or no diving for most of the 80's until our son, Scott, was 12 and old enough to get certified to dive himself. I started diving regularly again in the early 90's with Scott and bought a small inflatable so we could reach some of the more interesting diving just offshore. By then, most of my diving equipment (large volume mask and Dacor Turbo fins, textured wet suit, front BC, steel 72 and two-hose Aquamaster) was beginning to label me as a "vintage diver" so it was only a short step from there to finding some other "vintage divers" in the area to team up with.
I met Mark Howell and Brian Koneval at the Long Beach Scuba Show in '96 or '97 when I was hanging around Nick Icorn's display and Mark and Brian were measuring an original single tank harness that Nick had on display. If these two fellows were actually collecting and restoring old SCUBA equipment, I thought they must be my kind of divers! Soon after getting to know Mark and Brian, I joined the HDS and over the next several years, met many of the other wonderful individuals in this group of vintage equipment enthusiasts; including Charlie Orr who started CCED and brought a large group of us into hard hat diving. That was simply unbelievable! I had never imagined that I would have the opportunity to dive the old-style conventional dress and meet some of the really legendary men and women who had been pioneers in commercial diving.
Today, I like to collect and tinker with old dive gear and dive both the vintage SCUBA and hard hat equipment. Mark, Brian, Jocko, Rocky and Charlie, as well as many others in our group have taught me so much about the old equipment and become such good friends at the same time, that I feel truly lucky to have joined this group of exceptionally fine individuals. Lets all stay together and keep the old gear (and each other!) going for many years to come.
In mediaeval times it was customary for a knight to push back the visor on his helmet so the King could see his face. Over time this gesture has evolved into the salute used by the military today.
In Part 1, we discussed the first Aqua Lungs Commander Doug Fane was able to get his hands on in 1949. As stated these first units being French and Canadian in origin were metric. Public demand for Aqua Lungs was spurred on in the early 1950s by the movies like The Frogman and The Silent World. Demand was such that it was no longer practical to import them.
1953 brought the first American made regulators with SAE threads. The older metric units were soon phased
out as parts were more difficult to procure. The most
obvious change was the satin chrome finish. 
Earlier ones
were bright chrome. The mouthpiece was metal but
instead of the hoses screwing on they were attached with
green tinnerman clamps. These same clamps were used to
attach the hoses to the regulator body. The mouthpiece
and hose assembly were still wet. The dry setup was still
a couple of years away. The bolt that was used to attach
the regulator yoke to the tank valve was now replaced
with a wide wing screw which was much more user
friendly. The inner workings of the regulator were
basically the same. The major improvement was the
ability to adjust the intermediate pressure with an allen
wrench instead of the tedious job of shimming the
adjusting bonnet.
In 1954-55, US Divers brought out the Navy Type DA
model. As we will see in Part 3, this DA designation will
continue on until the DA regulator is phased out in the
early 1970's. The Navy Type DA had the same internal
working parts as the 1953 Aqua Lung. The main
difference was the hose assembly. The mouthpiece and
hoses were now molded in one piece. Black tinnerman
clamps secured the hoses to the regulator body. Having
the Navy stamp of approval made the Navy Type DA US Divers the most popular model in the mid 1950's.
In Part 3 we'll move on past the mid-50s when some substantial improvements were made to the Aqua Lung.