Scuba Diving History
Long before diving became popular and we had learned about many of the inhabitants of our oceans, diving was an activity that only a few brave souls undertook.
Many recreational divers will admit that their first real interest in Scuba diving was because of SEA HUNT.
For those of you too young to remember, SEA HUNT was a first-run syndicated TV series that was originally broadcast for four seasons between 1958 and 1961……… It happened during the early years of the late 1940s, Cousteau and Gagnan had developed the aqualung. Cousteau used his gear successfully to about 55 meter of sea water without significant difficulty and by the end of the World WarII; the regulator quickly became a commercial success.
A scientific diving program and training course was established in 1950. It was said that Bev Morgan, Ramsy Parks,and Al Tillman were among the first to be trained as scuba divers in the new program. Later on, in 1951 these men lead the development of the Underwater Program and recreational scuba diving was born.
Many changes have sparked the interest in scuba diving during the 1950s, the first issue of “skin diver” magazine in
1951, “the silent world” by Cousteau in 1953, and most of all the “SEA HUNT”. A first-run syndicated TV series that
was originally broadcast for four seasons between 1958 and 1961. Mike Nelson, played by Lloyd Bridges, is a Scuba
Diver fighting crime underwater in the days when recreational Scuba Diving and TV were still in their infancy.