kenneth clark - adventures in murky waters

8/20/2019 Kenneth Clark - Adventures in Murky Waters

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kenneth-clark-adventures-in-murky-waters 1/21

Dedication

Throughout many adventures and the accompanying danger in

which I often found myself, my wife Dinah has been at my side

both above and below water - supporting me and encouraging

me throughout. I have not the slightest hesitation in shouting

from the rooftop that I would have achieved very little had I not

been fortunate to have enjoyed her devoted love and

companionship during these past happy years.

This book is therefore dedicated to Dinah - constant companion

through the good times, but more importantly through the trials

and traumas of our life together.

3



enneth Clark

ADVENTURES IN MUR Y

W ATERS

!



"opyright © #enneth "lark $%&'!(

The right of #enneth "lark to be identified as author of this work has been

asserted by him in accordance with section )) and )* of the "opyright,

Designs and +atents ct '**.

ll rights reserved. o part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

ny person who commits any unauthori/ed act in relation to this

publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

"I+ catalogue record for this title is available from the 0ritish 1ibrary.

I20 )*')*!!'* $+aperback(I20 )*')*!!'&% $4ardback(

www.austinmacauley.com

5irst +ublished $%&'!(

ustin 6acauley +ublishers 1td.

%! "anada 27uare

"anary 8harf

1ondon

9' !1:

+rinted and bound in ;reat 0ritain



n autobiographical account of a series of diving adventures from '!*<

'*&

Throughout many adventures and the accompanying danger in which I often

found myself, my wife Dinah has been at my side both above and below

water < supporting me and encouraging me throughout. I have not the

slightest hesitation in shouting from the rooftop that I would have achieved

very little had I not been fortunate to have enjoyed her devoted love and

companionship during these past happy years.

This book is therefore dedicated to Dinah < constant companion through thegood times, but more importantly through the trials and traumas of our life

together.

)



HEALTH WARNING

2hould the reader not be involved or mildly interested in 2"=0 training

regimes or the more technical aspects of =nderwater 0reathing 97uipment <

it is permissible to skip straight through the Introduction of the first few

pages to begin the adventures> The antics begin on page % and each episode

is absolutely true> < 9njoy.

#en "lark

*



22 Gitana at her mooring on 1och ?annoch. 2he displaced !

Tons and was & feet long, with an engine rated at %! 4+. 0uilt by T.0.

2eath at ?utherglen for ;eneral lastair 6acDonald < "ommander of the

land forces in 2cotland.

1aunched in '**', Gitana sank during a storm just ) months after being put

on the loch. 2he was discovered by 4atfield +olytechnic divers in ')% from

information provided by 6ichael +etter of 0ro@bourne. 4ertfordshire.

A5rom a photograph taken in '**' < "ourtesy of the Dunalastair

4otel < w w w .d un a lastai r .co .u k

http://www.dunalastair.co.uk/

http://www.dunalastair.co.uk/



Contents

Introduction 11

Chapter 1 The Beaufighter Project 26

Chapter 2 The Roman Pond Incident 46

Chapter 3 Student Spanish Hoida! "3

Chapter 4 #ianna $artens %&

Chapter " The Torpedo Project %4

Chapter 6 '()posi*es+ ,3

Chapter % $oidart ,-

Chapter , The .mphorae -"

Chapter - Gitana Phase 1 114

Chapter 1& The Reco*er! of H$S XE8 12"

Chapter 11 Gitana Phase 2 13,

Chapter 12 The /or0egian Saga 14,

Chapter 13 Gitana phase 3 1,3

Chapter 14 #eteriorating Reationships 2&-

Chapter 1" Gitana Phase 4 The Co) un 22&Chapter 16 Gitana " 5ina Stage 244

Chapter 1% (piogue 261

'&



Introduction

6y adventures really began on a sunny afternoon early in '!*. I was ga/ing

out of the front window pondering over the length of the grass when 7uite out

of the blue my young friend and neighbour lifted the latch on the garden gate.

4e hurriedly walked down the concrete path toward my front door and rang

the doorbell. I greeted him cordially of course, but he appeared strangely

animated, as if he was dying to get something off his chest as 7uickly as

possible. 6um- bling as he hurriedly pushed past me, he insisted that I join

him in some sort of adventure at a swimming pool a few miles east of 1ondon

irport. I listened to his story, I vaguely remembering the swimming pool

and its location near the ;reat 8est ?oad, but I hadnBt been to the +ool since

I was a young lad and I certainly couldnBt imagine why ?oger wanted to go

there of all places as it was some miles away. 4owever, I listened intently as

he e@plained that a group < or a club of some kind was offering free

underwater diving lessons to newcomers. 4e paused, just long enough to take

a breath but still watching my reaction to his suggestion and then continued,

trying to convince me that the pool where the free lessons were being offered

wasnBt really too far away. It seemed that neither of us really had anything

terribly important to do of course, but I still wasnBt at all convinced that his

plan was going to be such a good idea, so I prompted him for a little more

information before committing myself. 4e readily gave me chapter and verse

about sharks and underwater swimming adventures until I had to stop him before he ran out of breath> It was 7uite obvious that heBd been watching far

too much television and his imagination had been fired up with this new-

fangled underwater swimming cra/e. 4e went in to complete overload,

delivering a blow by blow description of what I could e@pect, ending with an

urgent plea for me to join him for one of the free training sessions.

''



Director of the CGitana +rojectB+hoto courtesy of The 2cots 6aga/ine

The journey over to Isleworth was probably only '& miles or so, which was a

nice run out on the bike and ?oger knew only too well that I would find it

difficult to pass up any e@cuse to take the Cbike out, so from the outset he

must have known he was on to a winner.

t this time just about everyone had been watching the underwater adventures of 4ans and 1otte 4ass on T. The popular duo had enthralled

and finally seduced ?ogerE along with millions of other Television addicts it

has to be said. fter watching a couple of episodes of this e@citing series and

reading a Cfree diving lessonB advertisement placed in the local news- paper

by a diving club, he realised that he might actually be able to swim beneath

the water himself F and he just had to drag someone else along to share the

new e@perience. 8hen heBd finally convinced himself that there would be

little or no financial outlay, he guessed that it was the right time to both

investigate the activities and enjoy a fast ride on the back of my motorbike <

all for free>

'%



To be absolutely honest, it didnBt take a lot to convince me and before long

the pair of us were riding down the old ;reat 8est ?oad at cracking pace <

with the distinctive thump of my C!&&cc "lubmans elocetteB in our ears.

?egistration and documentation formalities 7uickly dispensed with, the newrecruits in to the 8orld of Diving donned swimming trunks and met their

Instructors for the first time. 8e both stood a little nervously at the side of the

pool, totally absorbed as we watched some of the more advanced trainees

going through their paces, some actually using a7ualungs. 6oving

effortlessly, just a few feet beneath the surface of the water, they appeared to

be using hand signals to communicate with each other as they familiarised

themselves with the e7uipment and we were enthralled. 4owever, the spell

was broken when ?oger and I were invited in to the water by a couple of

friendly instructors and I guess it was from that point onward that we happilyslipped in with the slick training regime.

The following weeks carried us both through a series of mind boggling and

e@hausting training procedures, using borrowed snorkelling e7uipment of

course. 8e attended lectures week after week, answering 7uestions and

performing tricks for our Instructors like tame "ircus animals before our

0ritish 2ub 7ua "lub logbooks were finally authenticated to show weBd

passed our snorkelling e@ams. 8e had both been baptised as Calmost

waterproofB> 6any more weeks passed as we travelled back and forth to the+ool, both spending a great deal of time on and beneath the water,

ploughing through the intensive and e@hausting fitness training regime, or

sitting through a mind boggling series of training lectures about human

physiology and the dangers of breathing high pressure air F and how to

orientate ourselves beneath the sea.

s our strength and capabilities were tested and honed, we passed a series of

minor e@ams to show that we had absorbed the important rules about safety,

going on to absorb the more technical aspects of the e7uipment before beingfi@ed up with a set of club a7ualungs, but first we were shown how to 7uickly

release ourselves in case of an emergency. The time had at last arrived for us

to be initiated in to the use of the breathing e7uipment.

I allowed myself to be fitted into the webbing < and for the first time had my

air tank supply turned on by my Instructor. 4e popped the mouthpiece in to

my mouth and allowed me to slide beneath the surface, keeping in touch with

me throughout those first few seconds by hanging on tightly to my straps

from his position at the side of the pool. That first unbelievably e@citing

e@perience was something I could only describe as being beyond my wildestdreams. I had actually breathed air underwater and I was hooked < a little

over awed, but definitely well hooked>

'3



fter the few minutes that it took for me to rela@ with the strange e7uipment

glued to my body and face, I gradually gained confidence that I wasnBt about

to drown, then slowly and very 7uietly I drifted down to the C'& feetB marker

at the bottom of the +ool where ?oger was already sitting on his haunches.

4e was very still, breathing in short, halting gasps and it appeared to me thathe was either mesmerised by something on the bottom of the pool or willing

his e7uipment to keep working by concentrating hard> I placed my hand

gently but firmly on the top of his head to let him know I was by his side and

he stared up at me, wide eyes showing through his mask, an e@pression of

sheer wonderment on his face. 8e were both so pleased with ourselves>

nother world began to unfold during the following weeks as we

e@perimented with the rather crude and sometimes unforgiving e7uipment.

8e took turns trying to empty the swimming pool by the lung full beforegradually mastering the skill of being able to breathe normally, all the time

under the control of some very competent instructors I might add. The 0ritish

2ub 7ua "lub training regime was and I guess is still considered to be the

finest amateur underwater training organisation in the world and even in those

early days the Instructors were both e@perienced and knowledgeable. 6ost

newcomers to the sport had to be e@tremely motivated too, for it was a time

when the specialised e7uipment was not readily available and cash was

invariably short anyway, so most newcomers to the hobby were spending a

great deal of time and effort simply looking for the odd item of diving gear.The e7uipment was so e@pensive that the average person couldnBt easily

afford it and it simply wasnBt something one was likely to see in a shop

window anyway>

During those early days of intensive training and familiarisation, every stretch

of open water I passed on my journeys around the countryside seemed to

beckon me. I realised of course that the only unfettered diving e@perience IBd

ever be allowed to e@perience had to be during "lub training activities or

perhaps on snorkelling trips with ?oger in shallow lakes, but even those 7uick sorties to local lakes gave me a great deal of e@perience and confidence in

shallow water, e@periences that all stood me in good stead later, but it was oh

so very cold that I vowed that my first priority would be to buy or perhaps

make a neoprene suit to keep myself warm>

?oger and I later bought some black sheets of e@panded neoprene which was

the standard material used in the manufacture of professional wet suits and he

also managed to obtain some paper patterns of the suits. 0oth of us then spent

a whole week marking, cutting out and sticking the sheets together with glue before I came upon some long brass /ips which we soon fitted to the front of

the suits. The completed outfits actually looked 7uite professional considering

that theyBd been put together on the lounge floor> They turned out to be a lot

warmer than our swimming trunks of course, particularly in the winter> 2ome

'



evenings, I sat in front of the television at home, perspiring in to my new

neoprene suit for hours while I peering through the glass of my new mask,

snorkel stuffed tightly in to my mouth, just to familiarise myself with the

slightly claustrophobic effect and the restricted movement of the ensemble.

4owever, I discovered that the process of simply donning my suit had oneor two social drawbacks which became 7uite embarrassing. It became

necessary for me to take a can of perfumed talcum powder along to help me

and I powdered myself liberally in order to slide in to my suit easily. I also

discovered that wearing ladies tights beneath the suit helped me to slip my

legs into the trousers without tearing the open cell rubber material. 4owever,

neither the clouds of powder nor the ladies tights presented a terribly good

image for a young macho male and I swore that I would have to do something

to save me from this bi/arre situation, but notwithstanding the

embarrassment, both talcum and the ladies tights did save a lot of energy before I entered the water...

It was drummed in to me from the very beginning that any form of

unsupervised underwater e@ploration by trainees using breathing e7uipment

was frowned upon, particularly if carried out by a couple of enthusiastic

youngsters out for adventure. Gur escapades in a number of local lakes were

therefore strictly limited to the snorkel tube, our newly built suits and a

couple of borrowed weight belts. 4owever, I desperately longed to be able to

spend more time below and 7uickly set about making things happen> It didnBttake me long to work out that the lack of e7uipment was always likely to

prevent me from advancing my e@periences toward anything of a more

adventurous nature, thus diving with an a7ualung was going to be out of the

7uestion unless I could either earn enough spare cash to buy my own gear, or

until I could hire the "lub e7uipment during Cofficial "lub dives, but

considering that I was well down the pecking list when it came to borrowing

e7uipment, I was going to be out of luck for some time to come. I was

eventually forced by circumstances to look at the problem from a completely

different aspect and after some thought, I wrote down a comprehensive list of my re7uirements. I made an assessment of how long each item would take to

manufacture, then organised myself a little Cbar chartB. I then had a rough idea

of how long it could take me to fabricate each piece of e7uipment compared

to the time it would take to earn the money, at the same time carrying out a

little costing e@ercise on buying new gear... It didnBt take long to establish

that I would be too old before I could afford to buy professionally built items>

The self-build system was the only course open to me anyway, thus the

inevitable decision was made for me. I went hell for leather toward making as

much e7uipment as I could in the shortest time possible, leaving theac7uisition of less important pieces until later.

The mould for making lead weights seemed to be a simple task which

presented little or no problem for ?oger, for he was actually a very skilled

'!



toolmaker. 4e 7uickly set about producing an aluminium mould, faithfully

copied from a standard diving weight. 4is beautifully machined mould turned

out to be a real winner, for we began producing a range of lead weights,

selling them off to club members and newcomers, the scheme proving to be

7uite a lucrative way of financing the production of purchase of other materials we both needed, but it was a certainly a smelly and dangerous job as

we melted all those old scrap lead pipes>

I then set about putting my spies out and about to find a commercially built

CDemand alveB < and within a couple of weeks, by means of a favour here

and a favour there, I had in my possession a professionally produced

merican manufactured model, Con loanB for a whole week> I sat down

during the lunch hours at work and gradually produced some fairly accurate

drawings before returning the valve to its rightful owner, who was none thewiser, e@cept probably finding it a little cleaner after its return>

+retty soon I had all the necessary details and sketches to set about building

the most vital part of my diving e7uipment, which I calculated would allow

me to join the more advanced divers in their e@peditions out at sea. I reasoned

that if I could produce and test my own gear to my set production times it

would just about coincide with the completion of my final training

e@aminations. Gf course it didnBt occur to me that I might fail any of the tests

< so I just ploughed on building bits and pieces, pushing on with the e@ercisesand intensive training with the enthusiasm of youth and an air of total

confidence in my own ability. The annoying hurdles didnBt really figure in my

plans and they were easily brushed aside...

1unch breaks at the "hiswick firm of 9vershed H ignoles suddenly began

to take on a different importance during the working week. I used my

influence as an 9lectronics 2upervisor to cajole and persuade my fellow

Departmental 4eads, and they in turn instructed their own staff to

manufacture pieces of my diving gear from my rough engineering drawings.They put their specialised lathes at my disposal, their electro plating

e7uipment, their sheet metal presses and spraying e7uipment too, using lunch

breaks to build that first beautiful home-built 7ualung device.

6y original drawings were based upon an early model of the Ctlantic

2ealionB, which was 7uite an effective single stage device, loved and despised

by divers of that era for its habit of allowing water down the air hose at

inappropriate times. The early version was a difficult demand valve to use at

the best of times, re7uiring a particularly high degree of training if it was to be used effectively, but considering that e@perts like 4ans 4ass were still

playing around with sets of dangerous G@ygen ?e-0reathing e7uipment, the

C2ealionB valve had pretty well reached the pinnacle of amateur underwater

air breathing technology for normal sporting activities. 6oreover, it was

'



considered 7uite safe compared to breathing o@ygen through which any

delivered gas might at any time turn out to contain a cocktail of caustic

chemicals from the old wartime 5rogmanBs gear. 4owever, like most other

pieces of e@perimental or prototype e7uipment, Cdemand valvesB were often a

little unsophisticated, sometimes introducing 7uantities of water mi@edtogether with the air in the breathing tubes which turned into a foul solution,

which was disconcerting to say the least> The e@perience of breathing these

no@ious mi@tures as they were directed down the appropriate tube wasnBt for

the s7ueamish, thus the techni7ue of filtering air < and at the same time

s7uirting water out of the side of the mouth had to be mastered. +re-filtered

air was then supposed to be sucked down the windpipe in to the lungs < if one

was really fortunate> It did however take a little practice if one wasnBt to

promote a spasm of the glottis < leaving one gasping for air and shooting to

the surface in complete panic> In fact as I remember it, the CfilteringB procedure often took longer to master than the actual diving training itself,

but one thing was certain, it was sure to Csort out the wheat from the chaffB as

the e@perts said> 4owever, the "ousteau"agnan single stage diving valve as

it stood was probably the best device available at the time and in the overall

scheme of things it was relatively ine@pensive, better still it was actually

available to the few people who were Cin the knowB> There was actually a far

more sophisticated two stage valve perfected at the time < known by amateur

divers as the 4einke or 6erlin valve, but I had no grandiose idea of

borrowing a piece of kit like this and anyway, getting hold of one was liketrying to borrow a ?olls ?oyce for a weekend car rally.

2ome months later I managed to Cac7uireB one of these devices, but by that

time the e@citement of using my own home made e7uipment far surpassed

any desire to use the beautifully manufactured 6erlin valve and after making

some sketches of its internals I sold the thing on at a huge profit> nyway,

having assessed the situation as far as e7uipment went, it looked very much

as if the Creverse engineeredB 2ealion project, if and when it ever came to

fruition, was going to be my Cstate of the artB diving e7uipment in to theforeseeable future.

e@t, the 7uestion of finding an air supply reared its head as both my training

and the C7ualungB project progressed. regular supply of air was always

going to be 7uite a problem in itself, but nothing that couldnBt be worked out

in time. I still had a few other irons in the fire and with a modicum of luck I

knew that I had every chance of completing the project.

I managed to obtain a couple of e@ 88% ir 6inistry G@ygen bottles, takenfrom scrapped ?5 0ombers. These were 7uite light in weight and were the

most suitable high pressure containers to be found anywhere. They were

small, % cubic feet capacity tanks known affectionately as CTadpolesB. The

'*&& psi tanks were 7uite cheap, but were sold < Cas isB < which meant that

')



they were still fitted with the original valve stems and the parts associated

with the o@ygen supply used aboard wartime aircraft < totally unsuitable for

underwater use at the time of course and probably in 7uite a dangerous state

for anything else too> They were also covered with what seemed to be miles

of fine, high tensile steel wire, tightly laid around the e@terior of the tanks, probably to contain an e@plosion and prevent any pieces of steel shrapnel

from flying around the aircraft in the event of some in-flight disaster.

#nowing only too well that this layer of wire had to be removed, I clearly

remember the chaos and panic as I suddenly found hundreds of feet of coiled

spring wire leaping violently from the outer surface of the tank as I cut

through the first outer strands. 8ire flew everywhere, climbing and coiling

itself around anything and everything until its strength spent, it lay inert in a

mass of coils around my bleeding legs. Gnly when the wire was safely

deposited in dustbins did it gave me time to apply band aids to cuts and skin punctures> The procedure of stripping down those little tanks was something

IBd rather not repeat, unless I was sitting in the safety of a bomb shelter

behind a screen...

The particular problem of obtaining suitable valve stems was overcome when

I made contact with another friend who worked in the famous 2iebe ;orman

diving works just south of 1ondon and on the borders of 2urrey. I managed to

wangle one of my little deals with this particular guy and soon afterwards a

pair of used valve stems and an interconnecting manifold were delivered tothe C;oods InwardsB Department of my works, marked for my attention. The

incoming paperwork was immediately and most mysteriously lost in the

appropriate waste bin of course and nobody was the wiser. 6eanwhile, the

steel wire having been removed from the tanks, the e@terior of each tank was

sandblasted to clean off any underlying corrosion, then the insides of the

tanks were CtumbledB in a special cleaning tank filled with abrasive pellets

which cleaned out any nasty little bits of rubbish or sand left over from the

sandblasting treatment. coat of hard primer and paint was then applied on

the outside, showing black and white 7uarters at the top of the little tanks toidentify the type of gas to be used and the tanks would now be internationally

recognised as containing Cbreathing airB. The CTadpolesB < each suitably

e7uipped with its own valve stem, were now ready for final pressure testing.

6eanwhile, lengths of war surplus gas mask tubing were attached to the

CoutletB and CinletB ports of the CdemandB valve to bring air to the mouthpiece

and a couple of little CpoppetB non return valves were fitted in to the tubes,

one to allow air to e@it and the other to allow to enter> The e7uipment now

began to take on the look of a professional piece of gear after it had beenchrome plated and polished at the C9gg H egB 5actory < as 9vershed H

ignoles was affectionately known. It really looked very impressive, perhaps

even more surprisingly, it looked like something a diver might actually use>

'*



2tep by step, with the collective assistance of the resourceful 5ormans

ssociation, the project began taking shape as news of the e@citing project

permeated throughout the "hiswick 5actory. 6y personal standing began

increasing by leaps and bounds. It appeared that half the 9vershed H

ignoles staff had somehow volunteered to involve themselves in C+roject7ualungB in one way or another and people began stopping to read the little

bulletins posted up on the company otice 0oards dotted around the factory,

each CassistantB eagerly awaiting the daily progress reports>

I found that drawing office staff had taken it upon themselves to make

CfinishedB layouts < or what they called Conion skinsB of completed parts of

the valve. 9ngineers were involving themselves in complicated leverage

calculations and the physics of the internal air pressures and flow rates. I

never failed to be ama/ed at the in7uisitive nature of so many people whowanted to become a part of this new and e@citing hobby> It was as if we were

reviving the old war time spirit of helping each other to overcome some form

of adversity or some insurmountable problem. 9veryone seemed to want a

part of the action. It was at this stage in the proceedings that I was introduced

to a guy who worked at the famous 8ilkinson 2word factory < which wasnBt

too far from my own works in "hiswick. I canBt remember what I owned that

he actually lusted for, but I do remember that during our discussions he

happened to mention that he specialised in making ceremonial swords> I

couldnBt believe my luck < and before long, weBd arranged a deal whichsuited us both... I remember that I passed over an early transistor radio IBd

built < and he agreed to make me the shaft and a finished blade for my diving

knife if I could provide him with a thick rod or bar of silver steel, which of

course presented me with little difficulty. It didnBt take him more than a few

days to present me with a work of beauty> The '% inch knife blade was

beautifully smooth with a scalloped edge on one side and a long, groove

milled down its length. It was finished and ready for fitting to a handle.

The blade was as pure and unblemished as any ceremonial sword and I wasabsolutely thrilled to bits> I bought some plaster of +aris, a couple of

cardboard bo@es and some plasticine and I shaped a handle by working it

around the haft of the knife. I then laid the shaped handle in one side of the

bo@ of +laster of +aris before the plaster set hard. I then repeated the process

with the other bo@... 2omehow, more by luck than design, I ended up with a

cast of two halves of a knife handle which I finished off with a small

modelling knife. I then made both sides of the plaster moulds in their bo@es

fit together, put the haft down inside the whole thing and simply poured a mi@

of yellow coloured raldite in to the bo@ after IBd sealed any small openings,I then simply let nature < or physics take its own course. e@t day I was

pleasantly surprised to find that the handle was as hard as rock and looking

every bit as professional as the real thing after IBd filed off the moulding

edges. I lovingly polished the yellow coloured raldite and eventually ended

'



up with a thing of considerable beauty < if I do say so myself> I finished the

whole ensemble by making the knife sheath out of what was described as

Ceoprene InsertB which I guess is neoprene with a canvass material inserted

throughout, making it very strong indeed. I completed the sheath with

polished copper rivets to hold it firmly together and introduced the polishedknife in to it, which of course fitted like a glove>

I made myself a C7uick releaseB buckle for my weight belt at this stage. It was

made of brass, something along the lines of the newly introduced car seat

belts but with my own innovative idea of a chunk of powerful magnet to hold

the flap or lever down. It was a pretty straightforward job to make the thing

fit together, but I had a slight problem with the magnet. I carefully attached

the magnet to the brass by silver soldering the whole assembly, which was

simplicity itself. 4owever, nobody told me that when magnets are heated upto that sort of temperature, the whole thing becomes a piece of metal < no

more, no less as it passes what is called the curie point> I remember that after

some very frustrating learning sessions, I eventually overcame the problem by

making a special, high current magnetising jig to re-magnetising the whole

thing after it had been assembled. It worked rather well and it certainly

looked smart, but the manufacturing difficulties were a little more than IBd

bargained for I have to admit. I actually sent the finished item to a car seat

manufacturer to see if they were impressed < but I can report that they

werenBt>

5urther hurdles had to be overcome before the various items were to come

together to complete the a7ualung. 5irst, the beautifully prepared air tanks

had to be pressure tested before any air could be introduced < and again, my

contacts at the 2eibe ;orman factory came up trumps. 6y friend arranged for

my air tanks, looking rather splendid in their black and white livery, to be

certificated as capable of safely holding the test pressure for the prescribed

time without either bursting or what is referred to as showing a measured CsetB

in the metal as evidence of e@pansion after the pressure has been reduced>They complained bitterly about the tanks having been painted at the time,

reporting back that they usually preferred pressure containers to be cleaned

before they would test them, but these were so beautifully prepared that they

were loath to sandblast them clean again> The 2eibe ;orman factory also

provided the initial charge of medically clean air at '*&&lbs per s7uare inch,

suitable for breathing and free from any hint of contaminating oil or other

chemicals. Thus, 2eibe ;orman staff, probably the worldBs leading

professionals in underwater technology at the time, unwittingly played a

pivotal role in my future diving adventures> The staff at 9vershed H ignoleshad also ensured that things were coming together at a steady pace as various

pieces of e7uipment began to fit together. Gf course not a single item < from

diving mask, right down to the e@-Italian avy swimfins, had been tested or

%&



adjusted to fit me and it was with some trepidation that I finally donned the

whole motley collection of Chome-madeB bits and pieces at the "lub poolside.

0reathing air from an a7ualung on the surface is one thing and my unit

worked very well, but the home built demand valve proved not to be theinstant success or the engineering masterpiece IBd intended. It became crystal

clear to me within the first few choking moments that the e7uipment was in

fact a total disaster. 5or starters, my lungs were unable to drag enough air

from the device at anything below 3 feet, which meant that the leverage

system needed attention. t the same time copious amounts of water were

leaking through into the diaphragm situated between the two halves of the

steel valve housing. I knew at once where the problem lay and 7uickly

decided that a solution would be fairly straightforward. 5irst, the leverage

system that operated the diaphragm supplying the high pressure stage to thelarge inlet chamber was poorly set. The lever re7uired a simple adjustment to

the various pivot holes I had already considered and catered for in the final

design. The second and more difficult problem however, appeared to be one

of a more serious nature which could only be cured by another visit to the

4ori/ontal ;rinding machine at 9gg H eg> The two halves of the machined

valve housing had not been finally coupled together as a tightly fitting pair

before the neoprene diaphragm had been enclosed, which simply meant that

water was leaking through an imperfect joint. The solution was to re-grind the

surfaces and ensure that the gasket was gas tight before the two halves of thevalve body were clamped together>

The ne@t weeks saw the valve undergoing gradual fine tuning, the tests

always guaranteed to attract a crowd of onlookers whom one could almost see

taking mental, if not practical notes> 2till, although the weekly adjustments

saw the valve airtight and watertight, it was still a devil of a job to suck air

through it despite numerous adjustments to the leverage system. It seemed to

be an insurmountable problem to me, as a Cnon 9ngineerB. 4owever, I was

determined not to enlist the aid of any pseudo academics and vowed to makeit Cmy projectB without too much outside interference. It seemed to me that as

I arranged the leverage system to deliver air at the touch of a vacuum Aor

suck>J in the low pressure stage, the contraption simply continued to blast air

of its own accord when underwater... 8hen the pressure of the ambient

surrounding water was applied to the diaphragm in the low pressure side

Aopen to the waterJ the lever system simply set off the delivery of high

pressure air through the tiny high pressure orifice < delivering air at '*&&psi,

which just wouldnBt stop after it had started> If I adjusted the lever system to

stop this I found it difficult to breath below water and I just couldnBt find ahappy medium. The damned thing had a mind of its own>

I finally cured the problem after I made a chance remark about the problem to

the friend at 2eibe ;ormanBs. 4e asked me if I had considered fitting

%'



something called a Cventuri chamberB and e@plained the concept to me in

some detail... In essence, it meant building small brass inner chamber around

the tiny high pressure inlet jet of the device and taking a small pipe back in to

the convoluted gasmask tubing where the instant blast of air caused a vorte@

or vacuum in the tube and this had the effect of taking over the difficult job of actually CsuckingB. That at least was the theory... I built the chamber and

practised my skill at CfineB silver soldering before introducing the new

development in to the valve. fter IBd fitted the modification I reduced the

leverage system to ensure it would not operate under ambient water pressure

and I set off in high hopes to the pool... mongst a crowd of eager onlookers,

I gradually let myself down into the water < and breathed comfortably for the

first time with my very own Chome-made e7uipment. The venturi assisted

modification did e@actly as the engineer described, causing the planned

vorte@ effect in the tube. It instantly took over part of the work of my own breathing effort almost before IBd sucked on the thing and I spent the ne@t ten

minutes at the bottom of the deep end of the pool bathing in the warm glow of

success. 1ater, I spent a long time pondering upon the design < and how or

what had prompted the engineer to dream up the modification. 2imilar and far

more sophisticated modifications were introduced to later designs of the

popular C2ealionB valve and they too worked very well indeed. 5ate, in the

guise of a chance discussion about the problem with that knowledgeable

2ieibe 9ngineer had ensured that a tiny modification would provide a solution

to what had become a major problem in the scheme of things. 0ut for thischance meeting, my future diving might have been drastically changed or

stopped dead in its tracks at that point in time...

8ith the e@cellent 0.2..". training, and some uneventful but very

interesting sea dives under my belt, I began to e@plore more and more of the

9nglish coastal regions for the ne@t few years, particularly around the

coastline of Dorset, Devon and of course "ornwall, where tiny coves had

rarely seen a diver and the animals were in7uisitive and friendly.

I gained e@perience and e@plored the waters of the =nited #ingdom, joiningmembers of other Diving "lubs on their outings or to Cmake up the numbersB

when 5ishing 0oats had been hired for e@peditions. Those early days were

carefree and great fun. The absence of oppressive rules and regulations

around the coastline allowed me to e@plore an ama/ing number of wrecks and

untouched dive sites. lmost every dive produced a +orthole, a 2hips lamp or

some piece or other CgoodieB and I was fortunate enough to be able to donate

many trophies to friends> This e@citing period also began to produce a

collection of like-minded, e@perienced and competent divers, along with one

or two budding entrepreneurs who could always be found close by whenever a new wreck was found>

It was about this time, at the end of the freewheeling &Bs, that I left the old

firm and moved up to 4atfield to live. IBd been temporarily living in an idyllic

%%



spot in an old "ottage on a 7uaint little 0ridge that spanned the river Guse at

5elmersham, about '& miles north of 0edford, but the journey to work was

some )& miles each way to the 9gg H eg 5actory in "hiswick, a very long

and tiring journey had to be made each day, down the 6' motorway and

around 1ondonBs orth "ircular ?oad < each way>

2omething obviously had to go, and it did. I left my old 5irm to join my new

wife and buddy diver Dinah to live in 4ertfordshire where we bought a small

house. Dinah started work as a 1ibrary ssistant at the nearby +olytechnic at

just about the time a new Diving "lub was formed by a few keen sporting

students. The "lub was being organised and funded by the 2tudents =nion,

but lectures and a formal training regime was actually funded by the

4ertfordshire "ounty "ouncil. part time lecturer in +ractical Diving H

+hysiology had been engaged and a course of evening lectures was beinggiven by the highly 7ualified 02" Instructor. 0efore long however, the

continuity of the training began to pose a few problems for our instructor for

it appeared that he was finding it difficult to cope with his work as ?egional

"oach of the 0ritish 2ub 7ua "lub plus his normal day to day

responsibilities, which I guess is where I came on to the scene... Dinah soon

let it be known among the +hysical Training hierarchy at the "ollege that she

was married to Ka diver of some e@perience < with a few years under his

belt.L The incumbent lecturer, welcoming this opportunity of being allowed

to concentrate on his full time career, immediately vacated his own positionand pushed me to the fore> fter a couple of weeks in which I was observed

putting the 2tudents through their paces in the classroom, the "ollege

hierarchy let it be known that I was accepted and at this point I was asked to

take over the post of 1ecturer and of course I accepted>

bout the same time, I also found myself a position with an 9lectronics

"ompany producing Television 2tudio e7uipment in the small country town

of 8are, just a few miles away from home... Things were indeed looking up>

I had a new job with ?ank "intel in almost the same position IBd recentlyabandoned and IBd been asked to fill a part time paid job lecturing in the

evenings. IBd also been privileged to meet +eter "ornish, who was to play an

important role in my future diving e@periences within the small group divers

already beginning to gel together as a team.

I guess +eter "ornish would always have emerged as a natural leader.

+owerfully built, with a magnetic personality and boyish charm, his diving

and organisational ability 7uickly began to show itself as he formulated one

cra/y, dangerous and e@citing scheme after another. 4e was already a leadinglight in the 4ampstead "lub, one of the oldest and most highly respected

clubs in the =.#. and he also happened to have been the previous 1ecturer of

our group at the 4atfield +olytechnic>

kenneth clark - adventures in murky waters

Documents