Sealab I’s 50th Anniversary

[Sam Miller III]

It is indeed a Samson..."The standard of the world"

Herb Samson was located on 17th street in Coast a Mesa, California (Which was known as Goat Hill until 1960.) . In addition to his very fine camera systems he designed and marketed the very radical Samson world record spear gun and a very powerful 38 caliber power head. At one time more world records were set with a Samson Spear gun than any other spear gun on the market. Herb was also an avid spear fisherman and set the very first BSB (AKA GSB) record.


The housing pictured was a Samson Professional which accepted a 16 MM B&H with a 400 foot reel, or a 35MM B&H with a 400 foot reel. (The great UW photographer Bill Mc Donald purchased the last one Herb produced and used a 16 mm B&H with a 400 foot roll ) This particular model was equipped with a folding sports finder on the top and a optical view finder in the housing

Herb made two models of this camera the smaller 16 mm Sportsman with a 16 MM B&H which was 35 pounds as opposed to the larger Professional which had a weight of 90 pounds.

The 16 MM Sportsman could be equipped with a spear gun mount which could also be converted in to a single or triple power head mount, as well as a through the housing viewfinder. Only two housings with very expensive spear gun mounts are known to have survived the passage of time.

Previous discussions about this wonderful camera and the man behind the camera can be found on this board as follows
Samson Camera housing [Archive] - ScubaBoard - Scuba Diving Forum - Diving Social Network

'Also at the Portage Quarry "Legends of diving" site as follows:
~~ Orange County - Did You Know? - by Dr. Sam Miller - History of SCUBA Diving ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yes I knew Herb Samson very well, we were in the same spearfishing club occasionally dove together. Often after a dive at Laguna Beach I (we) would stop by his shop for a visit.. He certainly enjoyed diving and talking diving

One of my first purchases after service in the Korean war was a Samson camera housing with a B&H camera and a Elgeet 12 MM WA lens, made several forgettable movies then retired the Samson to my den, where it still resides in a place of honor.
At almost a $1000.00 1958 dollars it was many many steps up from the current "go pro." There is just no comparison !

Now we know more than needed about the cameras it is appropriate to return to "The man in the sea program."

 

[dead dog]

It was the " U S Divers Navcon Conshelf 6 "

Bill
dead dog

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Ben,

Thank you for coming onto this thread, and sharing the photograph.

For others: if you have not heard, Ben Hellwarth wrote:
Sealab: America's Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor

I plan to get this book soon. This was a monumental achievement (Sealab I), and Sealab II contributed a lot. The problems with Sealab III led to breakthroughs too, which I want to learn more about.

SeaRat

I just ordered the book. It should be a very interesting read.

SeaRat

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I just received the book, Sealab: America's Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor. It promises to answer some questions I have had about the program over the years. If I had gone into the U.S. Navy instead of the USAF in 1967, who knows...I could have...oh, well, just dreaming. (Maybe in the Alternate Universe )

By the way, The Journal of Diving History, Second Quarter 2014, Volume 22, Number 79 has an illustrated article by Ben Hellwarth (author of the above book) with some color photos of the Sealab in the article, "Sealab at 50." It is a six-page article with a lot of information.

John

 

[Sam Miller III]

John
The book is fantastic! It is already a classic and still in its first printing.

SDM

 

[John C. Ratliff]

SDM,

I'm reading the book, Sealab: America's Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor, and am surprised that it not only goes into detail on Sealab, but also on all the other saturation diving and deep diving experiments that were going on at the same time. He discusses Edwin Link's deep dive, and gets into some of the politics of the saturation diving experiments. I'm really enjoying this book.

SeaRat

 

[Akimbo]

... He discusses Edwin Link's deep dive, and gets into some of the politics of the saturation diving experiments. I'm really enjoying this book...

You can't escape politics in any government organization -- not a criticism, just an observation of human nature. US Navy diving has a long history of a few renegades risking their careers to improve diving and submarine rescue. The Navy's most senior officers are, and always will be, focused on their primary combat mission. Diving and salvage is a bastard child until something bad happens but is generally considered a dead-end career move.

This is not only echoed in Ben’s fine book Sealab: America's Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor but also in these:

The Terrible Hours: The Greatest Submarine Rescue in History by Peter Maas

Papa Topside: The Sealab Chronicles of Capt. George F. Bond

Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage: Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew

I don't think there is much in print but I understand that Chief Gunner George Stillson had a very difficult time getting authorization to do the early decompression table development starting around 1912. He and his team were heros in 1915 during the salvage the submarine F-4, but that lesson had to learned again with the Squalus rescue and salvage in 1939.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I have just finished the book, Sealab, America's Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor, by Ben Hellwarth. My impression when starting the book was that it would be about Sealab, but actually this is a virtual history of the saturation diving experiments from the earliest days onward. All the participants are included, and the discussion of the U.S. Navy's use of Sealab technology in the chapter titled "The Projects" is absolutely amazing. I won't spoil it for others, but if you are interested in the history of saturation diving, and it's influence on both commercial and military diving, and actually its influence on the Cold War, you've got to read this book. One hint, USS Halibut, and its "mobile minisub." The chapters titled "The Damn Hatch" and "An Investigation" detail the death of Aquanaut Berry Cannon, and the demise of Sealab III. I have some thoughts about the investigation, as I am a safety professional who has investigated accidents before, and may even put some ideas about this down a bit later. But for now, I wanted everyone to know that this is a "must read" book.

SeaRat

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I have just looked closely in my own library, and found the following paperback book by Cdr. M. Scott Carpenter, titled Inner Space. It contains more photos of Sealab than Ben Hellwarth's book, but not so detailed a description. Here is one example (see below).

SeaRat