Red & white dive flag - a short history

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Sam Miller III

Scuba Legend
Scuba Legend
Rest in Peace
Scuba Instructor
Messages
5,141
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Location
CALIFORNIA: Where recreational diving began!
# of dives
5000 - ∞
Great meeting some of you but missing most of you at the SCUBA Show a little over two weeks ago in beautiful down town Long Beach.

One of my long term areas of expertise is the red and white dive flag. I made a seminar presentation on the little known and probably long forgotten history of the design development and subsequent acceptance of the dive flag at SCUBA Show.

I thought it appropriate to share with a few titbits of historical facts about the flag

The concept of a flag to identify diving activities was first introduced in 1957 via a single paragraph in Skin Diver Magazine (SDM). During the following years divers and dive clubs made recommendations via SDM until early 1960s when it's design, color, size and display procedures was "officially" adapted by the diving public in 1960.

In 1962 the flag was only a few years old when first accident involving a boat and a diver displaying the dive flag occurred at Long Point at Catalina Island .

Until that time the flag had been publicized by SDM and was was familiar with diving public and only slightly familiar to the boaters via posters placed in marinas and in launch areas but had never been tested in a court of law. During the geneses of the sport I was very active and considerably more visible in the diving community than I am today, therefore I was called as the only expert witness to defend the validity and proper use of the flag during diving activities. It was an awesome responsibility but we, the prosecution prevailed'

The red and white flag was saved! It was recognized as the flag of recreational diving!

This litigation which occurred over 50 years ago established the rights and privilege's of a diver displaying the flag and verified and established it as a "recognized flag" of diving activity. Displaying a red and white flag while diving is good assurance that in the event that you are in an accident involving a motor craft you have legal recourse in a California court of law.

Immediately after the trial I authored an 2 part 6 page article on the flag and the litigation which appeared in the now defunct LA County Underwater News, which I suspect a copy will be extremely difficult to locate.

A short time later I was also honored as the first Guest Editor of Skin Diver magazine - "Signpost to Safety" about the history of the flag and urging all divers to publicize and display the flag. ( I also authored articles for SDM and appeared on the cover of the magazine- the only person to have all three honors) This lead into writing the description of the flag for Chapman's Small Boat Handling and the US Coast Guard Auxiliary. My original submissions described the flag and cautioned boaters to give a boat displaying the flag courtesy of reduced speed and extra clearance. But any resemblance to what I submitted and what was published is purely coincidental .

Since that first defense I have been involved in numerous consultations and and litigations of the flag. One particular critical trial involved a east coast corporation who via legal maneuvering considered themselves as the sole proprietor of the flag and who's intent was to establish a license fee for the manufacture and use of the flag. After 18 long months of research and lengthy deliberation it was determined the flag was in the public domain.

Once again the red and white dive flag was saved.

All can use it- in advertising, on wearing apparel, on automobile windows and as jewerly

My wife Dr. Betty and I just returned from an 8000 mile 2 plus month trip around the southern part of the US. One thing I noted when we visited dive shops and dive operators was the discrepancy in the proportions of the flag. The closer we came to Florida the thinner the white stripe became.

The recommended and universally accepted proportions of a dive flag as proposed and agreed and established in the early 1960s by the diving public was to be in units. The flag should be five (5) units wide by four (4) units high with a one (1) unit white stripe. Now to accommodate production many flags are square; 4 units by 4 units but the stripe should be 1 unit

The background color was recommended to be "blaze" or " neon orange," a few were manufactured (I have an original one!) Those colors evidently were difficult to reproduce and almost immediately gave way to the familiar basic red background

Many years ago I was honored as the "Out standing LA County Underwater Instructor of the year." So I had a custom ring made with the LA Co UW instructor's logo on it .

I often remarked that because of my involvement in the red and white dive flag that I should some day have a dive flag ring custom made.

No need -I discovered a red and white dive flag ring at the dive show which was the correct proportions of 5X4X1 in a sterling silver mounting. It didn't take much for Roland St John who markets over 100 dive and ocean related products under the name of Big Blue to have my hard earned California dollars in his pocket and a shiny new dive flag ring on my finger.

After returning home my wife saw the ring and we determined a dive flag ring would be perfect as a conventional wedding band while traveling and diving. So we contacted Roland who honored the show price of $30.00.--rather than the advertised price of $75.00

Now we are a two dive flag ring family...very few can boast of being a two ring dive couple

If interested I would suggest that you might want to check out the rings at ~~ Big Blue Aquatic Gifts - Marine Life Jewelry, Art, Conservation - Categories ~~

Roland has indicated he will honor the show price of $30.00 to July 30th. You may order on line at ~~ SALES@BIGBLUEDIVE.COM or via telephone (401) 625 9758.

As I urged a half century ago in my SDM article "Sign post for Safety" that all divers to publicize and display the flag" you can publicize the ring 24X7 by wearing one of Roland's Dive flag rings.

SDM, 111


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*(My son Dr. Samuel Miler IV, who is a NAUI (LIFE) & PADI instructor, a SSI Pro 5000 diver as well as the only Scrip's trained hyperbaric doctor between Santa Barbara and San Francisco area gave a very informative and certainly timely presentation at the SCUBA Show on "Implants and SCUBA diving" )

We were the first father and son team to present seminars at the SCUBA Show.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. SDM,111

 
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Thank You Sam! Always enlightening and rigorously historic, so much still to learn... ;~)
 
Don,
I was interviewed by SCUBA Radio about the origin and history of the divers flag.

It s scheduled to be aired this week end....I will be revealing a LOT more about my involvement and the intriguing history of the dive flag

SDM
retired
LA Co UW instructor #11 UICC
NAUI instructor #27
PADI Instructor# 241 ( or 2241?)
 
Sam, bookmarked SCUBA Radio, looking forward to it ;~) Love Rolands art!
 
All I can say is BAD ASS!!!:D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I assume your statement is a complement ?

SDM
retired
LA Co UW instructor #11 UICC
NAUI instructor #27
PADI Instructor# 241 ( or 2241?)

---------- Post added July 18th, 2015 at 08:45 AM ----------

\Sam, bookmarked SCUBA Radio, looking forward to it ;~) Love Rolands art!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don
One aspect of the divers flag I discuss in the interview is why the dive flags displayed over Florida dive shops are different...Smaller stripe often different background colors ..Very intriguing story associated with the short history of the dive flag.

And of course much much more...

Hope you ordered the ring ..It is about as accurate as you can find and the price is certainly reasonable... and just remember you are advertising diving and the flag every time you wear it ...

SDM
retired
LA Co UW instructor #11 UICC
[LA Co UW instructors Board of directors]
[Outstanding contributions to Underwater Instruction]
[Outstanding LA Co Underwater instructor of the Year]
(all that before PADI was formed)
NAUI instructor #27
PADI Instructor# 241 ( or 2241?)
 
This was an incredible post! Thank you for that information, the legal aspect was greatly interesting. I am writing a blog post about the Dive Flag and I found your post to be a completely different side to the story. So thanks!
 
@Jolene Warner
There are many who study and quote history such as your self and a few who were participants and observers of history - UnfortunatelyI am of the later category

You are welcome to quote my post with credit given to me or son Dr, Sam IV. I have in the distant past and just recently had a number of plagiarisms that required legal intervention- I don't need another one and from Canada

The post was only a short sysmpsis of the dive flag's history- There is so much more that time and space did not permit-- ie the Florida pretender who claimed he developed the flag , the east coast company who attempted to claim ownership of the flag, etc

Should you like to discuss the flag and its history in detail you may PM me with your questions

SDM III
 
Interesting explanation for the Red and White American Divers Flag.

I am still puzzled why the international flag was not automatically used in North America, why American divers went to the effort to introduce a new (at the time unknown) flag. The American Divers Flag is still only really recognised in North America, Canada and parts of the Caribbean.

It is not a legitimate signal in the rest of the world, and is not recognised in the COLREGS International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea. The marine signal flag Alpha is the internationally required flag if you have divers in the water.
Strictly speaking, there are a series of lights and shapes that should also be displayed, however on small boats the lights(and shapes) may be impractical - hence the convention that we generally only see a flag on most dive boats.
The ALPHA flag also signifies that the boat is restricted in its ability to manoeuvre. This also signifies there is an exclusion zone around the vessel. (Again, on larger boats there are additional signals to indicate which side it is safe to pass the vessel, and which side to avoid.)


Gareth
 
I am still puzzled why the international flag was not automatically used in North America, why American divers went to the effort to introduce a new (at the time unknown) flag.

Because the International Alfa flag did not mean "I have a diver down; keep well clear at slow speed" when the red & white flag was invented. The Alfa Flag meant "restricted maneuverability" so normal rules of the road for collision avoidance couldn't be followed. It wasn't until years later that "diving operations" was added to the definition.

The Alfa flag was flown for various reasons including speed runs, cable and pipe laying, and dredging operations. There is some indication that that Bravo flag was used for diving operations by the US Navy (and perhaps others) before the diving operations was added to Alfa Flag. Maybe someone on the board has the dates when these changes were approved by the various authorities?
 

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