My family and I got certified this summer, and have had fun diving local quarries -- I am now taking a look back at some of the old Cousteau shows I used to watch when I was a little kid (1970s). I was watching the Silent World last night (1956 or so? -- before my time). At one point, the divers with just compressed air tanks strapped to their backs go down to 247 feet -- Cousteau says "we can't stay here for very long." Earlier in the movie, they are at 165 feet looking for lobsters, and one apparently gets narcosis and the bends -- although it looks a little simulated for the film. (It helps to have a recompression chamber on the boat, I guess.) No computers, no BCDs, no pressure gauges, etc. They seemed to accept nitrogen narcosis as a regular part of diving.
This looks crazy to me -- was the science just not fully developed yet, or were they nuts? (Not very politically correct either -- they blew up a coral reef too and everyone seems to have a cigarette in their mouth.) A fascinating film, though, and I still remember Cousteau's unique voice from when I was a child.
This looks crazy to me -- was the science just not fully developed yet, or were they nuts? (Not very politically correct either -- they blew up a coral reef too and everyone seems to have a cigarette in their mouth.) A fascinating film, though, and I still remember Cousteau's unique voice from when I was a child.