Joe Dorsey, pioneerdiver from the 1950s, died from heart failure on April 1, 2013, at a nursinghome in Front Royal, Virginia. He was 78.
Owner of DiversDen, Parkville, Maryland, for 38 years, Dorsey received the prestigiousReaching Out Award and was inducted into the Divers’ Hall of Fame at DEMA,(Diving Equipment and Marketing Association) convention in Orlando, Florida,1997. His dive shop, still in business at the same address, was voted Baltimore’s Best in 1987by Baltimore Magazine for outstanding merchandising, service and instruction.
A pioneer indiving both locally and nationally, the native Baltimorean was known for hisbusiness and industry acumen, educational endeavors, environmental efforts andphotographic skills. He won gold, silver and bronze medals at underwater filmfestivals held throughout the U.S.and the Virgin Islands.
Dorsey was atrained salvage diver, inspecting hulls of ocean-going tankers and freightersdocked at Baltimoreharbor. He helped Martin-Marietta Company divers recover a sunken P6Mjet-powered experimental seaplane that had crashed in a Chesapeake Bay tributary and supervised other salvage operations along theAtlantic seaboard. He taught Maryland State and Baltimore County police officers todive and trained their rescue and recovery units.
Dorsey starteddiving in 1954. He owned the first diving store in the state, started the firstdiving school in 1958 (Eastern School of Skin Diving) and became certified byNAUI (National Association of Underwater Instructors) in Houston, 1960. Later, he became a certifiedinstructor for NASDS (National Association of Skin Diving Schools).
In 1958, Dorsey seta world underwater endurance record of 29 hours, one minute in a tank in theWBAL-TV studios, Baltimore,to help promote a “new” show--Sea Hunt-- starring Lloyd Bridges. When Dorseylectured at a divers’ clinic in Annapolis, 1963,he roomed with another speaker, the late Buster Crabbe who was famous forplaying Tarzan in Hollywood’sheyday.
Dorsey helpedlaunch a dive club—the Maryland Hydronauts—and remained anhonorary member until his death. He was a member of the Underwater ExplorersSociety, and the Aquanauts Scuba Club, Arlington, Virginia.
Dorsey foughtindustrial pollution in the Chesapeake Bay,its tributaries and the oceans. He wrote articles for newspapers and magazinesencouraging divers to take an active role in protecting rivers, bays, streams,lakes and seas.
