DaleC
Contributor
L' Adventure Sous-Marine or The Undersea Adventure by Philippe Diole
Originally published by Albin Michel, Paris 1951
This HC edition published by Sidgwick and Jackson Ltd, London 1953 (no ISBN, very good condition).
Philippe Diole, archeologist, was introduced to SCUBA, or what they called "freediving", by Philippe Tailliez of the french URG (Undersea Research Group) and spent his ealy times diving the south of France and Mediteranean Sea:
"It was then than I met Commander Philippe Tailliez...and one day, in a little cove near Toulon, he sent me down with some bottles of compressed air on my back and made me bite the rubber tube... The sea opened. I crossed through the looking glass... Drunk with the discovery of a new continent, I began at first to learn more about myself than about it."
Written in (what I consider) a beautifully poetic style, Diole describes the advent of freediving, the early explorations of such groups as The Club Alpin Sous-Marin, the beginnings of flora and fauna study in situ and his thoughts regarding the future of mans underwater exploration. His voice is both sympathetic and humble yet gives an informative insight into postwar, 1940's diving in France.
The contents:
First Beginnings
Conquest of the Deep
Sea-Meetings
Caverns under Water
Breeding
Courtship
Virgin Seaweed
The Poetry of the Sea
Museums under the Sea
Future Development
Post-script
The text is somewhat "wordy" compared to more modern volumes and written with a french influence so a certain discipline is needed to digest what Diole is saying but (once I found my footing) I was amazed by the elloquence of his writing. My sense was that he was a man who put as much importance into how he said something as to what he actually said.
"The door of this magic universe has only just opened and in this book I have tried to describe our first steps in it...Those who follow me will probably do better. I hope this book will soon be out of date; that will be proof that this underwater experiment has the value I attach to it. I have no illusions about my work being anything but the first chapter in the humanization of the sea, which is itself still only a dream. That is why the text of my book means less than the intention that underlies it.
Let me, in conclusion, try and define this intention... It is the quality of enthusiasm that will guide man... It will give him, as a diver, confidence in the sea, a confidence in the material resources of the continental shelf, even in the chasms and abysses of the deep; and at the same time it will give him a belief in the scientific interest, the intellectual richness, the artistic vitality of life under water."
If you are someone who would enjoy a personal perspective on the advent of diving, written in descriptive prose by one of its progenitors, then I would highly recommend this book. Another book by Philippe Diole that deals more with underwater archeology is reviewed by me here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/book-media-reviews/313976-4000-years-under-sea-philippe-diole.html
