In at the Deep End: A Personal Account of Diving in the 1930s

by Bernard Breakell

The author's early career in diving during the 1930s is described in this book. It begins when he was offered a diving course with the Royal Navy Diving School at HMS Drake, Devonport, with a view to starting a Diving Section for the Civil Engineering Department for which he worked. He was trained as an Admiralty employee and had to reach the expected Royal Navy standard for divers. His experiences during this training time are sometimes strange and often funny, but the course was finally a serious matter, destined to train each diver to a point where they were safe under water for both themselves and their partners. Once he became a fully trained diver the process of creating a Diving Section in the Civil Engineering Department began. There were problems to be overcome and many intriguing things to be discovered with regard to those early days in diving, which was still in its infancy and in the era of the 'hard hat'. Whilst remaining entertaining, the book does deal with the theoretical side of diving and, together with the accompanying photographs and maps, is undoubtedly a historic account of early diving practices.

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