Depth gauge and compass

Datec 1960

Object number00037602

NameGauge

MediumMetal, glass, plastic belts

DimensionsOverall: 360 x 50 x 30 x 100 mm, 0.14 kg

ClassificationsTools and equipment

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Bob Lynch

Terms

DescriptionDepth gauge and compass belonging to Bob Lynch. A depth gauge records how deep a diver is at any given moment and a compass assists in navigation underwater. HistoryBob Lynch was a long time recreational diver, still snorkeling in his 70s using his diving knife and weight belt from the 1950s/60s. Bob made much of his original equipment, as there was not much available commercially. A friend of his, Wally Gibson, had seen the Cousteau-Gagnau patent aqualung and adapted it for sale in Western Australia and made the demand valve used by Bob. For ease of manufacture they split the demand valve and the high pressure valve. Bob made the rest of his equipment using an Austrian oxywelding high pressure reducing valve. Air hoses were adapted from WWII gas masks and Bob made his own rings from stainless steel or brass. Air cylinders were from WWII aircraft and contained 40 cubic feet of air. Mouthpieces were adapted form WWII gas masks and the demand valve was worn on the chest . Air was difficult to obtain and Bob either obtained it from Wally Gibbons in North Sydney or from medical or cylinders. Bob lived in Auburn when he began his diving at Clovelly. He usually dived on his own and was more interested in fishing rather than group dives. When he dived he wore swimming trunks, three crew neck jumpers covered by a seal skin, a wrap on garment of rubberised fabric. The jumpers were altered to make one jumper that would cover the body to create a polo neck jumper with an extra long body. It sometimes took six jumpers to make a good diving jumper. Bob also used a Dick Charles safety belt made of plastic laced at the back with straps that went over the shoulders. One side was a container with a spark lit bulb which inflated the belt if activated. It was an early form of life belt. Bob also experimented with the Danny Wells helmet, a diving helmet customised for each diver. A plaster model of the divers head and face was made and covered in tube dough with uncured rubber strips. This was then boiled in a kerosene tin to cure the rubber. It was trimmed a glass added to form a customised mask. It never went into commercial production as face masks became available in the 1950s. Bob described an early diving helmet at Clovelly being made of kerosene tins. Bob didn't get a boat until the 1960s. He dived at Summer Cove Bay and described walking through a First Nation's settlement to get to the beach. Residents caught school fish at Mary Bay using rowboats. A man would stand on the hill and watch for shoals of fish, they would run a net around the fish, mainly bream and mullet and bring them to the shore in huge quantities. Many of the fish were buried on the beach as the Fishing Co-Op at Nowra only gave First Nation fisherman a penny a pound for the fish. SignificanceThis collection of recreational diving gear belonging to Bob Lynch represents equipment from the 1950s and 1960s, spanning both home made technology in the post war period to early commercial gear. It shows how early divers had to make their own equipment until diving gear was readily available in the 1960s.