Diving Pioneers and Innovators Tell All In New Book

Industry veteran and Undercurrent contributor Bret Gilliam’s newest book is Diving Pioneers & Innovators, in--depth interviews with 20 people who helped make diving what it is today. These luminaries talk in length and depth about their careers, opening up in a way they rarely have before in print. Notables include now-deceased Jaws author Peter Benchley; Oceanic founder Bob Hollis; History Channel’s featured wreck diver John Chatterton; shark-diving pioneers Ron and Valerie Taylor; and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Stan Waterman, who wrote the book’s foreword.

Gilliam conducted insightful conversations over the span of a decade, asking questions never asked before. The results: Great anecdotes and thorough details of diving’s history. It’s like relaxing on the back of a dive boat while listening to a fellow diver tell tales, except they come from an MVP who influenced the overall culture of diving

“It took me six minutes to get down to the bottom,” says Chatterton about his famous 1991 dive off the New Jersey coast. “I saw an angled hatch, very prominent, very much a unique feature. I’m at 230 feet and my mind is racing, and I think I know what this is. I look inside the hatch and I see torpedoes.” He gives more details about being the first diver to set eyes on the U-Who, an unidentified German U-boat from WWII that lay undiscovered for nearly 50 years.

Australian couple Ron and Valerie Taylor describe their friendly pet tiger shark at Coralita Pass and their scariest shark dives. Benchley talks about clashing with Steven Spielberg over Jaws, and his first experience with a great white. Hollis reveals how “dumpster diving” helped him beat rival ScubaPro in a deal, and what it was like to be the first diver to enter the wreck of the Andrea Doria.Waterman explains how a Japanese mask inspired his 50-plus-year career, and what Nick Nolte and Jacqueline Bissett were like as dive students during filming of The Deep.

Besides being a time capsule of diving’s oral history, Diving Pioneers & Innovators is filled with full-color photographs of each interviewee throughout their careers. At 496 pages, the hardcover 8 x11-inch book weighs in at eight pounds.

To order, go to Undercurrent and click on the homepage icon. The price is $60, plus $10 shipping and handling. California residents, add $5.10 sales tax. You can also order by calling Undercurrent at (800) 326-1896.