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COMMERCIAL
OIL FIELD DIVING
Nicholas B. Zinkowski
Published by
Cornell Maritime Press Inc, Cambridge, Maryland, USA in 1971.
Introduction by W. J. O’Neill
Hard cover with plain blue
boards, 372 printed pages. Dimensions 23.5 cms tall by 15.5 cms wide.
The book is divided into
15 chapters starting dealing with various aspects of diving in an oilfield
in the early 1970’s. Throughout it is very well illustrated with
many black & white photographs and diagrams Chapters are as follows:
1 Diving as a Career.
2 Physics and Physiology
3 Tending and Breaking Out.
4 Diving Equipment.
5 Decompression and Treatment
Tables for Compressed Air Diving.
6 Rigging.
7 Burning and Welding Underwater.
8 Use of Explosives.
9 Diving from a Pipe-Lay
Barge.
10 Diving from a Pipeline
Barge, or Jet Barge.
11 Miscellaneous Diving
Applications in the Oilfield.
12 Diving from a Drilling
Rig.
13 Mixed-Gas Diving.
14 Diving from a Bell; Saturation
Diving; Dry Atmosphere Welding Huts.
15 Diver’s Pay; Unions;
Summary of Safety Procedures.
In addition, there are two
appendix, one bibliography but the second listing diving equipment manufacturers
and distributors at the time. In 1978, a second edition was published.
The new edition is a larger book (26 cms tall by 21 cms wide but with only
316 printed pages. Even on the cover, it is described as “Revised
and Enlarged” but the obvious difference apart from the size is the binding
has an embossed cover, very similar to the title page of the first edition.
[pt],[ps-1971] |
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THE
HISTORY OF OILFIELD DIVING - An Industrial Adventure.
Christopher Swann.
Oceanaut Press, , Kimball
MI 48074, USA. 2009?
Huge voolume - hardcover,
dustjacket, 845 pages, many many money photographs, several colour plates,
index, appendicies, maps, bibliography for each chapter.
What a superb book, exceptionally
well reseasrched and fascinating to read. The original oilfield divers
demonstrated exceptional courage, which remains a requiremeent to this
day. Author Christopher Swann knows his subject as a saturation diver himself.
The History of Oilfield Diving chronicles one of the greatest adventures
of the 20th Century. A story of human endeavour, physical danger and breakneck
technological development, this is the most comprehensive account of oilfield
diving ever written. Until the 1950s there was no oilfield diving industry.
The few men who dived for a living fished for abalone or plied their trade
in harbours and dockyards, on civil engineering projects and on the occasional
salvage project. Nearly all the work was in shallow water. As a result,
there was little innovation in either equipment or techniques. As oil was
found at greater depths, all that changed. In the early 1960s, the oil
companies drilling off the coast of California were pushing the limits
of traditional commercial diving. All their exploratory wells were in 200-250
feet of water, a depth at which nitrogen narcosis becomes a serious limitation.
Progress into still deeper water was about to come to a halt.Until, that
is, a former US Marine, who made a precariouss living diving for abalone,
mounted a scuba regulator in an abalone helmet, bought some heelium from
a hospital supply company and dived - to 400 feet. Oilfield diving was
about to take off. [ps] |
