FIRST OVERSEAS TRIP ...... Destination Micronesia

Ring ring – ring ring, the downstairs phone at my dad’s Friend in Hand Hotel, Glebe was ringing. It could have been a call for one of the public bar patrons – a mix of hoods and a few petty criminals. The hotel was a watering hole for such people and a few older crooks better described as battlers. This was Sydney 1969 – a different place than it is today.

The call was for me. It was a telegram being phoned through with an option for a hard copy to be delivered later. Addressed to John Harding it went something like this:

"Reference: Goreau, Randel, Chesher, Thornton. Ecological catastrophe Pacific Ocean Acanthaster planci. Request your participation in survey Guam departing August 16. Please call Dr Roy Gaul Westinghouse Ocean Research Laboratories, San Diego reverse charges".

Hell, I’d never been out of Australia. This was 1969 and international flights were still a big very expensive adventure in tiny Boeing 707’s.

The nearest thing to an overseas trip I’d had to date was conscription to Vietnam. I’d narrowly missed being eligible, fortunately.

After a very long phone call that night to Dr Roy Gaul I learned that, yes they had the right person, yes I could make them a documentary film (although this would be my first effort at editing) and yes it was my starfish story recently published in the popular Florida magazine for marine biologists and oceanographers (Sea Frontiers). The three page semi-scientific text was responsible for my being selected for inclusion in this major marine project.

Over fifty international scientists and divers, all with some ability to participate in a useful manner were being assembled in Guam, a USA island in the North Pacific then known as Micronesia.

The air route there for me was out of Sydney to Adelaide, Perth, Singapore. New aircraft to Saigon, Manila then change again for Guam.

A passport and visa with work permit was organized within a few days and I was off.

Within a week and with new friends, we were in the crystal clear warm waters of Kapingamarangi Atoll –almost on the equator – looking for coral earing starfish.

Use SEARCH function for easy find - more from this atoll.

Ken DaVico (pictured above) is today a champion marathon athlete in Hawaii. Helping to keep in top shape he snorkel dives with a metal detector and 45 pounds of lead and has located hundreds of gold wedding rings from the Hawaiian surfing beaches – either lost or thrown there! Plus lots of quality, lost underwater watches.




JH on 31.07.06 @ 04:53 PM AEST [Destination Micronesia">link]

DAVID af SANDEBERG ........ Seafaring ancestor 1726 - 1774

David of Sandeberg made several very long and slow voyages between Gothenberg (Sweden) and Canton (now called Guangzhou, China) doing trade both ways with stops in Spain and South Africa.

He owned a ship building yard and a castle. Worked his way up the ladder of the biggest company in Sweden to a point where he became the boss.

Later the King gave him a knighthood. But it was all for nothing. He was dead a few years later and all the perks of being part of the nobility were abolished for all, forever.

His fruitfull contacts with Chinese businesses may become part of his DNA, passed along to present generations? It might help explain why I've been visiting a Chinese culture four times in the last five years?



We, by the grace of God, King of Sweden, Gothia and Wendes, heir to Norway, Duke of Schleswig Holstein, Stormarn and Ditmarsen, Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst. Make known that whereas WE have always been desirous to reward virtue and in grace to remember those who have spared no effort for the promotion of public welfare and usefulness and whereas OUR highly trusted servant and Director for the East India Company, OUR dearly-beloved DAVID af SANDEBERG, not only in extensive commerce but also in several other ways has endeavored to serve his Fatherland.

Therefore WE, in consideration hereof as well as the loyalty and allegiance he has shown us and the state, are graciously pleased to bestow upon him some special sign of our Royal pleasure, and do so in so far as WE by Royal power and authority and by virtue of this OUR open letter in Grace, bestow, present and give to him the Director of the East India Company, DAVID af SANDEBERG, his wife and rightful descendants, both male and female, born as well as unborn, the dignity liberties and privileges of a member of the Nobility and the following weapon and Coat of Arms:

Namely, a golden shield, with a blue chef in which are seen two shells of silver placed beside each other, and there under, in the golden field, is a blue mountain. Out of the open helmet, which is placed above the shield, arise two golden wings, each bearing a black shell. The wreath is twisted of blue and gold, and the foliage is composed of gold and blue, exactly as is here reproduced in its true colors.

We also permit him and them, as distinguished from other noble families in the land, to name and sign themselves af SANDEBERG.

He and they shall also have power to carry and use this name, and the Coat of Arms here described, in all Noble and Knightly games, in play or earnest, in tourney and fencing, in storm, fight and combat, in seal and pictures, and otherwise as need may be, as well as to enjoy the use of and retain for all times all the privileges, liberties and rights, which have been granted to the Nobility in OUR country, or may in future be given or granted.

We therefore request by these presents from all Powers, Emperors, Kings, Princes, Lords and free Ranks and all the others in accordance with his height, Rank and Value, in friendliness and in Grace, and also bid and command by these presents all in general and in particular everybody who is bound to us in obedience, and who for OUR sake will and shall do and omit, that they recognize the said Director of the East India Company, DAVID af SANDEBERG, his wife and rightful descendants as true Nobility, showing him and them the honor which is due to that Rank, and not to do anything to their hindrance or detriment in any way now or in the future.

In further confirmation whereof WE have executed this with OUR own hand and sealed it with our Royal seal attached hereto.

Given at Gothenburg on the tenth day of the month of December in the year Anno Domini One Thousand Seven Hundred and in the Seventy Second.

(KING) GUSTAF

In the year 1776 on the 26th March, presented to the Directorate of the House of Nobility and in the introduction applied for, granted.


(Signed. Secretary to the House of Nobility)



JH on 30.07.06 @ 04:29 PM AEST [ Seafaring ancestor 1726 - 1774">link]

SYDNEY PUB ....... Mays Family Hotel

JH on 29.07.06 @ 09:13 PM AEST [ Mays Family Hotel">link]

MAYS FAMILY HOTEL ......Publican John Harding

John Michael Harding in his first Sydney pub (1955)

Mays Family Hotel was in Mt Vernon Street, Forest Lodge, just off Parramatta Road and close enough to Sydney University for many students to patronize. JMH was licensee for several years.

Underwater picture shows JMH posing with a nine foot white pointer shark and 12 gauge shotgun powerhead (fitted to handspear), November 1963.

JMH was a decendant of David af Sandeberg, (mentioned elsewhere) from his mother's side of the family.

This picture was published full page by LIFE magazine, and also by Sydney's The Daily Terrorgraph newspaper.



JH on 29.07.06 @ 08:50 PM AEST [Publican John Harding">link]

AUSTRALIAN SHARK FILMS ...... a hit in 1965

This original shark stabbing picture was intended by John H., at the time it was staged, to be a satire on Italian divers as featured in Mondo Sommerso magazine. Everyone knew a shark could not be stopped with just a knife - not easily anyway.

The stunning picture became key promotion for these shark and surf films.

Released as Ron Taylor's Shark Fighters program, it was the color sequel to Shark Hunters made a few years before with Ben Cropp and shown on national television.

The new two hour show consisted of three color films and supporting featurette.

Ten thousand programmes were printed, only with low cost black and white pages.

The original color transparency is shown here as an example of the fine photography Ron Taylor was making in this pioneering era of underwater photography.

Leading documentary film producer Robert Raymond purchased our Revenge of a Shark Victim for his regular Project 66 Sunday night documentary slot, adding additional footage.








JH on 24.07.06 @ 12:05 PM AEST [ a hit in 1965">link]

SEQUEL ........to The Shark Hunters

JH on 24.07.06 @ 11:49 AM AEST [to The Shark Hunters">link]

sequel (continued) ........Shark Fighters location stills

Off The Big Island at Wooli in northern New South Wales, these whaler sharks were at the undisclosed location used for the filming.

Above water scenes showed only Montague Island in southern waters.

The top picture re-enacts a second .303 powerhead shot about to be made by John H.

This picture was also a cover of LIFE when launching their Australian edition.

Photography by Ron Taylor


JH on 24.07.06 @ 11:46 AM AEST [Shark Fighters location stills">link]

ANTI-SHARK MESHING NET ....... caught this one

A southern Gold Coast (Australia) whaler shark caught by a shark meshing net at the old Kirra Reef about 1967.

Today the reef has been lost, covered by man-made sand dredging.

The good side? The beach has never looked bigger.

John H. and shark. Photo: Ron Taylor


JH on 23.07.06 @ 04:54 PM AEST [caught this one">link]

RON TAYLOR ........thrills in the surf 1967

Favourite photo of J.M. Harding- driver of the camera boat


JH on 17.07.06 @ 07:44 PM AEST [thrills in the surf 1967">link]

THE SUN ........ recent solar eclipse

Where were you on 29 March 2006?

On the beach, in the Australian summer sun?

A scientist made this sketch, which we have colorized here.

I'm not sure what he saw during an eclipse but if those rays are sun spot flares that are normally impossible to see, then it's a bit scarey how big they are.

A link between regular and any increased sun-spot activities and global warming?

There is a chart showing such activity during last 200 years. (www. sidc.oma.be if you are interested in such things).

You would think sun-spot warnings would be issued as part of weather forecasting, especially during summer.

Astronauts are cautious of being caught outside during a space walk when one of these regular solar flares occurs.

They get a radio warning to get back inside their craft, otherwise the radiation outside is fatal. So what does the same solar flare do to someone on a beach below?

A series of monitoring stations on earth are constantly watching for such things 365/7/24

The Australian station is at Learmonth near Exmouth, Western Australia. I visited it years ago and learned the info otherwise I wouldn't have a clue.



GEOMAGNETIC STORM.
A worldwide disturbance of the earth's magnetic field, distinct from regular diurnal variations.
Minor Geomagnetic Storm: A storm for which the Ap index is greater than 29 and less than 50.
Major Geomagnetic Storm:A storm for which the Ap index is greater than 49 and less than 100.
Severe Geomagnetic Storm: A storm for which the Ap index is 100 or more.



JH on 16.07.06 @ 10:45 AM AEST [recent solar eclipse">link]

TWO GIANT LOBSTER ..........and Christine Danaher

Christine Danaher appeared on the cover of an Australian dive magazine with this picture of her with a couple of big crayfish.

The correct name is Eastern rock lobster, these were in the Forster region of New South Wales and were left in the sea by the man who found them for this picture shoot, Dennis Kemp a dive shop owner (and brother of the former Australian champion spearman, Peter Kemp).

The picture created quite a controversy with letters to the editor based on weak points A. that the girl was wearing her weight belt in reverse. (Apparently this makes it tricky for a dive master to drop the belt for her in any emergency)?

B. Her lack of a BC vest. This brought endless criticism in the following three issues from mainly dive instructors who bothered to point out this serious error of promotion by a publication.

And these authors whoever they were may well wonder today why basic dive courses lost popularity amongst adventure seeking youth who now do better things for thrills.

Put another dollar in? Not likely.



JH on 14.07.06 @ 11:39 AM AEST [and Christine Danaher">link]

WHALE SHARK ........ John and Valerie catching a ride

Valerie and John H. performing for Ron Taylor's movie camera. (This is a still from 16mm film from that fortunate encounter at Seal Rocks NSW).

Our 35mm still pictures would become published everywhere, and Ron made good plans for his film too.

For an hour and a half we made snorkel dives while swimming alongside the steadily moving giant. It required fast swimming to keep pace with this big creature.

When I touched the tail of the whale shark it responded by ‘sounding’- diving vertically and fast out of sight.

A few minutes later it was back on the surface and we were alongside again. By now the shark was accepting our presence so further contact by touching was no problem.

These snorkel swims were being restricted as it was necessary to leave the 14 foot long dive dinghy unanchored and unattended.

We’d swim alongside and away from the boat until 150 meters from it then return, start the motor, find the shark, repeat the procedure.

For a finale for Ron’s filming my idea would have to work. There was just one chance as his camera was about to run out of film and there was no additional roll.

I held onto the top and bottom lobe of the giant tail with arms outstretched to the max.

Valerie would then hold my ankles as the shark caught up to her.

Ron – positioned ahead would film us passing by his camera with the last 16 seconds of film on his movie camera.




JH on 13.07.06 @ 02:46 PM AEST [John and Valerie catching a ride">link]

advertisement .........Salvage Project

The phone number is an Australian mobile. International callers should drop the first zero then add +61 or in other terms: 0011 61 and the Australian number (minus that first zero).

This advertisement was spotted by a friend this week.

John Sumner is a former dive shop owner in Sydney and a world authority on shipwrecks. He's a good guy. I thought someone out there, upon seeing this, might be interested in applying to join this project?




JH on 11.07.06 @ 07:27 PM AEST [Salvage Project">link]

WHALE SHARK ....... plankton eating giant

My favorite picture from swim off Exmouth, Western Australia.


JH on 09.07.06 @ 03:27 PM AEST [plankton eating giant">link]

TONY SMITH ....... pioneer dive shop staff

Tony Smith worked with fellow diver Bob Kemp under directions of their chief, Wally Reynolds.

Tony Smith went spear fishing (with scuba) off Bondi and landed a big jewfish - large enough to make a photo in the Sunday newspaper the next day.

This was the early years of 'diving' (spear fishing and some scuba instruction) in Sydney. A picture of Tony Smith appeared in Ben Cropp's first book Handbook for Skindivers (written during the era when Ben and partner Ron Taylor ran the first scuba diving courses in Sydney also from the Mick Simmons Sports Store in Haymarket where Tony Smith worked).


JH on 08.07.06 @ 01:40 PM AEST [pioneer dive shop staff">link]

BETTER THAN Titanic? ....... TSMV Coralita

Trivia
A dinner plate from Barrier Reef Cruises’ Coralita is surely worth more than all that junk salvaged from Titanic?

Admittedly the Titanic is more famous and now in far deeper water.

But there were less dinner plates made for Coralita and as far as divers are concerned, she was the original.

The first Australian diver charter boat live-aboard in the world was launched in 1969 and fitted with an air compressor the following year.

Dewey Bergman the San Francisco diver travel agent made a voyage to Chesterfield Reef in 1971 which opened the door for international travel for this boat.

A noted wreck diving enthusiast (J.S.) made his own dive belt lead weights from scrap collected from the Dunbar.

Not because he was hard-up for lead he simply preferred using weights with historical value.

Personally I think a dinner plate from Coralita is pretty good value. Mine was a gift from Mrs Irene Ziebell.

JH on 07.07.06 @ 09:52 AM AEST [Titanic? ....... TSMV Coralita">link]

SEA TULIPS ........ New South Wales

JH on 06.07.06 @ 05:46 PM AEST [New South Wales">link]

EYE MACRO ...... whaler shark

At Point Lookout beach, Queensland.


JH on 06.07.06 @ 05:28 PM AEST [whaler shark">link]

WAL GIBBINS ........ based at Coffs Harbour NSW

Howard Spencer, Wally Gibbins, John Harding
Wal has lunch with Howard Spencer, the former editor of Coffs Harbour newspaper, The Advocate.
JH on 05.07.06 @ 01:10 PM AEST [based at Coffs Harbour NSW">link]

SCRAPBOOK .........Kathy Anne Troutt

An Australian magazine color featrure (1965) Kathy Troutt scuba dived to 302 feet - a depth record for women at the time.


JH on 04.07.06 @ 09:05 PM AEST [Kathy Anne Troutt">link]

SCRAPBOOK ........ diver news 1962

It was 1962 when Wal Gibbins (left) was pictured with a bent spear after a shark encounter off Sydney.

Also in 1962 dive store manager and former navy diver Wally Reynolds (right) made a 327 foot dive off Sydney setting a new record for an aqualung – the registered trade mark or ‘other name’ for scuba.

He guided Kathy Troutt, then a 17 year-old novice diver to a similar depth setting a record for women.

The riddle as to what became of Wally Reynolds in more recent times was given light by Peter ‘prof’ Harper.

"Wally Reynolds was lost at sea, the Sulu Sea to be precise. While working aboard an oil rig or tender vessel where he was required to untangle a rope from around a drill underwater at night.

He chose to use a snorkel for the seemingly simple operation and apparently got into difficulties under the hull of a large vessel or platform and drowned".



JH on 04.07.06 @ 06:57 PM AEST [diver news 1962">link]

HISTORY OF DIVING .......Australian trivia

During the Belgian Expedition the team of divers worked south to Lady Elliott Island south of the larger and better anchorage of Lady Musgrave Island for underwater work.

It was here the manta ray (above) was photographed for Roamer Watches of Switzerland advertisement on the back covers of fathom magazine issue No.1 and 2.

Although a manta wasn’t a stingray (as per the name of watch promoted), the borderline photographic association was adequate and far more spectacular.





JH on 04.07.06 @ 10:41 AM AEST [Australian trivia">link]

BIRCHGROVE PARK ........ Sydney shipwreck

Bob "skippy" Delander swims with a speargun around the wreck. A tangled anchor line is visible. At the conclusion of this dive a young white pointer shark had Bob making a quit exit back aboard the 14 foot boat we were working out of. It was 1967. Wally Gibbins was nearby with his boat. Getting decent pictures on the wreck was a challenge in those days, and probably still is.

(Wal Gibbins was first to discover the long-lost shipwreck after a lot of searching with a "rare as hen's teeth" echo sounder circa 1964. The wreck was eventually found .5 of one nautical mile from where it was positioned on the charts.

Adventure journalist Pat Burgess wrote of his dive with Wally on the wreck, which was published in a mid week edition of Sydney's The Daily Telegraph. A great gift to scuba divers then and today).





JH on 03.07.06 @ 04:58 PM AEST [Sydney shipwreck">link]

WALLY GIBBINS ........ Birchgrove Park

Wal brought this medium-size jewie up from the Birchgrove Park shipwreck 160-180 feet deep, off Sydney's northern beaches in 1967. Published here today for the first time.


JH on 03.07.06 @ 04:51 PM AEST [ Birchgrove Park">link]

MY MOTIVATION .....the Taylor & Cropp partnership

"Sea Diary records original inspiration to begin underwater photography. It was a year before still photography underwater commenced and a further four years before cinematography could be started due to the higher costs. A year is a long time when you are aged 20, five years back then seems like twenty today.

We'd met Ron and Ben while doing their scuba course at Mick Simmons store in Haymarket, Sydney. The Shark Hunters had been previewed to about 400 divers at a USFA (Underwater Skindivers and Fishermans Association) meeting we'd chanced upon attending.

It was their film that inspired me to want to film sharks, an outrageous proposition back then. A few weeks later TCN9 telecast the b&w film with a repeat the following week - which was very unusual then. Sir Frank Packer (who owned TCN9) probably liked it!





JH on 01.07.06 @ 01:20 PM AEST [the Taylor & Cropp partnership">link]

MY SEA DIARY ........Aust. Record Snapper

(TRANSLATION)
Jibbon 17-3-63

Light winds, smooth seas 50 ft vis in parts.

We did not feel very much like going spear fishing today having completed a 28 mile hike yesterday to Palm Beach.

Ken Campbell came over to see us so we all shot off to Cronulla.

We found the seas nice and calm with a cloudy sky and a chance of rain.

I was fishing with my home made gun. We were getting some small mowies and tassies etc when I saw something silver at the bottom of a cunjevoi-covered ledge.

I swam around to the other side of the ledge – took a deep breath and dived.

At first I thought it was a small jewfish but when I leveled off I found it to be a snapper.

I looked at it for about 5 seconds while I was lining up for a good shot.

As I fired he must have flicked around because the spear hit him right between the eyes.

I quickly made for the surface. I could see him swimming around in circles below and got a little worried because I thought he might get off the spear so I dived and grabbed him in the gills.

At first I estimated the weight to be 15 pounds at the most. When we weighed him 20 minutes later he went 24 pounds.

I could hardly believe it. I had a state, Australian and Australsian record all in one.

Jack Evans took I (sic) few pictures of it and so did reporters from the Sydney Morning Herald and The Daily Mirror.

By John Harding (then aged 20) his notebook Sea Diary describing pictures shown in June 30, 2006 entries.



JH on 01.07.06 @ 01:01 PM AEST [Aust. Record Snapper">link]