UNDERWATER MODELS ........ Part One
JH on 28.08.06 @ 05:21 PM AEST [ Part One">link]
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Monday, August 28th JH on 28.08.06 @ 05:21 PM AEST [ Part One">link] UNDERWATER MODEL ......... Kerry O'Neill
 This was a weekend dive at the Julian Rocks, Byron Bay before departing for Lord Howe Island. JH on 28.08.06 @ 04:30 PM AEST [Kerry O'Neill">link] KERRY O'NEILL ....... visits Lord Howe Island
 Lord Howe Island is east of Port Macquarie in the Tasman Sea, Middleton Reef further to the north is in The Coral Sea. If Lord Howe Island were a lot further north it would have a warmer and more pleasant climate. It is still a welcome sight after a voyage from the mainland via Middleton Reef. JH on 28.08.06 @ 02:29 PM AEST [ visits Lord Howe Island">link] Sunday, August 27th MARLIN .......Black Marlin off Cairns
 My Beaulieu 16mm movie cam was exposing 64 frames per second when the 700 pound Black Marlin made this jump. The lens used was an Angenieux 9.5mm to 57mm zoom - compact and good for action like this. We were aboard Captain Peter Bristow's Avalon in the channel between No.3 and No.4 Ribbon Reef. These days Peter Bristow fishes exclusively around the island of Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean. The film sequence and others appear in my Australian Seafari a 111 minute documentary shown extensively in clubs and theatres around the coast of Australia, (for a considerable time - but not recently). JH on 27.08.06 @ 03:39 PM AEST [Black Marlin off Cairns">link] Friday, August 25th TANYA BINNING ........ Wally Gibbins story begins
 Tanya appeared in surf films, a Ron Taylor documentary and a feature film directed by the famed Roman Polanski. Tanya’s mother was Elsie Binning who worked at the Steyne Hotel, Manly (a Sydney Harbor suburb) where Wally Gibbins was a patron, which gives us the excuse to show these wonderful pictures of Tanya when she was a surf girl pin-up. Elsie often spoke of the exploits of her friend (Wally Gibbins), of the lobsters he’d bring to her and his mates at the pub and the big jewfish speared. I was often on the phone to Tanya who lived at Harbord, while I was near the city at Glebe, and sometimes I’d have a chat to Elsie and she’d clue me up with Wally’s most recent adventures. (Years later I moved to Harbord and Tanya moved to Glebe)! I first met Wally a few years before, at Jack’s Milk Bar (Annandale) where he was repairing the pin ball machine we teenage kids played and tampered with. Maybe we’d broken or jammed it while trying to trick it into a free game? His stories of fish and sharks that day were, to untrained ears, just unbelievable. We wanted to believe but were not convinced without proof. It was good inspiration, a few weeks later I bought a spear gun and jumped in the sea at Long Reef with a few of these Annandale friends for back-up - none were to keep their interest in spear fishing going beyond that first summer. One factor may have been sparked at the dive club we attended where members freely talked about making regular donations of blood at the blood bank? A strange subliminal form of insurance policy in the days when highly regular (highly publicized) shark bites (or attacks as they were called then) were still happening. Consequently spear fishermen were thought to be the maddest people on earth then. Some really were, and that will be another story. JH on 25.08.06 @ 09:40 PM AEST [Wally Gibbins story begins">link] WALLY GIBBINS .......pictures
 The brass ‘steering wheel’ came from a Japanese WWII shipwreck in the Solomon Islands. It was positioned at the stern of a vessel outside the wheelhouse. We took these pictures at his Toormina home when he had the seashell and shipwreck museum downstairs. The silver trophy was for Largest Fish 1950-1951 a 45.5 pound blue groper. It should have automatically become a New South Wales state spearing record, but didn’t. Envious that Wally was winning all the first prize trophies, someone (unknown) but in charge handed Wal’s (entitled) first prizes to whoever was in second place in an effort to share things around. Wally consequently dropped out of the competitions for several, perhaps even ten years in disgust. JH on 25.08.06 @ 07:54 PM AEST [pictures">link] JOHNNY SUMNER ......... Wally Gibbins' dive partner
 Johnny Sumner was backing the often mentioned project with Wally Gibbins with the boat Mr Wally. They searched for months for a suitable vessel eventually deciding on a timber ex-prawn trawler called Bali Hai based at Coffs Harbour. Recently the essential grab was designed, built and fitted according to Wal’s specifications. It is a vertical dredge, (my description) intended to snatch non-ferrous materials from deep water beyond the reach of compressed air diving. With Wal suddenly leaving this world on August 12, the original salvage plan is obviously up for modifications. A good point being: Johnny Sumner is a keen shipwrecks historian. His personal divers weight belt has been molded from tiny pieces of lead salvaged from various wreck sites each block marked with essential details. Flash back to the Canterbury Underwater Club Australia, John was the first to be filmed (in 16mm by Ron Taylor or anyone else) spearing a large shark – in the process inadvertently discovering “the equilateral triangle position for the spear to produce a paralyzing effect”. The above picture shows John at Montague Island, New South Wales in 1961. The spear gun is a Sea Rocket CO2 powered device. Film of this encounter formed part of that astounding preview presented by Ron Taylor and Ben Cropp at a Sydney’s USFA club meeting mentioned previously in this blog. (use SEARCH). Attended by a full house of 300 – 400 spear fishing divers it was all just a few months before The Shark Hunters documentary film was edited and presented on TV. This early 16mm film night certainly encouraged me to buy a Sea Rocket speargun, and think about making underwater movies one day. Eventually I did both, but it was a seven-year wait for the 16mm movie camera. JH on 25.08.06 @ 10:56 AM AEST [Wally Gibbins' dive partner">link] Tuesday, August 22nd WALLY GIBBINS ........ No.1 Shark Fighter in the World
 After the illusion created by the movie JAWS, Wally was set to meet a great white shark (in a cage) for world-wide TV link-up via satellite. Fortunately the plan fizzled when promoter Bill Sergeant dropped dead. Wally was looking forward to being wealthy (again). It was just as well. All a caged-up white pointer would be doing would be looking for a way to get out. At the time the species was thought to be a super shark capable of terrifying deeds – such is the power of suggestion in movies (and television), despite denials by producers that this form of media does not influence young minds. Jaws (the movie) scared the daylights out of everyone and it lasted for years. Today divers (almost) ride on the back of great white sharks – which is yet another mistake. JH on 22.08.06 @ 09:54 AM AEST [No.1 Shark Fighter in the World">link] Monday, August 21st NAUTILUS ......... live visitor from the deep
 There is an engraved nautilus from the Solomon Islands on the table with Wally Gibbins' conus gloria-maris (below). These (live) shells are caught in special traps, as per lobsters, and brought to the surface from depths of 100 meters - or more, from the drop-off edge of reefs in The Coral Sea. The empty shells of a dead specimen reveal several air chambers which enables them to drift with ocean currents eventually to wash ashore. JH on 21.08.06 @ 11:54 AM AEST [live visitor from the deep">link] CONUS Gloria maris ....... (once) world's rarest sea shell
 When the world expert of Gloria maris sea shells shows the largest and the tiniest specimens he has ever dived for, you can bet this to be something special. Published here for the first time are the secret pictures of this amazing collection by Wal Gibbins. JH on 21.08.06 @ 10:53 AM AEST [(once) world's rarest sea shell">link] BOOK: THIS RUGGED COAST ........ by Ben Cropp (1980)
 We had come the long way round from east to west by sea. Beva's log now read 10 000 nautical miles since we had left home on the eastern extremity eighteen months before. While we waited for good weather to move out, we added our own rock cairn, with a scrawled list of Beva crew, to those other adventurers who have treked to this most westerly point of Australia. The winds eased, yet the huge swells still buffeted Steep Point as I took Beva out to sea. The ocean crossroads was bare - the great whales had returned south. High on the point the cluster of rock cairns was a silouette of pinnacles in the early sun. These monuments of modern travellers were left astern as I steered the long way home on yet another voyage of adventure. (BC) JH on 21.08.06 @ 09:12 AM AEST [by Ben Cropp (1980)">link] Sunday, August 20th BEN CROPP ........host of This Rugged Coast (TV doco's)
 Wally Gibbins was part of Ben’s crew of five aboard Beva, (the 15-meter Grand Banks long range cruiser that was later wrecked while anchored in a storm off Low Isles, Port Douglas). Ben’s project with Wally aboard was to film around Australia for two years beginning in May 1977. Ten Australian television films were planned including voyages to the neighboring countries of the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. This Rugged Coast (Rigby Publishers 1980) is a chronicle of those expeditions, which I’ve just started to read after all these years of being distracted by other things. The book opens with their first voyage, to Middleton Reef – “a 6.5 km circle of submerged reef and site of many ancient and modern shipwrecks”, where Ben and Wally, encountered bad weather especially with very strong wind. (I'd been there too, aboard Wally Muller’s Coralita for two expeditions a few years before. Both trips had cyclones pass nearby while we were anchored in the lagoon at Middleton, winds blew to 100 knots with the cyclone called Colin. John Sumner was on the first Coralita expedition to Middleton Reef (which is in The Coral Sea) and Lord Howe Island (situated a little further south and in the Tasman Sea). Ben, like Wally Muller before him, has admiration for Matthew Flinders and the exploration and discoveries by this young British navigator 200 years before us and without any electronic devices to assist. They did it tougher then, and in many ways, much better producing those important marine charts. JH on 20.08.06 @ 10:43 AM AEST [This Rugged Coast (TV doco's)">link] Saturday, August 19th SEA MOODS ....... pictures from Point Danger
 JH on 19.08.06 @ 11:11 AM AEST [pictures from Point Danger">link] THE SEA ........... picture at dawn
 JH on 19.08.06 @ 11:09 AM AEST [picture at dawn">link] Friday, August 18th WAL GIBBINS .........has left on his next journey
 Wal Gibbins departed us for his biggest journey on August 12 2006. His friends and relatives bid him farewell today at Coff Harbour Lawn Cemetery. He left us just days after the full moon. His biorhythms were low then too. He had a few things happening. Diabetes and a problem with a blood vessel in his oesophagus, the death certificate listed cerebral hemorrhage. Wally was pestered by tele-marketing phone calls and took to not answering the phone. A mistake. In his final days no instant alarm was raised when his phone did not answer. He was found by a relative unconscious on the floor (he died less than 24 hours later in hospital, still unconscious). How long he had been laying there would be a guess. At the worst guess, up to 36 hours through a cold night. He had been urged by friends to move into town where better and more comfortable facilities existed yet was reluctant to do so as his collection of marine memorabilia required "his attention", another mistake. New Zealand's diving magazine (Dive Pacific) ran an interview this year with Wally over two editions. It published pictures of his pioneering exploits that continue to amaze experts today. The positive response lifted his spirits considerably, friends noted. This inspired Wal to type more of his memoirs, slowly and on an old style machine. He was focusing on personal close shaves with sharks. He had continued to snorkel dive until last summer and may have gone back to the sea he loved and knew so well when the water was warmer. JH on 18.08.06 @ 07:31 PM AEST [has left on his next journey">link] Thursday, August 17th WAL GIBBINS ......... Took his dive boat to Heron
 It was a luxury having your own boat at Heron. During the Divers Convention some people chose to go to this extra effort. It also required taking your own fuel along. Also towing the boat north from Sydney was a two day journey each way to begin with. Dive boat facilities at the island were less than adequate in the sixties. Film frames are from a now historical record of fantastic conditions seen on the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, when the weather is perfect. They all would have had a good holiday. Wal speared heaps of fish for the island dining room, and met his 11 ft 2" tiger shark at Sykes Reef (not shown in the film). There's a great scene showing Wal catching a ride on a medium-sized green turtle. I'm still impressed with the breath holding ability of him in this scene. Diver and turtle disappear, almost into the haze with Wal looking over his shoulder to see if Ron Taylor is still watching. For much of the film the divers are in ordinary swim suits - the ocean being warm enough to not require wet suits. Allan Power was busy with a Rolleimarin medium format stills camera. His quality photographs taken during this trip were to appear in his The Great Barrier Reef book just a few months later. JH on 17.08.06 @ 04:18 PM AEST [Took his dive boat to Heron ">link] WAL GIBBINS (continued) ........ Movie film frames
 Wal Gibbins, Valerie Heighes (a few weeks before she and Ron Taylor were married), Allan Power and brother Warner Power (right) all heading out from Heron Island. This was during the former Divers Festival held each year in November. Discontinued by the former owners in the 1990's for various reasons. JH on 17.08.06 @ 03:52 PM AEST [Movie film frames">link] WAL (Continued)
 In 1963 all the best divers in Australia were already ace spear fishermen. Wal about to slip into the water with his big speargun. Note the US DIvers 72cu ft tank and twin house regulator. . JH on 17.08.06 @ 03:44 PM AEST [link] Tuesday, August 15th MALCOLM McLEOD ......... Wal Gibbins nephew
 Urgently flown back from the Solomon Islands for recompression treatment. He’d been on a great adventure helping salvage WWII shipwrecks with his uncle and others. By the bed, Warner Power who was part of the team. The magazine in Malcolm’s hand (in 1971) shows a tragic window of the future. The interest in firearms would culminate with a self-inflicted accident. A Winchester rifle fired in his bedroom would cost him his life. His last words were to his grandmother, "See you later, Gran", then BANG. Tragically he was then a resident boarder with his uncle, Wally Gibbins, who also heard the shot and called for an ambulance. Malcolm survived less than one hour. JH on 15.08.06 @ 09:47 AM AEST [Wal Gibbins nephew">link] WAL GIBBINS ..........Port Jackson shark eggs; ship's bell prize
 " in the 1970's Wal was salvaging ship's propellers from 250 feet of water using compressed air. 20 tonne ship's propellers on (ordinary) air. Des Woodley. JH on 15.08.06 @ 09:11 AM AEST [Port Jackson shark eggs; ship's bell prize">link] Sunday, August 13th WALLY GIBBINS ...........also known as Wally Gibbons (sic)
 JH on 13.08.06 @ 08:54 AM AEST [also known as Wally Gibbons (sic)">link] Friday, August 11th DISTANT CORAL REEF ........ no tourists here ....yet.
 JH on 11.08.06 @ 09:25 AM AEST [no tourists here ....yet.">link] DOLPHIN IN MOTION .......... alongside moving vessel
 JH on 11.08.06 @ 09:15 AM AEST [alongside moving vessel">link] JH ......... self portrait circa.2000
 JH on 11.08.06 @ 09:13 AM AEST [self portrait circa.2000">link] PACIFIC SUNRISE ........ Queensland- New South Wales
 One of the joys of sleeping in a van is enjoying a beautiful sunrise most morning's. This was at Point Danger - the actual border seperating the east coast northern states. The southern end of the Gold Coast. (Definately not wise to overnight here). JH on 11.08.06 @ 09:00 AM AEST [Queensland- New South Wales">link] Thursday, August 10th ANDREA DORIA ....... Banknote from ship's safe
 The Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria sank off the coast of Nantucket in 1956, after a collision with a Swedish passenger ship. In 1981, Mr. Gimbel, who is a deep-sea diver and underwater cameraman, brought together a crew of 30 - on a ship equipped with the latest in sea-diving gear and set out to get the safe and also to learn whether a certain watertight door was shut at the time of the collision. ''Andrea Doria: The Final Chapter,'' a 90-minute documentary produced by Mr. Gimbel and his wife, Elga Andersen, who accompanied him, is the story of that endeavor. The film is accompanied by music that seems to have been lifted from a B movie; it tells us when we are supposed to feel suspense, anxiety or relief. The safe yielded bundles of American and Italian currency. A few of the Italian bills, cleaned up by restorers, are displayed, along with a little lecture on their finer points by Mr. Gimbel, who appears to be under the impression that he has discovered artifacts from the reign of Diocletian. We are not told how much the contents are worth. (W.Goodman 1985) (Above): A souvenier from the expedition sent to friends Ron and Valerie Taylor, in Sydney. JH on 10.08.06 @ 03:51 PM AEST [Banknote from ship's safe">link] Wednesday, August 9th KIRRA BEACH .......... Southern Gold Coast, Queensland
 (pictured)....a few months after the pumping began at Snapper Rocks, this is how one nearby beach looked. Previously, high tide was against the rocks. Kirra Reef was just 150 meters offshore. JH on 09.08.06 @ 01:41 PM AEST [Southern Gold Coast, Queensland">link] RAINBOW BAY ....... Sand by-pass on southern Gold Coast
 Sand is being pumped from south of the nearby Tweed River over the border into Queensland where it discharges (above) at Snapper Rocks and Rainbow Bay. The result over the last couple of years has been dramatic. Southern Gold Coast beaches that were regularly washing away, with waves almost lapping on the highway have become new deserts of sand which could (the horror) accommodate an extra shopping mall or two. Meanwhile all the extra sand has created surf waves that go for miles – all the way from Snapper Rocks to Kirra Beach. Board riders are ecstatic. There has been an underwater loss. Kirra Reef has been smothered in sand. This once ‘productive’ fishing ground has almost disappeared. It wasn’t a fantastic marine location but a good one and in a southerly lee especially when Cook Island was too rough to reach by boat. Shallow water about five meters deep and some rocks a few hundreds meters offshore. I speared a nice mulloway (commonly called a jewfish) here which we later ate at The Rose Chinese restaurant no doubt. That was the plan in those days, when visiting especially for dive trips from our Sydney base. There were lots of adventures to be had. We once saved a turtle from drowning in the Grenmount anti-shark net and then sold it to Manly Marineland giving it a 12 hour ride in a box trailer with aluminium boat above. Ron Taylor recorded this early ecological news storywith his 16mm Bolex in an underwater housing of his own design. Maybe it was shown in cinema's as a Movietone News? Sadly, (shocking actually) much of that original 35mm Movietone library of Australiana was lost when the archives went underwater in a flood a couple of years ago. JH on 09.08.06 @ 11:48 AM AEST [Sand by-pass on southern Gold Coast">link] Tuesday, August 8th THE LAST WHALE ..... killed in Australia
 The whale would have seen this ship come alongside...... Later it would be hauled ashore on this wooden platform at Cheynes Beach, near Albany in Western Australia. to be continued....(more to come) JH on 08.08.06 @ 07:31 PM AEST [killed in Australia">link] Whale Meal ......... Historic Whaling Station
 JH on 08.08.06 @ 07:27 PM AEST [Historic Whaling Station">link] Cheynes Beach (whale teeth) ...... Western Australia
 JH on 08.08.06 @ 07:25 PM AEST [Western Australia">link] Friday, August 4th FIRST FISH ........most likely to be encountered
 A fish that people always get when they are learning to spear underwater is the cockie, it lives in shallows over rocks in New South Wales waters. This was one of my first fish caught as a junior spearman. We took a few then realized when we were home that they were a bit strange. Nobody was keen on cooking them. They are classed as being edible and were on the competition spearing charts for decades. A pity that many died and were wasted for points that matter little anymore today. Proper name: cockatoo fish. Ross and Ruth found this one on the south coast near Kiama. JH on 04.08.06 @ 04:46 PM AEST [most likely to be encountered">link] DIARY ENTRIES ......Chesterfield Reef sharks 1971
 On board the 79 ft charter boat Carolita (sic). Our destination: The remote Chesterfield Islands more than 500 miles off the Queensland coast. We will be the first Australians to visit this area of the Pacific which is owned by the French and is completely uninhabited. The voyage will take 48 hours. The Coralita has a guest list of 15, split between shell collectors and skin divers. On board are two Sydney doctors, an American marine biologist, two other Americans engaged in professional diving and tourism, underwater photographers Ron and Valerie Taylor, myself and a group of shell collectors from Yeppoon (hoping to find the very rare and valuable sea shell Cymbiolacca thatcheri, Valerie found a large fish and began hand-feeding the sharks. Talking about it afterwards, Valerie said “I always feed dangerous marine life with my left hand, just in case. If something goes wrong I will still have a good hand left”. Day 9 The shark swam off (when the power head failed to explode) and continued to circle us. A few minutes later it re-appeared with the power head mark clearly visible. It was still very aggressive and made several close charges at everyone who was in the water. I was filming close to Roy Bisson when this shark rushed at Roy. I filmed what appeared to be Roy’s flippers kicking the shark off. It was time to get this single troublesome shark out of the way. Fired from almost point-blank range the power head exploded and blasted a huge hole in the shark due to the acute angle of impact. After this encounter we moved to more pleasant waters. Coralita was moving to a new destination to suit the shell collectors but Ron and Valerie wanted to remain at this reef and continue their shark photography. The only solution, which they suggested, would be to leave them here in their small 14 foot aluminum boat for six hours alone, while the big boat sailed over the horizon and out of sight. The two doctors elected to remain with them. Medical doctors Don Ahern and Colin Friendship secretly included blood transfusion apparatus in a kit bag. It was a noble gesture. A serious injury here with absolutely no help available was part of the risk taken regularly by this extraordinary husband and wife team. JH on 04.08.06 @ 04:40 PM AEST [Chesterfield Reef sharks 1971">link] GREY REEF WHALER ....... attacking flippers
 Attacking might be a little too strong a word, but it certainly was displaying territorial aggression especially toward Roy Bisson who was swimming as fast as possible to get away from the repeated charges at his swim fins or flippers. Note the bend in them. Two seperate film frames are shown in this picture. Dr Richard Ibara recorded the top image. We were on the first scuba expedition to Chesterfield Reefs with Captain Wally Muller. It was 1971. JH on 04.08.06 @ 04:37 PM AEST [attacking flippers">link] |
