the hospitality industry . This manager had somehow discovered that Reg was intended as his replacement , and so began a battle of wits recounted in Reg ’ s memoirs , Into the Blue - A Life of Diving .
Having survived his year of induction , Reg embarked on a career instructing and managing dive centres in the Mediterranean , during which he helped to set up a scuba school on the Italian island of Giglio . The island became a sort of spiritual home for him , as he amassed a huge number of dives and won over the locals with his easy charm . Years later he would return to Giglio with the ( now eminent ) archaeologist Mensun Bound , as one of his old dive sites turned out to be an Etruscan wreck of historical significance .
It was a period in which he regularly dived below 60 metres , sometimes resorting to in-water recompression in the event of a suspected bend . His stature grew further when he located and eventually raised the bodies of some German divers who had disappeared there two years previously , a deep operation fraught with danger .
At this time BSAC ’ s leading divers were becoming instructors at new dive resorts across the Mediterranean , and Reg was at the vanguard , setting up a school on the island of Zembra , off Tunisia , and also acting as a consultant for tourism bodies looking to exploit the new wave of diver tourism .
Back to BSAC
Always convivial , the friendships he fostered stood him in good stead , as BSAC ’ s then Chairman Harry Gould and Vice Chairman Colin McLeod asked him to apply for the new post of BSAC Director . He was appointed , seeing off a formidable set of rival candidates .
Reg took up the post in January 1969 , working from a modest office in Great Portland Street , London with his secretary , Harriette Rancom . Encouraged by the club ’ s next Chairman Alex Flinder , he presided over a period of rapid expansion for BSAC and
“ I ’ ll take you diving , and scare the pants off you "
diving in general . He also served unofficially as the club ’ s chief trouble-shooter , his affable manner often helping to persuade discontent branches not to break away . On one occasion when he had persuaded Scarborough BSAC to stay in the fold , one of the more aggressive campaigners came to see him after the meeting . “ You ’ ve got away with it this time ,” he said . “ But I ’ ll take you diving , and scare the pants off you .” “ Yes please ,” Reg replied . “ Anytime .”
There was no questioning Reg ’ s diving ability . He was fit , strong and an extremely competent swimmer , capable of diving to the bottom of the Navy ’ s 30m training tank on a single breath . He was equally proficient in warm or cold water , and led several expeditions to explore the Hebrides and the Scottish Outliers during the 1970s . It is likely his was the first group to dive at the remote island group of St Kilda .
Reg ’ s diving activity was prolific during his decade as BSAC Director , which saw a rapid expansion in membership . He was involved in many of the key endeavours of the Seventies , including the search for the lost X-craft mini submarines involved in the 1943 attack on the German battleship Tirpitz .
In the early 1980s , he was also one of many BSAC volunteers to help with the excavation of the Mary Rose shipwreck , which culminated in the raising and preservation of the ship and its contents . He was still a prolific diver by this time , and took part in a 1981 expedition to Iceland run by Gordon Ridley , BSAC ’ s dynamic expeditions officer . There , they would dive around Surtsey , which was at the time the planet ’ s newest island , having been formed by volcanic activity 18 years previously .
Man of letters
In his post-BSAC years , Reg returned to dive schools , running London Underwater Centre ( LUC ) with his friend Alex Double and a coterie of trusted instructors . During this phase he became a fixer for television and , unofficially , ‘ scuba instructor to the stars ’.
Among his students was Sarah Greene of Blue Peter , who had to be trained to exacting standards before archaeologist Margaret Rule would allow her to dive on the Mary Rose site . And there was Anneka Rice , ebullient presenter of Channel 4 ’ s Treasure Hunt , who had to train in preparation for an aquarium dive in Miami ( it never took place – the aquarium changed its mind ). She didn ’ t forget her brief diving experience , however , and later contacted Reg while filming for Challenge Anneka . In what could be seen as a forbear of the Diving for All
ethos , Reg ’ s instructors taught a group of people with different forms of paralysis how to dive in Eilat , Israel .
Having founded the Historical Diving Society ( HDS ) in 1990 , Reg ’ s attention started to wander from instruction , and he finally closed LUC in 1997 . Among his last students were his godson Paul Selby , the son of his friends John and Janie Selby .
Reg revelled in his role as diving historian , interviewing his old diving mentor Trevor Hampton in 1988 and revisiting many of his old haunts , including Giglio . In 2003 he published a comprehensive history of BSAC , titled ‘ The Club ’ as part of the club ’ s 50th Anniversary celebrations .
The following years would be spent administering the Historical Diving Society and writing articles for its periodicals . Reg married twice , but his great love was the world of diving and adventure . He forged countless friendships along the way , many of which are mentioned in his autobiography ‘ Deep in the Blue – A life of Diving ’. The final lines from the book are from the poetry of Walt Whitman :
Sail forth , steer for the deep waters only ,
Reckless O ’ Soul , exploring , I with thee , and thou with me ,
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go . �
Rescue at Zembra
In 1966 Reg carried out a daring rescue of his friend , First Class Diver Ron Blake , who was trapped in a cave at 30 metres at Zembra Island . Shortly before Reg ’ s death , a reader requested we print an account of this near-fatal incident . Reg gave us his approval , and the story will appear in a future issue of SCUBA .
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