I had the opportunity to see the Chief dive on several occasions. It was all serious business...always two other guys standing by to double check all the equipment...with the helmet in place the full outfit weighed more than he did. They helped him step over the side...hard hat divers usually went down on a platform that was lowered into the water with a winch, but did sometimes do a "free dive" using weights and air in the suit to achieve the bouyancy to stay at a particular depth. When I was little it freaked me out to talk to him on the intercom because he often used helium in the mix which made his voice funny. But as serious as it was, they found ways to have fun with it. They had a half crushed helmet and breastplate with a pair of the big lead boots sticking out of the bottom...they told the new guys that ole Seaman Jones just went a little too deep.
In 1957, the Navy selected the diving barge to put on a display at the County Fair in Del Mar. They set up a tank that was about 25 or 30 feet tall and about 20 feet in diameter...it had glass panels in the sides so you could see in from all sides. They put a diver in the tank and showed how they did their jobs underwater. County fairs have lots of displays...animals...rides...food...and BEER. Sailors and beer and about 10 days of special duty...there were some really fine memories...I will share a few with you.
The Navy display included several metal ships that were huge scale models...the cruiser must have been 12-15 feet long. They set up a 40mm anti-aircraft gun mount and let people track the guns up and down and round and round...no live ammo, though.
The guys from the barge set up a diving suit on the edge of their display area...made it stand up with the face plate open. People would come up and look it over and try to stick their faces in the opening to see inside...Did I mention the intercom? Did I mention the beer? I bet I didn't mentiion that Blackie showed up to sort of be there...and run the intercom. The fun with the intercom spanned innocent "BOO's" for older folks to rather suggestive comments to any pretty girls who came by. The reactions from some people were hilarious...ranging from near panicked running away to others who would stay and talk to the suit as if it were a real person.
One of the demonstrations they did was to turn up the air pressure in the helmet, turn the face plate level, then open it up...the air pressure would keep the water out. They took a bottle of coke down with them and could drink it with a straw. It was a little tricky, the face plate opening had to stay level, but it amazed the fans. There was something about the syphon affect or the pressure differential or some technical thing that required you to keep drinking once you started moving the coke through the straw...so Blackie thought it would be a hoot to put a lot of rum into the bottle the Chief took into the tank. I remember watching the tenders struggle with the Chief when he came out...standing on top of that tank 30 feet in the air...well...not exactly standing.
My sister and I got to meet Johnny Jet, local cartoon wrangler for channel 8, I think, she won a bicycle in a drawing but somehow we never got it.
I remember some hooplah about a marine in dress blues winding up in the diving tank, but I don't recall all the details.
I don't recall all the displays...or even every day...but I have hanging on my wall in the den, a wooden picture frame in the shape of an anchor with places for several pictures...they are all from the county fair in 1957...so I guess the Chief had some fond memories of that time, too.