Diver book reviews - October 1997

The glorious Gibsons

A Gibson coup, the US liner Paris,
the largest ship ever to wash up on the British coast (1899)

EVERY now and then a book comes along which, by its appearance and feel, almost guarantees a good read even before you turn a page. For me, A Century of Images by Rex Cowan is just such a work.
It is the story of the Gibson family which, for four generations, has spawned a succession of brilliant photographers whose work has portrayed the Cornish and Scillonian way of life since the 1860s.
The book's dust jacket, a poignant study of a battered French clipper in the surf on Perranporth Sands,is just one of 122 superb photographs that represent the family's output. The collection is prefaced by an absorbing essay by John le Carre of spy-writing fame, and an equally sharp and readable text by Rex Cowan himself. The result is the literary equivalent of an exotic box of chocolates, and it presents the readers with similar temptation.
You may, if you wish, dip straight into the chocolates - the photographs themselves - without first reading the introductory texts. But this is a temptation worth resisting, for these texts add valuable perspective and historical background to the collection itself.
In the first text, John le Carre introduces Frank Gibson, last of the Gibson line and inheritor of his great-grandfather's artistic and photographic talents. What emerges is a fascinating picture of a complex man and the family tensions that shaped his character, and those of his ancestors before him. Le Carre's pen conveys the detail with the clarity of a Gibson photograph.
Rex Cowan presents a full account of the family's history, beginning with great-grandfather John Gibson's first involvement in the new "scientific art of photography" in the 1860s.
The photographs that occupy the last section of the book are the real treat, however. Haunting, evocative, dramatic and restful in turn, they are a delight to the eye. Real photography, as Frank Gibson says, is about light, not colour - a point proved by the power of this black and white collection. Wrecked and stranded ships, the bodies and graves of their victims, towering lighthouses, fishermen and their homes, tin mines, stone circles and exquisite marine views: all are here. There is even a diver, pictured in 1912, about to dive on the Anson.
A Century of Images is a book of historical reference and beguiling beauty: a book well worth having.

A Century of Images by Rex Cowan, Andre Deutsch Ltd, £19.99.

Frank Allen

Sardinia, but not in great depth

LIVING in Cagliari, Sardinia's capital, I had seen the Italian version of Egidio Trainito's Diving Guide to Sardinia in local bookshops, and had often wished it was available in English. So, of course, I was pleased to be asked to review the newly released English version.
This book is a superb piece of work, describing many of the better sites around Sardinia with high-quality photos, but I do have the odd grumble. Whether it was the author's intention to limit the depth of chosen sites, I do not know, but certainly many of the deeper, completely intact wreck sites have been omitted. In Cagliari Bay alone there are seven amazing wrecks.

Tedja Liscia, a typical spread from Egidio Trainito's dive guide to Sardinia.

The book is the third in a series published by Swan Hill about diving the Mediterranean waters of France and Italy. Thirty of Sardinia's best dive sites are described, with a double page diagram of each site and a further two pages of photos and text. The World War Two wreck of the Italian tanker Romagna lies less than three miles from my home, making it one of my regular dives. So this was the first site I looked up.
Knowing that a ship's history gives any wreck dive that extra dimension, it was fascinating to read about how the Romagna was sunk - by an "own goal", in a desperate attempt to get fuel to the island's defenders
in 1943. Turning the page, I started
to read about another wreck that I have often dived, the Entella. I was a bit surprised that this was included, as she is completely broken up and virtually unrecognisable. She is described as being "covered with luxuriant tufts of Neptune grass," which is something I always try to avoid as often as possible. However, the author is quite right when he talks about the abundance of life on the wreck, including small groupers and large octopus.
A key feature of Sardinia's underwater landscape is its range of caves and caverns. The guide features the Grotto di Nereo, described by the author as "probably the largest underwater cavity in Europe and perhaps the world". A bold statement, but he is certainly correct in describing it as majestic and spectacular. I fully endorse everything said about this site, as it rates as one of the most awesome dives I have ever done. If you seriously consider diving this cave, the book is a must for the superb drawings of the cave alone.
Also notable in this part of the Mediterranean are the rock pinnacles that rise from great depths to within a few metres of the surface. The guide describes many such sites, warning of the strong currents, and there are some terrific photos illustrating the prolific deep red sea fans found here.

Sardinia - A Diving Guide, by Egidio Trainito, Swan Hill (tel. 01743 235651). Softback £16.95.

Steve Prewer

Sparks speaks
It becomes obvious after reading only a few sections of Simple Boat Electrics that its author John Myatt has considerable training experience. The book primes the reader with foundation information before moving into the core of the subject.
Diving RIBs are a rapidly growing sector of the boat market, but it is possibly still too soon to find books aimed directly at their use and maintenance. This is no exception, but with a little effort you can extract some very useful knowledge that is not too difficult to place in context.
Simple Boat Electrics

It starts with some basic theory of electricity - just enough to underpin the remaining material in the book. This is always difficult to put across to a non-technical audience, but the author has made a very good attempt.
A dominant area of interest is a chapter on marine-quality batteries - their care and maintenance. This covers selection of the unit for use in a marine environment, how it should be protected and how the rest of the craft should be protected from the battery!
A discussion on wiring standards and the materials to be used forms another valuable section.
Where the book covers the diesel engine and attached generators, it is less obvious how the diver, coxswain or boat-owner can gain useful knowledge. However, there is a power unit and generator inside the outboard engine and, with a little translation in the mind, useful knowledge will be gained.
The book has a practical approach, with plentiful illustration. A second source of practical example is provided by a set of "worksheets". These grey panels are independent of the main text but follow a parallel path through the subject matter. They can be read in isolation and would form a useful set of data sheets if extracted.
More and more electronic devices are being used on diving craft, requiring power and related wiring. If you own or run such a craft, it will not be long before you decide to upgrade the electrical system. This book will help you choose the correct materials and guide you through their installation.
Compared to the running costs of the boat and the outlay on the equipment attached to it, this good "wet weekend" and reference book will easily pay for itself.

Simple Boat Electrics by John Myatt, Fernhurst Books (tel. 01903 882277). Softback £11.95.

Frank Brown

Dreaming of heaven? Dream on
BE HONEST - how many of you have dreamed of jacking it all in to become a diving instructor in a far-flung tropical location? Yes, me too. So surely a book about how to succeed in this mission would be a welcome addition to your bookshelf?

The author of Dive Your Way to Success obviously saw this gap in the book market, but unfortunately the end result will not assist you as much as you may hope. The book professes to be a guide to career success in the recreational diving industry, but in reality it is a potted history of the author's journey to becoming a diving instructor, coupled with some rather cheesy anecdotes, poems and plenty of exclamation marks!!!
The contents appear to be targeted at aspiring PADI instructors and Divemasters, but most of the information provided would be available in the training programmes for these qualifications - for example, there are sections on how to avoid decompression sickness, and what is required from you as a professional within the industry.
The book contains a liberal amount of value-laden comments that say more about the author than the reader's needs - for example, "Most of us drink and smoke", and "T-shirts and jeans look sloppy and unprofessional".
The eight chapters are packed with "success check" boxes containing commonsense advice that I suspect most readers would know anyway: "Have fun", "Get more qualified", and "Persistence pays". At times I felt I was reading a poorly written American-style book on positive thinking.
What it lacks is specific information. There is too much waffle, lots of repetition and too many salty-sea-dog stories.
This book may be of passing interest to those starting off as divers, but for those with experience who are considering entering the industry, what you know already, coupled with a visit to your local careers office, would probably be of more help.

Dive Your Way to Success by Nicholas JW Starrett, Executive Select Marketing Ltd, New Zealand (tel. 00 64 9 428 0295, fax 00 64 9 424 4029). Softback £14 plus £2 postage and packing.

Brendan O'Brien

Pocket Guide
THE NEW Collins Pocket Guide to Fish of Britain & Europe is a comprehensive book, covering 753 species of marine and freshwater fish. Such wide coverage means that the space allocated to each species is small, but the amount of valuable information included alongside the illustrations is impressive.

There are details on key features of appearance, size, habitat, feeding preferences and breeding habits, with a useful distribution map for most species. The first 30-odd pages are taken up with a general look at fish biology, accompanied by an excellent key - strategically illustrated with miniature colour drawings - to guide you around the main part of the book.
To divers, the fact that the book is based on colour drawings rather than underwater photographs may be construed as a disadvantage. However, it does help the reader to start using reliable features, such as body shape and position of fins, as identification aids. Photographs of fish in situ can sometimes lead to more emphasis being placed on coloration and habitat, two potentially misleading features.
The Collins guide is useful for anyone with an interest in the creatures with which they rub shoulders with underwater. It covers all the fish you might see in British waters, and can also be used on diving trips to the Mediterranean.

Collins Pocket Guide to Fish of Britain & Europe by Peter J Miller and Michael J Loates, HarperCollins, £12.99.

Paul Naylor

Appeared in DIVER - November 1997

Back to