It was just the right way to kick off this year's annual Historical Diving Society USA Conference. On Friday, Oct 1, nineteen members of HDS boarded a bus and took a two hour ride to the U. S. Navy Undersea Museum at Keyport, Washington. The members were met by retired Navy divers and volunteer tour guides Pete Pehl and Tom Hodgins and lead in groups through the museum. The U. S. Navy Undersea Museum includes displays of Navy habitats, submersibles, submarine equipment, and, of course, diving equipment. The talk during the tour was filled with historical diving facts and stories, many coming from the members themselves. It was the perfect beginning to what would turn out to be an incredible weekend. The HDS members had lunch at the Keyport Mercantile and then it was back to Seattle arriving in time for the evening reception at Global Diving and Salvage.

The reception, held in the historic headquarters building of Global Diving and Salvage, was a hit.  A fine spread of food and beverages greeted the guests and they were treated to free run of the building which houses many diving artifacts and art works. The building itself is a piece of history originally the headquarters of General Construction and later the offices of McCray Diving.  Walt McCray, patriarch of the McCray divers, began working for General Construction in 1910 and the building has been connected to Northwest diving ever since. Tim Beaver, past president of Global and current HDS Board of Directors Chairman, led guests through the halls offering up anecdotes about its former occupants.

On Saturday the conference opened at the Museum of History and Industry with a welcome from HDS President Steve Kushner. HDS Board Member Sid Macken then gave a presentation on two one-atmosphere diving systems that operated in the Pacific Northwest between 1911 and 1934.  The guests were completely enthralled by Macken's knowledge on the subject.

Brad Matsen gave a presentation on Jacques Cousteau's life and signed his new book "The Sea King". Later for lunch, Ryan Spence shared his collection of Cousteau artifacts on display in the McCurdy Gallery. Attendees viewed the displays and had a buffet lunch catered by the Saffron Restaurant.  Spence held the audience's attention with his stories of "Collecting Cousteau", how he acquired the collection.

The afternoon was rounded out with two vintage films, an episode of Captain Puget, a Seattle based children's program from the 1950's that dealt with scuba diving and a non-Fiction television episode about the Sparling School of Deep Sea Diving with E. R. Cross narrating. Following the films a banquet was provided at the Hotel Nexus featuring Indian food and a presentation by long time Northwest diving legend and three time NOGI winner, Bill High.

Everyone had a great time at this year's HDS conference. The HDS would like to thank their sponsors for the event. If you have an interest in diving history consider visiting on of the many meetings of the HDS. For more info visit www.hds.org. ■