User:Pbsouthwood/John Bevan

John Bevan (19 December 1943 – 3 February 2020) was a pioneer of diving technology and a historian of underwater diving. He had experience in using most of the diving modes including open circuit scuba, military rebreather, free-flow helmet, closed circuit, hot-water and electrically heated suits, submersibles including the Pisces and Mantis submersibles, had time in observation bells and the 'JIM' atmospheric diving suit, and had dived in many parts of the world. He was known for his work in the fields of underwater construction, inspection, maintenance and repair, ROV operations, wreck investigation, salvage, submarine cable burial, film production, diving incident and accident investigation, expert witness and diver training.

He joined the British Sub-Aqua Club in the 1960s as a qualified diver and became a BSAC First Class Diver in 1969 at 26 years old. He was also a BSAC National Instructor since 1973 and an active member of Putney and Southsea Sub-Aqua Clubs, and served as volunteer Regional Coach.

He died on 3 February 2020 of cancer, aged 76

Education and qualifications
Bevan graduated with a BSc in zoology and physiology from the University of London in 1967, a master’s degree in the neurophysiology of deep diving in 1970, and a doctorate in the development of diving equipment in 1990.

Recreational diving qualifications included BSAC First Class Diver and BSAC National Instructor.

Other qualifications included Royal Navy Ship’s Diver Officer, Professional Diver (HSE), and Saturation Life-Support Supervisor.

Career
After graduation, Bevan spent five years working for the UK Ministry of Defence, where he became head of the Environmental Factors Section of the Royal Naval Scientific Service.

He worked as a technical manager in the training & safety department of Compagnie maritime d'expertises (Comex), and later as a diving consultant for Comex John Brown. He started Submex, a technical underwater consultancy business, in 1976, which published the Professional Diver's Handbook. He was also editor of Underwater Contractor International, a trade journal.

He was chairperson of the British Sub-Aqua Jubilee Trust (BSAJT), and The Diving Museum in Gosport. He pioneered and organised the first National Octopush Championships in 1968, and did scientific work at the Royal Naval Physiological Laboratory, including a record 1500ft (457.2 m) chamber dive at Alverstoke over 12 days in 1970 with Peter Sharpstone on an experimental decompression schedule computed by Val Hempleman. Bevan was the founding chairperson of the Historical Diving Society, a position he held from the inauguration in 1990 until his death. He was recognised as an expert on the history of diving. and worked in the diving industry for over 50 years.

Bevan was also chairman of the Society for Underwater Technology Diving & Manned Submersibles Committee, and collections manager of the Diving Museum in Gosport, Hampshire, where he lived.

Bevan was a recipient of the Houlder Cup for services to diving in 2002, and was a Fellow of the Society for Underwater Technology (SUT).

Publications
John Bevans's books and monographs about early divers and diving equipment include "Operation Tadpole", about Britain’s manned torpedoes of World War Two.


 * 
 * Contents include: An introduction to operational tasks, procedures, equipment and instrumentation used in professional diving, together with associated technical and safety information. Chapters: Diving Operations: Inspection Diving Techniques: Applied Techniques:Operational Diving Equipment: Communications: Navigation and Buoyage: Cylinder Identification: Marine Fouling: Concrete Blemishes: Weather and the Sea: Health and Safety: Rescue: Regulations: Useful Information:
 * , about the controversial British diver (and part of the Tadpole team) Lt-Cdr Lionel Crabb.
 * Reference book on the history of the helmet diving industry, following the development of surface-supplied diving from its invention by the Deane Brothers in the early 19th century and its establishment in Whitstable, describing the early years through the main diving families in Whitstable and the major diving organizations of the times (Royal Engineers, Trinity House, Liverpool Salvage Association, etc).
 * Based on correspondence between John Deane and Sarah Ann Browning during Deane's time in Crimea assisting the Admiralty as an expert 'submarine engineer', it provides insight into RN operations in the Crimea, the Sea of Azov and destruction of the Sebastopol Docks, as well as community life in Whitstable at the time.
 * Reference book on the history of the helmet diving industry, following the development of surface-supplied diving from its invention by the Deane Brothers in the early 19th century and its establishment in Whitstable, describing the early years through the main diving families in Whitstable and the major diving organizations of the times (Royal Engineers, Trinity House, Liverpool Salvage Association, etc).
 * Based on correspondence between John Deane and Sarah Ann Browning during Deane's time in Crimea assisting the Admiralty as an expert 'submarine engineer', it provides insight into RN operations in the Crimea, the Sea of Azov and destruction of the Sebastopol Docks, as well as community life in Whitstable at the time.
 * Based on correspondence between John Deane and Sarah Ann Browning during Deane's time in Crimea assisting the Admiralty as an expert 'submarine engineer', it provides insight into RN operations in the Crimea, the Sea of Azov and destruction of the Sebastopol Docks, as well as community life in Whitstable at the time.