The Diving Almanac & Book of Records

First published in 2007, the Diving Almanac celebrates the achievements of a unique group of people that share a passion for underwater adventure and discovery. Ten years later, the Diving Almanac has become the world’s only central body of information for diving records, personalities and history, and it is 100% FREE.

First commercially built submersible in the USA

By Jeffrey Gallant

The Asherah, capable of reaching a depth of 183 m (600 ft) and a speed of 4 knots, was launched about one month before Alvin in May 1964. It was designed [...]

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Largest isopod

By Jeffrey Gallant

Giant isopod (Bathynomus giganteus) — The largest known deep sea isopod whose average length is between 19 and 36 cm (7.5 - 14.2 in), reaches up to 76 cm (30 in) and 1.7 kg [...]

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Coldest seawater

By Jeffrey Gallant

Seawater with an average salinity of 35 ppt (parts per thousand) freezes at -1.94°C (28.5°F). The coldest seawater ever recorded at −2.6 °C (27.3 °F) was found in a stream under [...]

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Diving History

Commeinhes develops open-circuit scuba

By Jeffrey Gallant

[ 1937 ] The first model of a two-cylinder open-circuit breathing apparatus with demand regulator is developed by Georges Commeinhes for [...]

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Diving History

Edmond Halley improves the diving bell

By Jeffrey Gallant

[ 1690 ] English astronomer Edmond Halley—of Halley’s Comet fame—improves the diving bell. Additional air is available in weighted barrels [...]

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Who's Who

COURTEAU, Jean-Louis

By Jeffrey Gallant

Artist; writer; photographer; finds his inspiration while diving; shark conservationist; founder and Director of CIEL; co-discoverer of submerged First Nations artifacts in Québec; founder of [...]

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Largest barrier reefs

By Jeffrey Gallant

Great Barrier Reef (Australia) — Over 2,300 km (1,400 miles). The Great Barrier Reef is made up of over 900 islands and 3,400 reefs. It is the largest structure on the planet built by living [...]

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CALYPSO, The

By Jeffrey Gallant

BYMS-1 Class Motor Minesweeper: laid down 12 August 1941 as BYMS-26 by the Ballard Marine Railway Co., Inc., Seattle, WA; completed and transfered to Great Britain [...]

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Who's Who

EARHART, Amelia

By Jeffrey Gallant

Aviation pioneer; first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean (1928); author; early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment; conducted two hardhat dives in 1929 [...]

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Deepest wreck dive [Men]

By Jeffrey Gallant

236 m (774 ft) — Alessandro Scuotto (Italy), Mario Marconi (Italy) and Pim van der Hofirst (The Netherlands). Wreck of the Milano, Lake Maggiore [...]

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Who's Who

BARTH, Robert A.

By Jeffrey Gallant

Retired United States Navy Chief Warrant Officer; saturation diver; helped establish U.S. Navy dive tables; joined the Naval Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU) Genesis habitat program [...]

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First scuba diving family

By Jeffrey Gallant

1945 | The Cousteaus — Jacques-Yves, Simone, Jean-Michel and Philippe Cousteau did their first dives as a family in the Mediterranean Sea near Marseille, France [...]

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First female scuba diver

By Jeffrey Gallant

1943 — Simone Melchior Cousteau (1919-1990), first wife of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Her first dives were in the Mediterranean Sea in the summer of 1943. Her sons [...]

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First saturation dive under polar ice

By Jeffrey Gallant

Jim English (Memorial University, Canada) and Bob Wicklund (Manager Hydrolab, USA) — Arctic IV Expedition led by Dr. Joe MacInnis in Resolute Bay [...]

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Oldest drinkable champagne… and beer?

By Jeffrey Gallant

In 2010, Swedish divers recovered 145 bottles of champagne and five bottles of beer from the 170-year-old Föglö wreck south of the Åland [...]

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First mixed gas dives under polar ice

By Jeffrey Gallant

Doug Elsey (Canada) — Arctic IV Expedition led by Dr. Joe MacInnis in Resolute Bay, Nunavut (Canada), May 1974. Elsey descended to 67 m [...]

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Slowest fish

By Jeffrey Gallant

Dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus zosterae) — 152 cm per hour (0.001 km/h) or 60 in. per hour (0.0009 mph). Size: 4.2 cm (1.7 in). The dwarf seahorse swims in an upright position using its [...]

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Most valuable fish

By Jeffrey Gallant

The bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) can measure up to 3 m (10 ft) in length weigh more than 635 kg (1,400 lbs). On January 4, 2019, a single 222-kg (489 lbs) bluefin was sold for [...]

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First diver to reach the bottom of Dean’s Blue Hole

By Jeffrey Gallant

Jim King (USA) | 1992 — King took 11 minutes to descend to the bottom (202 m / 663 ft) on TRIMIX. After spending 3 [...]

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First robotic diver

By Jeffrey Gallant

OceanOne (2016), a humanoid robotic diver from Stanford University, is powered by artificial intelligence and haptic feedback systems. OceanOne was used to explore and to recover [...]

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The records chapter showcases over 650 underwater feats and firsts by humans, machines and animals. If you are looking for the world’s deepest scuba diver, freediver, fish or submersible, they’re all here. The 16 categories include scuba diving, freediving, submersibles, oceanography, biology, and underwater art.

First commercially built submersible in the USA

By Jeffrey Gallant

The Asherah, capable of reaching a depth of 183 m (600 ft) and a speed of 4 knots, was launched about one month before Alvin in May 1964. It was designed [...]

Largest isopod

By Jeffrey Gallant

Giant isopod (Bathynomus giganteus) — The largest known deep sea isopod whose average length is between 19 and 36 cm (7.5 - 14.2 in), reaches up to 76 cm (30 in) and 1.7 kg [...]

Coldest seawater

By Jeffrey Gallant

Seawater with an average salinity of 35 ppt (parts per thousand) freezes at -1.94°C (28.5°F). The coldest seawater ever recorded at −2.6 °C (27.3 °F) was found in a stream under [...]

Largest barrier reefs

By Jeffrey Gallant

Great Barrier Reef (Australia) — Over 2,300 km (1,400 miles). The Great Barrier Reef is made up of over 900 islands and 3,400 reefs. It is the largest structure on the planet built by living [...]

Deepest wreck dive [Men]

By Jeffrey Gallant

236 m (774 ft) — Alessandro Scuotto (Italy), Mario Marconi (Italy) and Pim van der Hofirst (The Netherlands). Wreck of the Milano, Lake Maggiore [...]

First scuba diving family

By Jeffrey Gallant

1945 | The Cousteaus — Jacques-Yves, Simone, Jean-Michel and Philippe Cousteau did their first dives as a family in the Mediterranean Sea near Marseille, France [...]

First female scuba diver

By Jeffrey Gallant

1943 — Simone Melchior Cousteau (1919-1990), first wife of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Her first dives were in the Mediterranean Sea in the summer of 1943. Her sons [...]

First saturation dive under polar ice

By Jeffrey Gallant

Jim English (Memorial University, Canada) and Bob Wicklund (Manager Hydrolab, USA) — Arctic IV Expedition led by Dr. Joe MacInnis in Resolute Bay [...]

Oldest drinkable champagne… and beer?

By Jeffrey Gallant

In 2010, Swedish divers recovered 145 bottles of champagne and five bottles of beer from the 170-year-old Föglö wreck south of the Åland [...]

First mixed gas dives under polar ice

By Jeffrey Gallant

Doug Elsey (Canada) — Arctic IV Expedition led by Dr. Joe MacInnis in Resolute Bay, Nunavut (Canada), May 1974. Elsey descended to 67 m [...]

Slowest fish

By Jeffrey Gallant

Dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus zosterae) — 152 cm per hour (0.001 km/h) or 60 in. per hour (0.0009 mph). Size: 4.2 cm (1.7 in). The dwarf seahorse swims in an upright position using its [...]

Most valuable fish

By Jeffrey Gallant

The bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) can measure up to 3 m (10 ft) in length weigh more than 635 kg (1,400 lbs). On January 4, 2019, a single 222-kg (489 lbs) bluefin was sold for [...]

First diver to reach the bottom of Dean’s Blue Hole

By Jeffrey Gallant

Jim King (USA) | 1992 — King took 11 minutes to descend to the bottom (202 m / 663 ft) on TRIMIX. After spending 3 [...]

First robotic diver

By Jeffrey Gallant

OceanOne (2016), a humanoid robotic diver from Stanford University, is powered by artificial intelligence and haptic feedback systems. OceanOne was used to explore and to recover [...]

Most fin patents

By Jeffrey Gallant

Bob Evans (USA) — Since 1971, he has patented 33 revolutionary fin designs including the Force Fin Tan Delta (polyurethane) which is part of the permanent collections of the New York [...]

First diver to film cookiecutter shark

By Jeffrey Gallant

Frank Hendriks of Big Island Divers filmed the first known live images of a cookiecutter shark during a dive off Kona, Hawaii in 2008. It was the fourth [...]

First to photograph a giant squid underwater

By Jeffrey Gallant

2005 — Japanese researchers led by Dr. Tsunemi Kubodera of the National Museum of Nature and Science produced images ever recorded of a live giant squid [...]

Deepest dive under ice [Freshwater]

By Jeffrey Gallant

132 m (434 ft) — Kevin Brown (Canada) dove to the record depth under landfast ice during an exploratory dive of Lake Mazinaw, the second- [...]

The Diving Almanac features more than 650 celebrities or locally-known champions from all parts of the world. Discover long-forgotten pioneers and current day explorers and inventors in our industry-exclusive Who’s Who.

Who's Who

COURTEAU, Jean-Louis

By Jeffrey Gallant

Artist; writer; photographer; finds his inspiration while diving; shark conservationist; founder and Director of CIEL; co-discoverer of submerged First Nations artifacts in Québec; founder of [...]

CALYPSO, The

By Jeffrey Gallant

BYMS-1 Class Motor Minesweeper: laid down 12 August 1941 as BYMS-26 by the Ballard Marine Railway Co., Inc., Seattle, WA; completed and transfered to Great Britain [...]

Who's Who

EARHART, Amelia

By Jeffrey Gallant

Aviation pioneer; first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean (1928); author; early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment; conducted two hardhat dives in 1929 [...]

Who's Who

BARTH, Robert A.

By Jeffrey Gallant

Retired United States Navy Chief Warrant Officer; saturation diver; helped establish U.S. Navy dive tables; joined the Naval Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU) Genesis habitat program [...]

Who's Who

PARTRIDGE, Bruce

By Jeffrey Gallant

Technical diver; computer systems designer and programmer; Chairman of Shearwater Research, a manufacturer of dive computers and rebreather electronics [...]

Who's Who

BOISSINOT, Paul

By Jeffrey Gallant

President of the Quebec Federation of Underwater Activities (FQAS); former DSO of the Quebec Aquarium; former President of the Canadian Association for Underwater [...]

Who's Who

MAYOL, Jacques

By Jeffrey Gallant

Competitive freediver; first freediver to descend to 100 m (330 ft) in 1976; inspiration for Luc Besson’s cult film The Big Blue (1988); author of Homo Delphinus: The Dolphin [...]

Who's Who

EVANS, Bob

By Jeffrey Gallant

President, Bob Evans Designs, Inc.; inventor holding more than 33 patents on revolutionary fin designs (Force Fin); inventor of GasPods; fin design part of the permanent collections [...]

EUROTEK Advanced Diving Conference

By Jeffrey Gallant

The EUROTEK Awards acknowledge people, companies, equipment or services that have inspired divers, enabled them to further their diving, or made [...]

WATERMAN, Stan

By Jeffrey Gallant

Pioneer underwater filmmaker and photographer; owned and operated a dive charter business in the Bahamas (1954-1958); co-producer and cameraman for Blue Water White Death [...]

COUSTEAU, Jacques-Yves

By Jeffrey Gallant

Diving pioneer, visionary, and inventor; world-famous underwater explorer and advocate for the environment; prolific author and film [...]

Who's Who

LEWIS, Steve

By Jeffrey Gallant

Expert in deep wreck and trimix training; author of several diving textbooks including Six Skills and Other Discussions and Staying Alive: Risk Management for Divers, and Death in Number [...]

Who's Who

FLEUSS, Henry Albert

By Jeffrey Gallant

Engineer; Master Diver for Siebe, Gorman & Co. of London; inventor of a self-contained oxygen rebreather successfully tested by remaining submerged in a water tank for one [...]

Who's Who

LABAN, André

By Jeffrey Gallant

Underwater photographer; filmmaker; world’s first underwater painter; musician; longtime crewmember and diver of the Cousteau Society; chemical engineer; co-designer and [...]

Who's Who

DENNISON, Christine

By Jeffrey Gallant

Co-founder of Mad Dog Expeditions; first woman to dive under Arctic sea ice (1994); first woman to dive in the Rio Negro tributaries of Brazil; Fellow of the Explorers Club and of the [...]

Who's Who

ARAUZ, Randall, B.Sc.

By Thomas Leszkiewicz

Shark and sea turtle researcher and activist; studies have focused on sea turtle nesting biology, interactions between fisheries, sea turtles and sharks, and migratory movements of [...]

Who's Who

CARGILE, Edward C.

By Jeffrey Gallant

Engineer; deep submersible pilot; commercial and military diver; writer and author of over 1,645 articles and several books; photographer; magazine editor and publisher; film producer [...]

Who's Who

SELISKY, Lee

By Jeffrey Gallant

Founder and CEO of Sea Pearls; pioneered the design and manufacture of molded, coated and coloured weights; early proponent of nitrox; Board of Directors of Divers Alert [...]

From the deepest dives to the most dangerous sea creatures, our feature posts showcase outstanding diving facts and trivia, hand-picked from our Diving Records, Diving History, and Who’s Who. Nothing here is fake or clickbait!

Outstanding women every scuba diver should know

Feature

By Jeffrey Gallant

These trailblazing underwater women have inspired so many divers to follow their passion and make a difference [...]

Underwater artists every scuba diver should know

Feature

By Jeffrey Gallant

From true to life nature scenes to the surreal, these amazing underwater artists will make you dream of diving [...]

Underwater legends every scuba diver should know

Feature

By Jeffrey Gallant

These legendary figures left such a mark in their respective fields that they would change the world of diving forever [...]

Our Timeline of Man Underwater, which chronicles over 6,000 years of exploration and innovation, is the most thorough history of diving available online.

Diving History

Commeinhes develops open-circuit scuba

By Jeffrey Gallant

[ 1937 ] The first model of a two-cylinder open-circuit breathing apparatus with demand regulator is developed by Georges Commeinhes for [...]

Diving History

Edmond Halley improves the diving bell

By Jeffrey Gallant

[ 1690 ] English astronomer Edmond Halley—of Halley’s Comet fame—improves the diving bell. Additional air is available in weighted barrels [...]

Diving History

Divers rescue 12 boys and coach from flooded Thai cave

By Jeffrey Gallant

[2018] On July 2, cave divers Rick Stanton and John Volanthen locate all 12 members of a youth football team and their coach [...]

Diving History

Artifacts recovered from Antikythera

By Jeffrey Gallant

[ 2015 ] Archaeologists excavating the Antikythera shipwreck recover more than 50 items including a bronze armrest, remains of a bone [...]

Diving History

Anthony’s Key Resort is founded on Roatan

By Jeffrey Gallant

[1968] Julio Galindo Sr. and his wife, Cheryl Galindo, welcome their first guests on the island of Roatán, Honduras. Anthony’s Key Resort has since become [...]

Diving History

Discovery of HMS Erebus

By Jeffrey Gallant

[ 2014 ] On September 7, Parks Canada archeologists from the 2014 Victoria Strait Expedition discover the wreck of one of the ships from the ill-fated [...]

Diving History

Refit of Cousteau’s Calypso restarts

By Jeffrey Gallant

[ 2016 ] Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s famed oceanographic vessel Calypso is moved to Turkey for a full refit, including new engines; Calypso's sad saga began [...]

Diving History

Two divers die in Johnson Sea Link

By Jeffrey Gallant

[1973] Edwin Clayton Link and Albert Dennison Stover died from carbon dioxide poisoning after the submersible was entangled for over 24 hours at a depth [...]

Diving History

Record habitat dive in Romania

By Jeffrey Gallant

[ 1994 ] Romanian aquanauts Liviu Miron and Constantin Mihaï set the European record for the longest uninterrupted stay in an underwater [...]

Diving History

Archaeologists find HMS Terror

By Jeffrey Gallant

[ 2016 ] On September 18, 2016, Parks Canada confirms that the wreck discovered by the Arctic Research Foundation is HMS Terror. The archaeological [...]

Diving History

Renowned explorers in the High Arctic

By Jeffrey Gallant

[ 2015 ] A team of renowned explorers mounts the Elysium – Artists for the Arctic expedition to the High Arctic to produce a feature documentary, a book [...]

Diving History

Kessler designs diving bell

By Jeffrey Gallant

[ 1616 ] German inventor Franz Kessler designs an unstable diving bell with a harness and glass ports. Kessler was also a was a portrait painter, a [...]

Diving History

Antikythera Shipwreck found

By Jeffrey Gallant

[ 1900 ] Greek sponge divers discover the Antikythera Shipwreck and recover artifacts, including the oldest known analog computer. The [...]

Diving History

Natalia Molchanova disappears

By Jeffrey Gallant

[ 2015 ] World champion freediver Natalia Molchanova (Russia) disappears while teaching a freediving course off the coast of Formentera [...]

Diving History

Diving bells salvage the Mary Rose

By Jeffrey Gallant

[ 1642 ] American Edward Bendall builds two wooden diving bells to salvage the wreck of the Mary Rose off Portsmouth, England. The vessel is [...]

Diving History

Earliest ship from Age of Discovery

By Jeffrey Gallant

[ 2016 ] Oman’s Ministry of Heritage & Culture in cooperation with Blue Water Recoveries announce the discovery and archaeological excavation [...]

Diving History

Lorini designs a square diving bell

By Jeffrey Gallant

[ 1597 ] Buonaiuto Lorini describes a square diving bell made of wood and bound with iron bands. The bell also has glass ports to enable the [...]

Diving History

Papin designs surface-supplied diving bell

By Jeffrey Gallant

[ 1689 ] French physicist Denis Papin designs a surface-supplied diving bell but the technology of the time makes its construction impossible. The diving bell [...]

Join the editor of the Diving Almanac as he visits record destinations, and meets notable divers and personalities from our international Who’s Who.

The Diving Almanac is the only central body of information on diving records, people, and diving history. Browse the website or search our exclusive database of thousands of records, diver profiles and historical events covering every aspect of the underwater world.