Don Barthelmess, formerly director of SBCC’s marine technology program, will present a multi-media chronology of historical events that led to Santa Barbara becoming the birthplace and home of deepwater commercial diving
Barthelmess will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 9, at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, 113 Harbor Way.
Beginning with the native Chumash Indians and culminating with mixed-gas diving and advanced diving systems in the Santa Barbara Channel, Barthelmess tells much of the story through interviews with Santa Barbara’s diving pioneers of the 1950s and ’60s.
Barthelmess has been training professional commercial divers for 30 years, but he began his own career in the commercial diving industry as a diver, submarine pilot and ROV technician for International Underwater Contractors, Inc. of New York.
He served as general manager of the company’s Pacific division in Ventura. In 1982, he set a depth record, diving to 1,972 feet, operating an atmospheric diving suit in support of offshore exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.
His work has taken him on diving projects all over the world in support of marine research, offshore oil and gas operations, and film projects for a number of organizations, including National Geographic Society.
Recently, Barthelmess trained divers for each of Sea World’s parks in the use of commercial surface-supplied diving equipment.
Professionally, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of Commercial Diving Educators and the Technical Diving Advisory Board for the National Association of Underwater Instructors.
Past president of the Historical Diving Society USA, he also serves locally on the Board of Stop Oil Seeps California and as vice president of the Board of Directors of the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum.
Barthelmess received his associate degree in underwater technology from Florida Institute of Technology, his bachelor’s degree in occupational studies at Cal State Long Beach, and his graduate degree in educational technology from Pepperdine University.
To register for the lecture, visit www.sbmm.org or call 805-456-8747. Doors open to SBMM members at 6:15 p.m. and to non-members at 6:45 p.m. Cost to attend is $5 for SBMM members, $15 for non-members.
The talk is sponsored by Marie L. Morrisroe.
The previously scheduled Aug. 9 lecture by Paul Mayer has been cancelled.
— Rita Serotkin for Santa Barbara Maritime Museum.