PSDiver.com

[SeaRat]

There is a publication out there that I did not know about, and it is PSDiver.com. This is a publication devoted to the public service diver, usually dive rescue specialists. I found it through a letter that came to me with my Dacor Clipper regulator from the daughter of the owner, Mr. Vern Petersen. She provided a link to this site, as Vern Petersen wrote an article that was published in Skin Diver Magazine in November of 1957, and this publication re-published it with permission. Here is that article:

www.psdiver.com/images/PSDiverMonthlyIssue79-secure.pdf

John

[sidm]

John, I volunteered as a public safety diver for 12 years ('84-'96) and thoroughly enjoyed it. Eventually, I became a public safety scuba instructor and while with Polk County Fire District #1, helped develop a very effective dive team. Besides firefighters with all their skill sets, our small team had an ex-Navy rescue swimmer and a NOAA physicians assistant. There's nothing like being on the end of a search line, on the bottom of the Willamette River, at 2 am, in February to..... well, there's nothing like it.
If you have a copy of The Science of Skin and Scuba Diving, check to see if Vern Pedersen was one of the authors. His name seems very familiar from old diving books.

[SeaRat]

Sid, I looked at the New Science Fo Skin and Scuba Diving, by the Conference for National Co-operation in Aquatics. I have two copies, and the first is the third printing, Copyright 1957, 1959, 1962. it lists the Editorial Committee as Bernard E. Empleton, Chairman; LCDR Edward H. Lamphier, M.D.; James E. Young; and Loyal G. Goff. On the back cover are the photos and names of the writers of the New Science of Skin and Scuba Diving. They are: Gilbert Abbe; William T. Burns, M.D.; E.R. Cross; Bernard E. Empleton; Loyal G. Goff; Wallace B. Hagerhorst; Dr. Edward H. Lamphier, U.S.N.; Richard Morris; Fred Schwankovsky; Capt., James Wren, U.S.A.; and James E. Young.

Mr. Vern Pederson is not on that list.

Here is a portion of the letter I received:

To whom it may concern,

I hereby certify that the Vintage Dacor Clipper C-3 Two Stage Regulator, item #171189532026, purchased by John Ratliff on eBay came from the estate of my father, It was owned by Vern Pedersen (Chicago Oxygen/Vern's Scuba Center, International Register of Scuba Technicians Hall of Fame) who was a pioneer in the diving industry in the United States ()see Diving Pioneers by Eric Hanauer). Vern Pedersen. If anyone has questions they can contact me through eBay where I go by here_kitty-kitty.

Sincerely,

Verna Pedersen