Commercial ("Deep-Sea") Diving School started in Charleston, South Carolina

[HunleyFinder]

Charleston is now the home to a full-fledged commercial diving school (International Diving Institute). It offers a wide range of courses including some for shipwreck research, search, and salvageIt is located on the waterfront at the old Charleston Navy base.
? ? ?IDI has two 54" hyperbaric chambers, each with double locks and med locks. One is set up with a separate entry for bell and saturation diving. There is a 60,000 gallon dive training tank with a large viewing port. Diver's also train off the dock and off a nearby barge.
? ? ?Divers learn a variety of skills, including underwater welding and burning (cutting).
? ? ?Persons interested in surface supplied helmet diving might want to check out www.internationaldivinginstitute.com The site's photo gallery is interesting.
? ? ?Best wishes,
Lee

[kenb]

Welcome Lee, I was just curious about the name you post under does it speak for itself?
kenb

[lobsterman]

Hello Lee, welome the the boards, i would like to wish you congrat's, on your tremendous find, we are all graced by your presence here. unfortunatly finder's does not mean keeper's when it comes to a find of such historical signifigance, i certainly hope that you are seeing the fruits of your labor. i can't help but wonder what's next?, that find will be hard for you to top, possibly the shatterd remains of the Endurance in the arctic ? :^), i have info on a sunken paddle steamer off of Maryland that supposedly had gold on board, email me if your interested as i'd rather not post it publicly, have a great day.

Patrick M.

[GunFarce]

Did some of that equipment come from the old NewYork School? I remember, they had a bunch of tanks with ports and stuff at their location.. I taught on a Commercial course in Ontario, and we used to send a couple of instructors for a dive med-tech course there.. I (along time ago) did some refitting on the old SeaLab DDC when we bought it in the 70's, and sold it to a Quebec Company, that in turn rented it to a Quebec diving school, it closed, and that system drifted off some place If I remember right, it was a 80" chamber.. It seems that everytime a school goes bust, all the equipment shows up scattered around N. America at a dozen new schools.. Teaching on a commercial course, was one of those jobs that you would do for nothing if you could afford to, and they overpaid you to do it..ha..

[HunleyFinder]

None of the school's equipment has come from another school. Both chambers are 54" diameter, which is considered large. The chamber with the extra lock for the saturation diving system was built in Ohio and the other in the UK. Both have current papers. The one from the UK was Lloyd's certified in 2004. International Diving Institute's CEO, Sergio Smith, has designed, built, and rebuilt compressor systems for numerous government agencies ranging from Navy to fire and rescue and at least one other dive school. I have seen a lot of dive operations over the years and the school's setup certainly impresses me. One of the instructors taught diving in the Danish Navy (he was in their equivalent of Special Ops). Sergio was in the U.S. and had a similar background. Mike Heilshire also worked as a commercial diver in the North Sea.

Best wishes,
HunleyFinder