defense intel Man in the Sea Museum Celebrates its 40th Anniversary by: Steve Mulholland, President, Institute of Diving
F
ounded in 1982 by the Institute of Diving, the 5,000 square-foot museum is a treasure chest of diving history and education with an impressive collection of diving
suits, masks and assorted memorabilia. Outside the museum on the acre lot is a large collection of bathyspheres, diving bells, sub-
and Walter Mazzone, along with aquanauts Robert (Bob) Barth, Lester Anderson, Sanders Manning, and Mercury 7 astronaut Scott Carpenter.
marines and other deep-sea exploration vehicles and habitats.
SEALAB-1 was lowered off the coast of Bermuda on July 20, 1964
The museum's premier exhibit is the original SEALAB-1, the world's
11-day undersea mission at depth proved humans can explore, live
first undersea living facility. SEALAB-1 was launched in 1964 by the
and work at extreme depths for extended periods. It set the stage
U.S. Navy to test extended isolation of humans and the effects of
for further SEALAB developments and experiments around the
saturation diving on divers working for extended periods in the
world, such as the Aquarius Reef Base, a fixture in the Florida Keys
briny deep.
National Marine Sanctuary for two decades, and the world’s only
The SEALAB program began in 1963 at what was then the Navy
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research team included doctors George Bond, Robert Thompson,
to a depth of 192 feet (59 m) below the ocean surface. The initial
undersea laboratory.
Mine Defense Laboratory in Panama City Beach and is now a divi-
Bob Barth, a local hero, was the only aquanaut to participate in
sion of Naval Sea Systems Command. SEALAB-1 was a prototype
Genesis and SEALABs 1, 2 and 3, which accounts for all of the Na-
sea base, pieced together along Alligator Bayou in the Bay. The
vy’s experimental diving programs. He resided in Panama City for
BAY BIZ / SPRING 2022
