Thanks for that great write up Sam.
I have not gotten into spearfishing or abalone collecting myself, which seems to have gone hand in hand with early skin diving, so I did not know too much about its history until I read "Last of The Blue Water Hunters" by Carlos Eyles, which gives a lyrical but interesting look into the early west coast scene. I'm still looking for "The Compleat Goggler" though
Interesting that you should mention NatGeo articles. I was thinking of making a post trying to collect data on dive related articles so I could extend my search in that area. I've heard that (I think) Oct 1952 was the NatGeo Cousteau intro article and There is the P.M. article regarding building your own Aqualung. As well I've picked up a P.M. Aug. 1934 issue with a Hardhat article "Looking for lost treasure" and a Jul. 1967 P.S. issue detailing Ed Links "Deep Diver" sub.
In fact, I think I'll make a new thread now.