January 06, 1958 - First Episode of Sea Hunt Airs

[Popeye]

Sea Hunt was a diving adventure TV series that ran from 1958 to 1961 and was popular for decades afterwards (155 episodes were produced in all). The program followed the adventures of SCUBA Diver Mike Nelson, played by Lloyd Bridges. He outmaneuvered villains, salvaged everything from a bicycle to a nuclear missile, rescued a downed Air Force pilot (first episode), children trapped in a flooded cave, and even a dog. The underwater fight scenes were quite spectacular as Mike Nelson hunted down criminals from the undersea underworld and ran afoul of sharks, manta rays, octopuses and giant sea turtles - whenever danger or excitement lurked below the surface Mike Nelson was ready to go. Ironically, Lloyd Bridges had no experience as a diver before starting the series but quickly became fairly accomplished.

Early in the run of the series, Mike Nelson operated from land and the diving sequences were short. As the show gained popularity, more and more of the action took place underwater and Mike was operating almost exclusively from his high-tech boat, the 'Argonaut'. Sea Hunt went on to become one of the most merchandised TV programs of its time, with "Mike Nelson" flippers, goggles and rubber boats being offered during the height of the show's popularity. A couple of personal observations regarding the show:

1 - The good guys always had the big double hose regulators, while the baddies had the sinister small single hose regulators. Without this little white hat/black hat type of ploy it would have been extremely confusing when watching two (or more) guys fighting and rolling around underwater in masks and wet suits... with B&W TV they couldn't very well have all the bad guys wear red.....it would still look gray.

2 - According to the show it seemed that rebreathers resulted in instant death! It seemed to be an ingredient in many of the stories that some foolish SOB would use a dreaded rebreather to get a little more time down below - and invariably Mike Nelson would have to go down and save his them.

The series served as a stepping stone for some of Hollywood's most notable actors, including Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), Robert Conrad (James West), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), and the legendary Jack Nicholson (in the last episode of the series). One of the best known co-stars was the beautiful and gracious Zale Parry. Zale was a technical advisor and underwater stunt double for various actresses during the first two seasons of the show. She was hired without audition for the show because of her well known broad diving expertise. Lloyd Bridges said of Parry: "Zale and I did the pilot for Sea Hunt. She taught me a lot about diving..and she was especially beautiful underwater."

Zale Parry was a diving pioneer from the advent of the Aqualung and helped run the first hyperbaric chamber for civilian divers in California. Additionally she set a woman's depth record to 209 feet (1954) and would go on to become a highly successful actress, stunt-diver, researcher, photographer and model (note: she appeared on the cover of the first ever Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition). Over the course of her life she has earned more awards for her work than could possibly fit in an email. Zale Parry is still active in diving and the community to this day with a scholarship named in her honor. She is also the Godmother of one of our active duty Master Chief Master Divers.

The SeaHunt series is still alive and well in memory at Navy Dive School. Navy Divers are trained to always place their SCUBA mask around their neck vice on their forehead when it's not on their face - this keeps them from losing it. Inevitably at least one student in every class makes the mistake of not following this rule and receives Hell-Fire from several instructors -- "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE....MIKE NELSON?" as the student grabs some real estate in anticipation for the push-up session to follow.

Internet: To watch full episodes from the TV series SeaHunt, check out: http://www.hulu.com/search?query=Sea+Hunt&st=0

[ScubaLady]

Thank you for a beautiful write up.

[SurfLung]

I actually found Vintage Double Hose as a result of watching Sea Hunt on HULU. I saw that it was filmed at Silver Springs and wondered if I might go diving there. On looking up Silver Springs, I found they were having a 50th anniversary of Sea Hunt re-enactment... Put on by the NAVED members. When I looked up NAVED, I found Vintage Double Hose! How many times will my life continue to be blessed by Sea Hunt?

[crimediver]

Your life will be blessed only seven more times by VDH. Then suddenly your world will come to a screaching halt as your life gets snuffed out by your use of that old gear. But it was a good ride while it lasted. R.I.P.

[DaleC]

Almost snuffed out...

but in true Sea Hunt fashion your life will find new value with the next generation of divers and be placed in syndication for years to come after that. Nothing too original will happen but you will enjoy countless guest appearances at fan conventions. You will almost be able to retire on the residuals.

Thanks for the great write up Popeye.

[capn_tucker]

The show did get one thing right; rebreathers WILL kill you. You're always hearing about some uber experienced diver cashing in his chips while using one. I'll stick to good old compressed air, thank you very much..