Trevor Hampton
Encyclopedia
Trevor Hampton AFC
(1912 - 2002) was one of the United Kingdom
's first scuba divers and helped to develop sport diving in the UK.
on 28 November 1912. He was an apprentice at the Austin Motor Company
and raced motorcycles on the Isle of Man
. He was an avid fan of boating and sailing and at the age of 23 bought a 27 feet (8.2 m) yacht
but had to give it up because his wife was chronically seasick. He joined the RAF
before the Second World War becoming a pilot on a Wellington
bomber. He later became a senior test pilot
, raised to the rank of Flight Lieutenant
and received the Air Force Cross
. While in the RAF at Lossiemouth
in Scotland
he started diving, making a crude open-circuit scuba set
from a gas mask
and ex-RAF aircrew
oxygen
cylinder
s.
he bought a boat took up sailing again but had to give it up because of a knee injury. He set up business as a marine surveyor
and yacht broker at Warfleet Creek
in Dartmouth, Devon
in England
. He read Jacques Cousteau
's book The Silent World and bought a Cousteau-type aqualung
from Siebe Gorman
, which had just started making them. He then took several courses on diving.
In 1948 his first book, "Alone at Sea". about his solo sail to Spain, was privately printed.
training, and he took £5 for a 3-day training course. This proved to be his next career and as a result, he started the British Underwater Centre, where he trained many people and some of the first members of the British Sub Aqua Club
(BSAC) in aqualung, oxygen rebreather
diving and standard diving dress
diving. Over the years he trained around 3000 people.
For much of the time, up until the 1960s he used a Siebe Gorman
Mark IV Amphibian
oxygen rebreather
to train divers with in oxygen diving, until in the 1960s he sold it to one of his diving trainees. After that he bought a Cressi-Sub
sport diving oxygen rebreather from Italy
, but after a year its breathing bag perished, and he replaced it with a Siebe Gorman
British naval type breathing bag, which is still as good as new now (as of 2005). After he sold that to a diving trainee, he used emergency escape rebreathers which he had adapted to give a longer dive duration.
He did various commercial diving jobs down the years, including on building the Avon Dam and the Brixham
breakwater
.
At the Brixham Breakwater job he had a narrow escape: He found a small hollow under the breakwater and moved some bags of cement
in to fill it. When he tried to swim out again he found that bags of cement carelessly slung from above had blocked his exit. He had to fight his way out with air running low.
He described an incident when a team of trained British naval divers
searched for an object lost underwater and did not find it; they then let Captain Hampton have a look, and at once he found it directly under the naval divers' boat, at the center (which had been a blind spot
) of their circular search pattern.
He kept yachts and boats in Warfleet Creek. He assumed the title Captain
, although he had not been in the Royal Navy
or a large commercial ship, because of his many long voyages in small and middle-sized boats.
He and Johnny Morris
made a BBC
film "Master Diver".
In 1956 he published "The Master Diver and Underwater Sportsman".
He sold his diving school in 1976, at the age of 63, but the buyers did not have his success and it closed down.
Several times he retired
and then drifted back into working.
He died aged 89 on 21 February 2002 evening by bursting of a triple aneurysm
, despite emergency surgery in Torbay Hospital
.
He was survived by his second wife Gwynn, son Gara, and daughter Jill, and two grandsons, Tom Hammerton and Ross Warne.
and Peter Small decided to form Britain's first diving club, and were trained to scuba dive by Travor Hampton. Afterwards in 1953 they founded the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC). Oscar made only two dives, but Peter and his girlfriend Sylvia Gregg successfully completed the course.
Later, disagreement developed between Trevor Hampton and the BSAC because:-
Captain Trevor Hampton was involved in an incident at an anti-Klan rally in Greensboro, North Carolina
in November 1979 in USA:-
Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)
The Air Force Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom Armed Forces, and formerly also to officers of the other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying, though not in active operations against the enemy"...
(1912 - 2002) was one of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's first scuba divers and helped to develop sport diving in the UK.
Early years
Trevor Arthur Hampton was born in BirminghamBirmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
on 28 November 1912. He was an apprentice at the Austin Motor Company
Austin Motor Company
The Austin Motor Company was a British manufacturer of automobiles. The company was founded in 1905 and merged in 1952 into the British Motor Corporation Ltd. The marque Austin was used until 1987...
and raced motorcycles on the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
. He was an avid fan of boating and sailing and at the age of 23 bought a 27 feet (8.2 m) yacht
Yacht
A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...
but had to give it up because his wife was chronically seasick. He joined the RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
before the Second World War becoming a pilot on a Wellington
Vickers Wellington
The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engine, long range medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs' Chief Designer, R. K. Pierson. It was widely used as a night bomber in the early years of the Second World War, before being displaced as a...
bomber. He later became a senior test pilot
Test pilot
A test pilot is an aviator who flies new and modified aircraft in specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques or FTTs, allowing the results to be measured and the design to be evaluated....
, raised to the rank of Flight Lieutenant
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
and received the Air Force Cross
Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)
The Air Force Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom Armed Forces, and formerly also to officers of the other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying, though not in active operations against the enemy"...
. While in the RAF at Lossiemouth
Lossiemouth
Lossiemouth is a town in Moray, Scotland. Originally the port belonging to Elgin, it became an important fishing town. Although there has been over a 1,000 years of settlement in the area, the present day town was formed over the past 250 years and consists of four separate communities that...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
he started diving, making a crude open-circuit scuba set
Scuba set
A scuba set is an independent breathing set that provides a scuba diver with the breathing gas necessary to breathe underwater during scuba diving. It is much used for sport diving and some sorts of work diving....
from a gas mask
Gas mask
A gas mask is a mask put on over the face to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Some gas masks are also respirators, though the word...
and ex-RAF aircrew
Aircrew
Aircrew are the personnel who operate an aircraft while in flight. The composition of the crew depends on the type of aircraft as well as the purpose of the flight.-Civilian:*Aviator** Pilot-in-command** First officer** Second officer** Third officer...
oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
cylinder
Gas cylinder
A gas cylinder is a pressure vessel used to store gases at above atmospheric pressure. High pressure gas cylinders are also called bottles. Although they are sometimes colloquially called "tanks", this is technically incorrect, as a tank is a vessel used to store liquids at ambient pressure and...
s.
Post war
After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he bought a boat took up sailing again but had to give it up because of a knee injury. He set up business as a marine surveyor
Marine surveyor
A Marine Surveyor is a person who conducts inspections, surveys or examinations of marine vessels to assess, monitor and report on their condition and the products on them. Marine Surveyors also inspect equipment intended for new or existing vessels to ensure compliance with various standards or...
and yacht broker at Warfleet Creek
Warfleet Creek
Warfleet Creek is a small triangular tidal inlet in the west side of the River Dart estuary in England. It is near Dartmouth, Devon. It has steep rocky sides. At low tide there is a stony beach with some small rockpools.-British Underwater Centre:...
in Dartmouth, Devon
Dartmouth, Devon
Dartmouth is a town and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is a tourist destination set on the banks of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland as far as Totnes...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He read Jacques Cousteau
Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Jacques-Yves Cousteau was a French naval officer, explorer, ecologist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water...
's book The Silent World and bought a Cousteau-type aqualung
Aqua-lung
Aqua-Lung was the original name of the first open-circuit free-swimming underwater breathing set in reaching worldwide popularity and commercial success...
from Siebe Gorman
Siebe Gorman
Siebe Gorman & Company Ltd was a British company which developed diving equipment and breathing equipment and worked on commercial diving and marine salvage projects...
, which had just started making them. He then took several courses on diving.
In 1948 his first book, "Alone at Sea". about his solo sail to Spain, was privately printed.
British Underwater Centre
In 1953 a young man asked him for aqualungAqua-lung
Aqua-Lung was the original name of the first open-circuit free-swimming underwater breathing set in reaching worldwide popularity and commercial success...
training, and he took £5 for a 3-day training course. This proved to be his next career and as a result, he started the British Underwater Centre, where he trained many people and some of the first members of the British Sub Aqua Club
BSAC
BSAC can stand for:*Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center*Bit Sliced Arithmetic Coding, audio coding from MPEG-4 Part 3*British South Africa Company*British Sub-Aqua Club*British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy*Black Swamp Area Council...
(BSAC) in aqualung, oxygen rebreather
Rebreather
A rebreather is a type of breathing set that provides a breathing gas containing oxygen and recycled exhaled gas. This recycling reduces the volume of breathing gas used, making a rebreather lighter and more compact than an open-circuit breathing set for the same duration in environments where...
diving and standard diving dress
Standard diving dress
A standard diving dress consists of a metallic diving helmet, an airline or hose from a surface supplied diving air pump, a canvas diving suit, diving knife and boots...
diving. Over the years he trained around 3000 people.
For much of the time, up until the 1960s he used a Siebe Gorman
Siebe Gorman
Siebe Gorman & Company Ltd was a British company which developed diving equipment and breathing equipment and worked on commercial diving and marine salvage projects...
Mark IV Amphibian
Mark IV Amphibian
A Mark IV Amphibian is an early model of British naval oxygen rebreather made by Siebe Gorman. It was arranged like a UBA, but its oxygen cylinder is smaller...
oxygen rebreather
Rebreather
A rebreather is a type of breathing set that provides a breathing gas containing oxygen and recycled exhaled gas. This recycling reduces the volume of breathing gas used, making a rebreather lighter and more compact than an open-circuit breathing set for the same duration in environments where...
to train divers with in oxygen diving, until in the 1960s he sold it to one of his diving trainees. After that he bought a Cressi-Sub
Cressi-Sub
Cressi-Sub is an Italian manufacturer of scuba gear and one of the oldest underwater diving companies presently existing. Officially, the company was founded in 1946 by brothers Egidio and Nanni Cressi, although they had already begun small-scale manual production in 1943.The history of underwater...
sport diving oxygen rebreather from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, but after a year its breathing bag perished, and he replaced it with a Siebe Gorman
Siebe Gorman
Siebe Gorman & Company Ltd was a British company which developed diving equipment and breathing equipment and worked on commercial diving and marine salvage projects...
British naval type breathing bag, which is still as good as new now (as of 2005). After he sold that to a diving trainee, he used emergency escape rebreathers which he had adapted to give a longer dive duration.
He did various commercial diving jobs down the years, including on building the Avon Dam and the Brixham
Brixham
Brixham is a small fishing town and civil parish in the county of Devon, in the south-west of England. Brixham is at the southern end of Torbay, across the bay from Torquay, and is a fishing port. Fishing and tourism are its major industries. At the time of the 2001 census it had a population of...
breakwater
Breakwater (structure)
Breakwaters are structures constructed on coasts as part of coastal defence or to protect an anchorage from the effects of weather and longshore drift.-Purposes of breakwaters:...
.
At the Brixham Breakwater job he had a narrow escape: He found a small hollow under the breakwater and moved some bags of cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
in to fill it. When he tried to swim out again he found that bags of cement carelessly slung from above had blocked his exit. He had to fight his way out with air running low.
He described an incident when a team of trained British naval divers
Clearance Diver
A clearance diver was originally a specialist naval diver who used explosives underwater to remove obstructions to make harbours and shipping channels safe to navigate, but later the term "clearance diver" was used to include other naval underwater work...
searched for an object lost underwater and did not find it; they then let Captain Hampton have a look, and at once he found it directly under the naval divers' boat, at the center (which had been a blind spot
Blind spot
Blind spot may refer to:In ophthalmology:*Scotoma, an obscuration of the visual field*Optic disc, also known as the anatomical blind spot, the specific region of the retina where the optic nerve and blood vessels pass through to connect to the back of the eye*Blind spot , also known as the...
) of their circular search pattern.
He kept yachts and boats in Warfleet Creek. He assumed the title Captain
Captain (nautical)
A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...
, although he had not been in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
or a large commercial ship, because of his many long voyages in small and middle-sized boats.
He and Johnny Morris
Johnny Morris
Ernest John "Johnny" Morris OBE ) was a Welsh television presenter. He is best known for narrating the imported, Canadian-produced Tales of the Riverbank series of stories about Hammy the Hamster, Roderick the Rat, GP the Guinea Pig, and their assorted animal friends along a riverbank and...
made a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
film "Master Diver".
In 1956 he published "The Master Diver and Underwater Sportsman".
He sold his diving school in 1976, at the age of 63, but the buyers did not have his success and it closed down.
Several times he retired
Retirement
Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...
and then drifted back into working.
He died aged 89 on 21 February 2002 evening by bursting of a triple aneurysm
Aneurysm
An aneurysm or aneurism is a localized, blood-filled balloon-like bulge in the wall of a blood vessel. Aneurysms can commonly occur in arteries at the base of the brain and an aortic aneurysm occurs in the main artery carrying blood from the left ventricle of the heart...
, despite emergency surgery in Torbay Hospital
Torbay Hospital
Torbay Hospital is South Devon's main hospital. It is run by the South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.-External links:*...
.
He was survived by his second wife Gwynn, son Gara, and daughter Jill, and two grandsons, Tom Hammerton and Ross Warne.
Famous clients
Trevor Hampton taught these famous people (and others) to scuba dive:-- Arthur C Clarke
- Richard DimblebyRichard DimblebyRichard Dimbleby CBE was an English journalist and broadcaster widely acknowledged as one of the greatest figures in British broadcasting history.-Early life:...
- David AttenboroughDavid AttenboroughSir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
- Tony SoperTony SoperTony Soper is a naturalist, author and broadcaster from Plymouth in England. Born 10 January 1929, he was educated at Hyde Park Elementary School and at Devonport High School, both in Plymouth...
Trevor Hampton and the BSAC
Oscar GugenOscar Gugen
Oscar Gugen was a founder of the British Sub-Aqua Club.He was born in 1910 of an Austrian father and French mother. He started as a hotel kitchen hand in Austria, peeling carrots. By the age of 21 he was a hotel director in the south of France....
and Peter Small decided to form Britain's first diving club, and were trained to scuba dive by Travor Hampton. Afterwards in 1953 they founded the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC). Oscar made only two dives, but Peter and his girlfriend Sylvia Gregg successfully completed the course.
Later, disagreement developed between Trevor Hampton and the BSAC because:-
- Trevor Hampton had also encouraged Harold Penman, who was starting up the rival Underwater Explorers ClubUnderwater Explorers ClubThe Underwater Explorers Club was founded by businessman Harold Penman. It collapsed when Harold Penman ran out of money and many members migrated to the British Sub-Aqua Club ....
. - The BSAC's "always dive with a buddy" policy clashed with Trevor Hampton's policy of training divers to dive alone confidently, always with a competent seaman in attendance on the surface .
Other men with the same name
A USA policePolice
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
Captain Trevor Hampton was involved in an incident at an anti-Klan rally in Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...
in November 1979 in USA:-
- http://www.greensborotrc.org/bell.doc
- http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/program.pl?ID=502227 Vanderbilt Television News Archive
External links
- Obituary at Divernet including photographs