Ralf Strandell

Turku, Finland

    Search and recovery diving, cave diving and historical diving as a hobby.

    Author's posts

    England, Porstmouth and Gosport

    Text: Jouko MoisalaTranslation: Ralf Strandell Anyone interested in spending a weekend visiting maritime museums and diving museums should head to Portshnmouth, England. It is an old port and a British naval base and there is plenty to see besides the museums. Maritime monuments are present everywhere. In the picture above we can see a figurehead …

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    Finnish diving history upto 1850’s

    This is a partial translation only. The introductory chapter has been translated as well as headings and captions of images. The rest will get gradually translated, time permitting. We hope that the reader will get a glimpse into Finnish diving history by reading the translated parts. Google translate can be used where needed. 2019-12-08 versionText: …

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    Maritime museum of Kaliningrad

    Text by Jouko MoisalaTranslation by Ralf Strandell Kaliningrad is a part of former Soviet Union, now part of Russia. It is obvious that annexing it to Lithuania would have been difficult if not impossible, as it was and still is a very important naval base. The first thing to catch a visitors eye is submersible …

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    Submerging with an aqualung

    Mistralin nimilaattoja on painettu neljällä eri osoitteella valmistusosoitteesta riippuen.

    The pioneer of diving, Jacques Cousteau, and engineer Emile Gagnan developed the first regulator in 1940s. The world-known Mistral regulator, which is still popular with historical diving enthusiasts, was developed a few years later. Text and photographs: Pekka LahtinenTranslation by Ralf Strandell “A child has never opened a christmas present more excited than we were …

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    Local diving-themed jewellery

    Many a diver carries a diving-themed piece of jewellery. It could be hanging around the neck, in the ear(s), or on the wrist for example. Often it features a diver or a piece of dive kit such as a fin, a mask or a breathing apparatus. A hard hat divers helmet can sometimes be seen, …

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    The collection of historical diving gear is slowly growing

    There are not too many museums of diving history in the entire world (we have a list). In Finland there is none. A lot of diving gear is scattered around the country and displayed in small museums (or in small displays). This amount of equipment would already fill a proper museum. A permanent display would …

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    Traveling around Finland to locate exhibitions

    Historical diving equipment is on display in many museums. It is almost always related to professional diving, meaning helmets and pumps and related diving dresses can be found. Along the western coast of Finland there are many small towns with a maritime museums. Rauma The Maritime Museum of Rauma is located at Kalliomäenkatu (34) in …

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    Ancient history of diving

    Text: Ralf StrandellA translation from Finnish Preface This article has been written in an attempt to sched some light on diving in ancient times. To maintain quality, critical translations with facing original text have been sought when possible, or else other credible sources have been used. The translations are, typically, 19th century english because of …

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