{"id":23016,"date":"2022-08-30T11:11:46","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T15:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.dan.org\/?post_type=dan_alert_diver&p=23016"},"modified":"2023-01-31T10:45:13","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T15:45:13","slug":"preserving-history-leslie-leaney","status":"publish","type":"dan_alert_diver","link":"https:\/\/world.dan.org\/fr\/alert-diver\/article\/preserving-history-leslie-leaney\/","title":{"rendered":"Pr\u00e9server l'histoire : Leslie Leaney"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LESLIE LEANEY EST RENOMM\u00c9E<\/span><\/strong> for his dive history research and preservation. He has done this work through organizations such as the Cayman Islands\u2019 International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame (where he has been the executive director for nearly 20 years), the Commercial Diving Hall of Fame, the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences, the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, the Historical Diving Society USA, and other educational organizations. Acquiring a circa 1850 copper and brass dive helmet handmade by the legendary Augustus Siebe stoked his interest in dive history more than four decades ago. Siebe is considered the father of diving and created the equipment that launched the trade internationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are about six or seven of these known to exist in the world,\u201d he noted. \u201cMine is the only one that\u2019s in its original condition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

En plus de collectionner des \u00e9quipements de plong\u00e9e historiques et anciens, il a commenc\u00e9 \u00e0 compiler une vaste biblioth\u00e8que de plong\u00e9e. En 1992, Leaney s'est associ\u00e9 \u00e0 Skip Dunham pour cr\u00e9er la Historical Diving Society USA (HDS USA). Au cours des trois d\u00e9cennies qui ont suivi sa cr\u00e9ation, l'association \u00e0 but non lucratif HDS USA est pass\u00e9e de quelques dizaines de membres \u00e0 environ 3 000 dans le monde entier. Il a \u00e9galement lanc\u00e9 le Historical Diving Magazine, aujourd'hui connu sous le nom de The Journal of Diving History.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaney has received numerous awards, including DEMA\u2019s Reaching Out Award (2016), the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences NOGI Award for Education (2003), Beneath the Sea Diver of the Year Award (2013), the Wyland Foundation ICON Award (2010), and most recently the 2022 California Scuba Service Award for \u201cturning his passion for diving\u2019s history into a way for thousands to understand and discover theirs.\u201d In addition to the contributions he\u2019s made to our knowledge of dive history, Leaney has also had a highly successful career in the music industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c0 bien des \u00e9gards, ses r\u00e9ussites dans les domaines de la plong\u00e9e sous-marine et de la musique sont directement li\u00e9es aux difficult\u00e9s qu'il a rencontr\u00e9es dans sa jeunesse. N\u00e9 \u00e0 Londres en 1947, il a connu des difficult\u00e9s pendant son adolescence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI grew up in the East End of London,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t have a great education. I left school when I was 15 and worked three jobs \u2014 I worked days and nights because money was so scarce. I was out on the streets and in a motorcycle gang. The future didn\u2019t look particularly bright.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L'INATTENDU<\/strong>
VOYAGE EN SCAPHANDRE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To escape those circumstances, he joined the Royal Air Force in 1967, but it wasn\u2019t military service that changed his life\u2019s trajectory. It was scuba diving, which he tried at age 22 when he was posted to Singapore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Singapore there were a lot of things to do that you wouldn\u2019t normally get to do where I came from,\u201d Leaney recalled. \u201cThe first thing I did was join a scuba club. As soon as I went underwater, it was a different world. It changed my life. Diving was a leveler. Underwater, I was the equal of anyone and better than most. I was really good at it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He always had a fascination for the creatures that lived underwater, which started with the ponds near his childhood home. \u201cThere was a forest where some of the German bombers would dump their bombs during World War II when they couldn\u2019t find their targets,\u201d Leaney said. \u201cA lot of bomb holes turned into ponds. I was mesmerized by seeing things splash on the surface. You couldn\u2019t see what they were, but they\u2019d splash \u2014 newts, salamanders, frogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was fascinated by what was under the water. It really changed my life when I first started diving and saw marine life face-to-face.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While in Singapore, he became a scuba instructor and dive officer through the British Sub-Aqua Club, the U.K.\u2019s national governing body of recreational diving. He was responsible for the curriculum and training of dozens of instructors and recreational divers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dans les ann\u00e9es 1970, bien avant que les infrastructures de tourisme de plong\u00e9e ne deviennent monnaie courante, Leaney a men\u00e9 des dizaines d'exp\u00e9ditions de plong\u00e9e aux \u00eeles Perhentian, dans la mer de Chine m\u00e9ridionale, dans l'oc\u00e9an Indien et aux Maldives, et a plong\u00e9 en Australie et en Nouvelle-Z\u00e9lande.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During these years, King Hussein of Jordan asked him to explore if a dive center could be established in the Red Sea port of Aqaba, Jordan. \u201cThat\u2019s a bottle-of-wine story,\u201d he said. He was transported aboard the king\u2019s boat to explore the Red Sea every day. \u201cIt was a pristine location with pristine sites.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaney has approached his life as one of daring adventures. \u201cI took a lot of risks,\u201d he said. \u201cI believed I could. If you believe you can, you can because you\u2019re already halfway there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LE ROCK AND ROLL<\/strong>
HISTORIEN DE LA PLONGEE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

En 1980, Leaney s'est install\u00e9 en Californie, o\u00f9 il a commenc\u00e9 \u00e0 travailler dans l'industrie musicale et a \u00e9cum\u00e9 les librairies locales pour collectionner des livres sur la plong\u00e9e.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy interest in music started when I was very young,\u201d he said. \u201cI was inoculated with a jukebox needle. I was around when the Beatles started. When I came to America, I wanted to get involved in it. I knew I didn\u2019t have the talent to get into a band, but the drive to be associated with music was so special to me. I started supporting what I call the \u2018baby band circuit.\u2019 I liked the challenge. Could I get a band signed to a major label to which I had no connection? I went out seven nights a week with these bands, trying to bump them up to where a band like the Pretenders was. I was driven in both music and diving to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaney travaille actuellement sur The Journal of Diving History\u2019s <\/em>112th<\/sup> issue, which will go to subscribers in about 30 countries. \u201cIf you find something you like to do, you\u2019ll never work a day in your life. I still live on the edge to some degree, but now I have safety nets, and DAN is a big one.\u201d\u00a0AD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E<\/span>XPLOREZ PLUS<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

En savoir plus sur Leslie Leaney dans cette vid\u00e9o pr\u00e9par\u00e9e pour son prix DEMA Reaching Out en 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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