Sir David Attenborough almost drowned when testing a scuba-diving helmet for his 1957 dive on the Great Barrier Reef, the broadcasting veteran has revealed in a discussion with Prince William.
Discussing his latest documentary, Ocean, the pioneering film-maker described the incident to the Prince of Wales.
“Don’t do that, David,” laughed the prince.
“You won’t get it off.” Successfully wriggling out of the helmet, Attenborough reminisced.
“The awful thing is that it’s hidden from you and from me and most people,” replied Attenborough.
During his 1957 dive on the Great Barrier Reef, Sir David Attenborough nearly drowned while testing a scuba-diving helmet, the broadcasting veteran disclosed in an interview with Prince William.
The groundbreaking filmmaker told the Prince of Wales about the incident while talking about his most recent documentary, Ocean.
As he nostalgically put an original Jacques-Yves Cousteau open-circuit scuba helmet over his head, 99-year-old Attenborough remarked, “It’s certainly a strange thing to do.”.
The prince chuckled and said, “Don’t do that, David.”. “You’re not going to remove it. “”.
Attenborough remembered, finally wriggling out of the helmet. “When I put mine on for the first time, I felt water rushing up over my mouth and around [my chin],” he remarked. “This can’t be right,” I thought. When the water reached my nose, I realized that something was wrong.
Naturally, however, you are unable to breathe if you have this thing screwed on top of you. He continued, “You know: ‘Get it off me!’ You can’t even make yourself heard.”.
Attenborough described how a testy director of operations didn’t think there was a problem with the equipment. He put it on, and I’m glad to report that he emerged from the water faster than I did (“Blimey,” the prince said), as there was a flaw. “.”.
The magnitude of the decline in ocean life is addressed in Attenborough’s new National Geographic documentary special, Ocean. On Saturday, June 8, World Ocean’s Day, it will be accessible for streaming worldwide.
In the Prince-starring movie promoting the documentary’s premiere, Sir David talks about how, at the time of his first dive, the world had very little knowledge of the complexities of life in our oceans.
It was a “sensory overload,” according to Attenborough. But now, he said, the same dive in Australia’s shallow warm water cay is probably going to look dreadfully worse because corals have lost a great deal of their beauty due to ocean warming brought on by humans.
“Dave, based on your obvious observations over the years, what conditions would you say the oceans were in at the moment?” the prince asked in the movie, which will soon be shared on Kensington Palace’s social media accounts.
Attenborough responded, “The terrible thing is that it’s hidden from you, from me, and from most people.”. When I first saw the images used for this movie, I was horrified by what we had done to the deep ocean floor—it is simply unimaginably terrible.
He remarked, “I mean, everyone would be furious if you did anything even slightly similar on land.”. “I only hope that viewers will realize that something needs to be done before we destroy this great treasure, because if this movie does anything, even if it’s just to change public awareness, it will be extremely important.”. “”.
By addressing the devastation of the ocean, Attenborough expressed his hope that the next generation would be motivated to preserve it.
“What is encouraging, really, is that we have the entrée to people’s front rooms — whole families, sitting at home in comfort — can actually suddenly see this coming up,” he told the prince. These kinds of films have the power to reveal new information. “”.
Prince William concurred that we must maintain our optimism regarding ocean recovery, stating that it is essential to achieving climate stability and ensuring a healthier future for all of us.
He said to Attenborough, “I wonder if this should be a time for hopeful excitement for the next generation.”. They can grow into more experienced explorers and discover more information. The next fifty years will be amazing. “”.
Attenborough consented. “Yes.”. Absolutely. “”.
