Castaway Part 1
GPS adventuring on the high seas
Don’t forget to check out the other two articles in this series!
I believe it was early this year when I came across these tapes. I was digging through the media area of one of my favorite local thrift stores, one that I’ve been going to since I was a kid and would go there with my grandma, and I opened up the cabinet doors on one of those big old wooden entertainment centers at the back of the room to find a hoard of sealed shipwreck scuba diving tapes. A treasure, if I ever saw one.
On top of finding all 8 tapes of the series, I also found another handful of tapes that were most certainly from the same owner, including a revision / master tape of the first episode! This will be a three part (nonsequential) series as I’d like to take some time to figure out just what exactly I have here, who made it, and how it ended up in East Tennessee.
Today, I’d like to just present these without a ton of context, other than “Wow! These are really cool!”. I know I’m a little late for Shark Week, but that’s actually what got me interested in giving these a watch.
These days, filming underwater is a pretty simple affair. Cameras are smaller than ever, certainly, but they are also so much more capable than they used to be. Every meter of descent in water diffuses the light further, making it darker and extremely difficult to get good looking footage, even with newer cameras. In the late 90s and 2000s, digital video was still relatively new, even to professionals. It’s pretty amazing what the creators of this series managed to capture.
While catching a few minutes here and there of Shark Week this year, I noticed immediately how big of a change the overall “look” of underwater footage has undergone. Many of the clips I saw were very, very desaturated and looked so blue that it was often hard to tell what was happening, despite the much higher fidelity —nearly every scene looked so low contrast and blue that it gave a very cold and desolate look to each location.
When light is diffused through water, the red wavelength is absorbed, which is what causes water to appear blue. So the deeper a diver is, the more “blue” the surface light appears, however, the beam from light sources near the camera or diver like flash lights or waterproof filming lights doesn’t have to travel through as much water. The color temperature of these lights will still appear somewhat normal or “warm”.
The expanded ISO and dynamic range capabilities have made it so that using bright lights underwater is no longer necessary, but I feel forgoing the use of these bright underwater filming lights has made the footage less interesting, and certainly in the case of the small sample of clips from Shark Week, way less vibrant.
That’s all to say I think the footage contained in these tapes is pretty stunning.
GPS Adventures Volume 1 "Galleon Hunter" A Florida Keys Dive Odyssey
1996 | Runtime: 90 Minutes
Step back in time to July 15, 1733, to relive one of the world's greatest maritime disasters. The Spanish Treasure Fleet, bound for Cadiz, Spain, encounters a violent hurricane just two days after departing Havana, Cuba, on an unlucky 6 Friday the 13th, Over twenty vessels are smashed aground in the shallow waters of the Florida Keys 263 years later, Don Ferguson takes you on an 80 mile video tour of these historic shipwrecks. "Galleon Hunter"' reveals the history and GPS coordinates of 15 documented wreck-sites associated with the 1733 Spanish Armada in an incredible underwater dive odyssey. Each galleon is brought to CL BLDG life by the paintings and sketches of U.S. Coast Guard artist Bill Trotter, Join Don in Volume Two of GPS Adventures, "Reef Runner," another unforgettable dive odyssey, sharing the history and GPS coordinates of over 110 of the best reefs and shipwrecks in the Florida Keys.
GPS Adventures Volume 2 "Shipwrecks of Upper Key Largo" A Florida Keys Dive Odyssey
2000 | Runtime: 35 Minutes
Dive into an incredible underwater odyssey with Don Ferguson and discover the premier shipwrecks and reefs of Upper Key Largo!" GPS Adventures/Volume 2 features the actual NOAA chart of 16 spectacular dive sites with the precise GPS coordinates. Enjoy sensational aerial topside and underwater footage of each site. Learn the names and interesting facts about dozens of fascinating marine creatures. Explore the complete history of each shipwreck augmented by the beautiful oil paintings of renowned maritime artist Bill Trotter. A mesmerizing sound track by Beaux Vinyl recording artist Jeff Yurkowski sets the tone for this fast paced nautical experience you'll never forget! Pt Mory Join Don for more high adventure! Collect the entire GPS Adventures/Florida Keys Dive Odyssey video series!
GPS Adventures Volume 3 Shipwrecks Of Lower Key Largo A Florida Keys Dive Odyssey
2001 | Runtime: 35 Minutes
Dive into an incredible underwater odyssey with Don Ferguson and discover the premier shipwrecks and reefs of Lower Key Largo! 6 GPS Adventures/Volume 3 features the actual NOAA chart of 19 spectacular dive sites with the precise GPS coordinates. Enjoy sensational aerial, topside and underwater footage of each site. Learn the names and interesting facts about dozens of fascinating marine creatures. Explore the complete history of each shipwreck augmented by the beautiful oil paintings of renowned maritime artist Bill Trotter. A mesmerizing sound track by BeauxVinyl recording artist Jeff Yurkowski sets the tone for this fast paced nautical experience you'll never forget!
GPS Adventures Volume 4 Shipwrecks Of Tavernier A Florida Keys Dive Odyssey
2001 | Runtime: 35 Minutes
Dive into an incredible underwater odyssey with Don Ferguson and discover the premier shipwrecks and reefs of Tavernier! GPS Adventures/Volume 4 features the actual NOAA chart of 14 spectacular dive sites with the precise GPS coordinates, Enjoy sensational aerial, topside and underwater footage of each site. Learn the names and interesting facts about dozens of fascinating marine creatures. Explore the complete history of each shipwreck augmented by the beautiful oil paintings of renowned maritime artist Bill Trotter. A mesmerizing sound track by BeauxVinyl recording artist Jeff Yurkowski sets the tone for this fast paced nautical experience you'll never forget!
In Part 2 of this series, we’ll take a look at tapes 5-8 in the collection and I’ll have some more information about these tapes and who created them. In Part 3, we will dive into the extra media I discovered alongside these tapes.
Well, that’s it for this week! I hope you enjoyed the tapes! If you’re looking for more, please check out my page on Archive.org for the full list of digitized media. If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message right here or drop a comment below. If you haven’t already, please check out the one of my previous posts below, or all of my other previous posts here. Thanks so much for checking out this week’s edition of Diptych!
See you soon!
—Forrest
These are incredible. We don't have many secondhand shops here, it's always surprising what you're able to find at your thrift shops!
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