Goodbye American Pioneer Diver

James Stewart, a pioneering scuba diver who was famous for exploring the sites of hydrogen bomb blasts, besides teaching generations of scientists from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography since the 1960s, has died.

Anyone reading Undercurrent through the '90s will recall his name popped up frequently, since he was one of the few real go-to experts who had command of the technical aspects of diving and the fun of sport diving, and he was always willing to share his expertise.

He authored the original University Guide for Diving Safety, which was used to create research diving programs across California, and famously survived a shark attack in 1961 off Wake Island in the North Pacific when he was twice bitten by a gray reef shark that cut two arteries. He was able to make it to a Hawaiian hospital, where he made a full recovery.

Stewart also consulted for NASA, the FBI, Army Special Forces and National Park Service, developing diver training for the Antarctic, where he even had a mountain named after him. He was 89.