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Darkness Beckons: The History and Development of Cave Diving
This profusely illustrated book, written by one of Britain's leading cave divers, is a spectacular introduction to the world's most dangerous sport.
The Darkness Beckons describes the techniques and fascinating history of cave diving from the first known cave dive in 1878 with the familiar globe shaped helmet, heavy boots, and sturdy air lines fed by surface pumps, to the sophisticated rebreather systems used by divers today. This internationally comprehensive book includes stories from the United States, France, Switzerland, The West Indies, Mexico, South Africa, UK, and Australia.
This new book includes both historical anecdotes and accounts of the most interesting recent dives. It is a chronicle of outstanding sporting endeavor, as yet little known outside an elite specialist world, but sure to inspire anyone with a taste for adventure.
279 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1980
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 23, 2018
This book is a brilliant read. Martyn Farr writes in an excellent, unfussy style and lets the inspiring history of cave diving speak for itself. By dint of Farr's experiences, this book is weighted heavily towards the British development of cave diving but there is plenty of information about the prime areas of cave diving around the world such as Florida, Mexico and lesser known sites in Australia.
Really, this book is of interest to even the layman, it does get too technical and instead the reader is carried along by the force of the narrative as the divers push ever deepr into water filled sumps.
Some of the stories (and there are loads) had me checking the floor for my jaw, the diver in Australia who tells of diving through a contrictive key like a Swiss cheese, the tunnel so tight his bottle was held in his hand in front of him and he used the base of his cylinder to bash at protruding rock to widen the tunnel!
The Dead Mans Handshake incident, the untimely deaths of Sheck Exley and Dave Shaw, these things are the stuff of legend and are just humbling to read about.
As well as the tales of tight sumps, corckscrews and bad visibility there are also interesting sections on the finding and plumbing of ridiculously deep cave systems.
As a beginner diver I can only sit back and give my respect to guys diving to 200+ metres, the commitment required for such adventures is just insane.
Anyway, this book should be high on the wishlist of any armchair adventurer, dry caver or cave diver. It is an excellent read.
Really, this book is of interest to even the layman, it does get too technical and instead the reader is carried along by the force of the narrative as the divers push ever deepr into water filled sumps.
Some of the stories (and there are loads) had me checking the floor for my jaw, the diver in Australia who tells of diving through a contrictive key like a Swiss cheese, the tunnel so tight his bottle was held in his hand in front of him and he used the base of his cylinder to bash at protruding rock to widen the tunnel!
The Dead Mans Handshake incident, the untimely deaths of Sheck Exley and Dave Shaw, these things are the stuff of legend and are just humbling to read about.
As well as the tales of tight sumps, corckscrews and bad visibility there are also interesting sections on the finding and plumbing of ridiculously deep cave systems.
As a beginner diver I can only sit back and give my respect to guys diving to 200+ metres, the commitment required for such adventures is just insane.
Anyway, this book should be high on the wishlist of any armchair adventurer, dry caver or cave diver. It is an excellent read.
December 15, 2025
*I read the second edition, published in 1991
You, too, can read about how they used to free dive narrow passages in caves using candles lit on rocks near the water's edge as the only light source, without knowing if there was an air pocket on the other side!
This is a technically minded book on the history of cave diving in the UK (and some of the history of international cave diving) up to the early 1980s, with the writer's personal experience putting him in a position to offer unique insight. Contains some gory anecdotes and, in equal proportion, stories about the victories of risk management and keeping a cool head in a crisis.
I have to find the obsession with crawling through muddy pothole caves fascinating. While some of these caves offer exquisite natural beauty, people are equally determined to explore caves where the water conditions are so bad that you can't see your hand in front of your face. Farr offers us a range of explanations from the pursuit of human excellent (become worm) to the more plausible one-upmanship in a small community. I'm glad the book covers the full range of cave diving, but I'm more glad that it focuses so much on the unglamorous, somewhat improvised, British cave diving scene. After finishing the large section on British cave diving, we go over to France, and the French are wisely already using drones in the late 1960s. But in the UK, no mention of the use of drones, or even especially advanced technology, is ever made. French caves also contain items of archeological worth and are big enough that you don't have to drag yourself down a flooded tunnel using your hands. But there's nothing more strange and glorious than the people so determined to crawl through miserable cold muddy potholes in search of records that are laughable in the face of everywhere else in the world which has much more hospitable, longer, deeper, caves. You start to understand why it was British cave diving experts who helped rescue that Thai trapped football team — they are used to operating under deplorable conditions. But they love it. They really love it.
One of my favourite parts of the book is when, after years crawling around flooded potholes in Southern Wales (UK), the author tries cave diving in the blue holes in the Bahamas and offers us this wisdom:
"Why explore lifeless tunnels deep underground when wonders such as these exist?"
He then immediately heads back to the UK to crawl through submerged tunnels in Yorkshire. The incremental progress of British cave discovery and diving is an expression of passion that illuminates even the darkest corner of the narrowest pothole. Look at them go! They love it.
You, too, can read about how they used to free dive narrow passages in caves using candles lit on rocks near the water's edge as the only light source, without knowing if there was an air pocket on the other side!
This is a technically minded book on the history of cave diving in the UK (and some of the history of international cave diving) up to the early 1980s, with the writer's personal experience putting him in a position to offer unique insight. Contains some gory anecdotes and, in equal proportion, stories about the victories of risk management and keeping a cool head in a crisis.
I have to find the obsession with crawling through muddy pothole caves fascinating. While some of these caves offer exquisite natural beauty, people are equally determined to explore caves where the water conditions are so bad that you can't see your hand in front of your face. Farr offers us a range of explanations from the pursuit of human excellent (become worm) to the more plausible one-upmanship in a small community. I'm glad the book covers the full range of cave diving, but I'm more glad that it focuses so much on the unglamorous, somewhat improvised, British cave diving scene. After finishing the large section on British cave diving, we go over to France, and the French are wisely already using drones in the late 1960s. But in the UK, no mention of the use of drones, or even especially advanced technology, is ever made. French caves also contain items of archeological worth and are big enough that you don't have to drag yourself down a flooded tunnel using your hands. But there's nothing more strange and glorious than the people so determined to crawl through miserable cold muddy potholes in search of records that are laughable in the face of everywhere else in the world which has much more hospitable, longer, deeper, caves. You start to understand why it was British cave diving experts who helped rescue that Thai trapped football team — they are used to operating under deplorable conditions. But they love it. They really love it.
One of my favourite parts of the book is when, after years crawling around flooded potholes in Southern Wales (UK), the author tries cave diving in the blue holes in the Bahamas and offers us this wisdom:
"Why explore lifeless tunnels deep underground when wonders such as these exist?"
He then immediately heads back to the UK to crawl through submerged tunnels in Yorkshire. The incremental progress of British cave discovery and diving is an expression of passion that illuminates even the darkest corner of the narrowest pothole. Look at them go! They love it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews