1. Fathom

   was a marine diving magazine published by Gareth Powell & Associates in Australia. It is considered to have played an important role in raising international awareness of the status of Australian marine life, especially sharks with underwater photography, and established new standards in terms of quality, content, design and accurate marine journalism at a time when most was being sensationalized in the popular press.

2. It was said to be better designed and printed than the leading USA publication, Skin Diver.

3. “Fathom magazine was a perfect fit for its time. The 48-page publication first appeared in Sydney December 1970, produced by Gareth Powell, an eccentric, entrepreneurial British publisher who knew, above anything else, how to employ talented people and give them the freedom to work. Fathom quickly came to reflect the new scuba diving and marine environmental awareness inspired by the Save the Barrier Reef campaign, and the crown-of-thorns starfish plagues threatening coral reefs world wide”.

4. Gareth Powell has been quoted as saying the title Fathom was one of three suggested by editor, John Harding who had canvassed the idea of publishing a dive magazine to him on three occasions. The design was similar to Surf International which was soon to cease production.
5. A major influence on the style of the magazine was the designer, Roy Bisson. In Fathom the freelance contributing photographers and marine journalists were among the best that Australia had produced and included Ron and Valerie Taylor, Walter Starck, and John Harding. The art director (an accomplished diver) had full responsibility to choose the photographs used and to decide how they should be displayed. No other magazine company in Australia, at that time, allowed this level of involvement by their creative staff. The only person who was kept well away from the creative process was the publisher, Gareth Powell. He knew printing – and Fathom was to set new standards for the international diving world, attracting attention from many experts in this field, including the aloof Philippe Cousteau who granted an exclusive and rare interview during his Australian visit. The editorial content of the magazine was under the control of John Harding (a photojournalist and underwater film cameraman) and Roy Bisson.
6. It was the responsibility of Harding & Bisson to devise stories, write, photograph and sell advertising and assemble all pictures rather than rely on haphazard contributions. Dive shops were initially reluctant to advertise until after issue number six.
7. 1971 was the beginning of P.A.D.I scuba schools franchise being available to Australian dive shops.
8. In early 1973 the magazine ceased production with issue ten and before completion of a proposed “Annual”. Various reasons contributed to the closure despite a rapidly rising circulation in Australia and USA. A plan to publish Fathom Yearbook much later was actively supported by all former advertisers.
9. The magazine was printed in Hong Kong and later Singapore to obtain better quality than anything available in Australia.
10. FathomOz.com will feature pages from all issues with hindsight captions and updates. Copyright applies. (Also view an alternative newer blog.  http://fathomoz.wordpress.com).
    

The John Harding Australian Marine Picture Library

“OUR FUTURE – AN UNKNOWN ADVENTURE”

Marine Photography: 1960 – 2010

fathom (Reg. TM, Australia)

Copyright 2005-2010 We reserve copyright for pictures, captions, text content of this web site. We own all such copyright, (or use it with permission of the credited owner). View this web site and its content using your web browser and make a temporary copy of parts of this web site for your personal use only. You may link to other sites with permission. NO commercial use without a written license and fee.

RE-USE OF CONTENT IN ANY FORM
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NEW! For ALL pages from all ten fathoms go to the WordPress hosted blog

http://fathomoz.wordpress.com

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This was from an earlier edition, Fathom No. 4 – Philippe Cousteau was not impressed with an obvious error relating to a baby whale being harpooned and we guaranteed to have points like this double checked in future!

The information came from a reliable source – but it was wrong!

Our interview with Philippe while he was in Australia in 1971 for a few days was something of a coupe as he’d been refusing offers from SKIN DIVER magazine.  Philippe claimed that magazine had a good cash flow but paid peanuts to writers and favored a select group of friends rather than allow new talent much of a chance.  The magazine had a  strong run for years then ceased production during the early 2000′s.

Philippe was killed when his PBY Catalina seaplane crashed in Portugal in 1976 due to a faulty nose wheel hatch being open.  One of the large engines broke off the wing. (Information supplied by the late Paul Tzimoulis).