Bret Gilliam

Bret Clifton Gilliam (February 3, 1951 – October 8, 2023) was an American pioneering technical diver. He was most famous as co-founder of the certification agency Technical Diving International along with Mitch Skaggs, and as the one time holder of the world record for deep diving on air. He is also one of diving's most popular writers. Gilliam is the author or coauthor of 72 books, over 1500 feature magazine articles, and over 100 magazine cover photos. In his diving career he has logged over 19,000 dives since 1959.

Gilliam was a multimillionaire from the sale of several businesses that included Technical Diving International (TDI), V. I. Divers Ltd., AMF Yacht Charters, Ocean Quest Cruise Lines, G2 Publishing (Fathoms Magazine), Sea Ventures Ltd., and Uwatec. Several of his companies grew into multi-national conglomerates and two were taken public in major sales while others were sold to private investment groups. The aggregate value of his companies when he sold them was over $80 million.

Gilliam formed the consulting service Ocean Tech in 1971 and provided expert witness testimony for diving and maritime related legal cases. Since 1973, he has appeared in over 400 legal cases nearly exactly evenly divided between defense and plaintiff litigation. (A case in which he appeared as the maritime and diving expert witness for the plaintiffs resulted in a $12 million settlement in May 2015. ) Gilliam has also testified in criminal trials and been Congressionally appointed to military court martial proceedings for the U.S. Marine Corps. Special Consultant in various capacities for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Background Bret Gilliam was born at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, to Commander Gill Gilliam (retired as Captain) and Jeanne Gilliam. He was the first of three children. His younger brother Chris was murdered on February 18th,1971 at the age of 16 while attending an outdoor concert in Puerto Rico.

Education In 1959, the YMCA developed the first nationally organized course and certified their first skin and scuba diving instructors, and remained with Ocean Quest until the company was sold to Sea Escape Cruise Lines in the fall of 1990.

Gilliam performed a deep air dive on February 14, 1990, at a site named "Mary's Place" in Roatán to . an international organization dedicated to the advancement of field exploration and scientific inquiry which is headquarter in New York city.

International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers In 1991, Gilliam joined Dick Rutkowski, Tom Mount and Billy Deans on the board of directors for International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers (IANTD). During this time, Gilliam also served as the vice-president of the company.

Certifications

Diving instructor and medical credentials

Technical Diving International (TDI#0001) Scuba Diving International (SDI#0001) Emergency Response Diving International (ERDI#0001) National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI#3234L) Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI#5929) National Association of Scuba Diving Schools (NASDS#0893) Undersea Photographers Instructor Association (UPIA#0102) American Nitrox Divers Inc. (ANDI#0031) Professional Diving Instructors Corporation (PDIC#5367) International Association of Nitrox & Technical Divers (IANTD#0051) Technical Deep Air (IANTD#0007), Trimix (IANTD#0008) Visual Inspector of Scuba Cylinders (NAUI#V1249) Hyperbarics International, Recompression chamber supervisor (#0693) Emergency Oxygen Administration/Field Management of Diving Accidents Diver Medical Technician Instructor Trainer Int'l Board of Underwater Medicine Recompression Chamber Supervisor and medical director for Field Treatment Protocols for hyperbaric injuries

Licenses United States Coast Guard Merchant Marine Officer's License as Master. Homeland Security/TWIC security credentials issued as Maritime Officer. Additional Licenses: (Unlimited tonnage and Ocean Master licenses from Bahamas, Panama, and Liberia, non-current since retirement) TWIC credentials (security clearance ID), Dept. of Homeland Security. Single engine aircraft pilot Submersible pilot, Perry and Kittredge vessels to 3000 fsw depth

Awards Recipient of Outstanding Contribution to Diving award from NAUI, 1979 and 1998 Recipient of Medal of Excellence from Beneath The Sea Diving Conference six times since 1996 Election to Who's Who in Scuba Diving by Academy of Marine Sciences & Undersea Research 1993 Election to Who's Who of the World Diving Community Diving Almanac 2008-2009 Election to Sterling Divers Hall of Fame 2010 Publisher of the Year in Diving Media 2002 Fellow National member of The Explorers Club 1993-current International Prize For Diving Journalism 2003 Diver of the Year Beneath the Sea 2004 "Hall of Fame" Medal of Excellence for Honors in Education Beneath The Sea 2005 SSI Platinum Pro 5000 Diver Honors 1998 Commendation from NBC Television for 1983 America's Cup Filming Legend of the Sea, Beneath the Sea, 2005-2013 (Nine years in a row) Publishing Academy Grand Prize For Feature Ocean Journalism 1996 Two Commendations from U.S. Coast Guard for Lifesaving and Rescue, 1977, 1979 Recipient of the NOGI Award for Sports/Education in 2012 and inducted into the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences (AUAS) Hall of Fame

Publications

Bantin, John; Gilliam, Bret, Amazing Diving Stories 2012, Diver Publishing McSwain, N. & Gilliam, Bret Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support 1994, NAEMT Gilliam, Bret (contributing editor) The Basic EMT: Comprehensive Pre-Hospital Patient Care, Mosby-Lifeline 1996 Snyderman, Marty; Gilliam, Bret, Great Shark Encounters 1998, Key Porter Books Long, John (editor); Gilliam, Bret (contributing editor), Mark of the Shark 2003, The Globe Pequot Press Gilliam, Bret (Senior Contributing Editor), There's A Cockroach in My Regulator 2010, Undercurrent Publishing Grice, Gordon, "Deadly Kingdom" 2010, The Dial Press, (account of Gilliam shark attack survival pgs. 70–72) Fuchs, Ditmar (editor) "Fifty Fathoms: The History of Diving" (Gilliam contributed six chapters and is featured in two others) Blancpain 2014 Lang, Michael (editor); Gilliam, Bret (contributor) "DAN Nitrox Workshop Proceedings" 2000 Divers Alert Network Waterman, Stan (author); Gilliam, Bret (Foreword & contributing photographer) "Sea Salt II: More Salt", Waterman Productions 2015 Salama, Asser (author); Gilliam, Bret (Foreword and contributing writer) "Deep Into Deco", Best Publishing Company 2015 MacCormack, A. & Green, R. (Editors); Gilliam, Bret (contributing writer) "The Mammoth Book of Shark Attacks" 1996; revised 2013, Constable & Robinson Ltd. Jaap, Walter (editor); Gilliam, Bret (contributor) "Diving For Science Proceedings" 1990 American Academy of Underwater Sciences Ullrich, Art (editor); Gilliam, Bret (contributor) "Sixth International Conference on Underwater Education Proceedings" 1974 NAUI Fead, Lou (editor); Gilliam, Bret (contributor) "Eighth International Conference on Underwater Education Proceedings" 1976 NAUI Fead, Lou (editor); Gilliam, Bret (contributor) "Ninth International Conference on Underwater Education Proceedings" 1977 NAUI Wells, Frank (editor); Gilliam, Bret (contributor) "1991 International Conference on Underwater Education Proceedings" 1991 NAUI Hamilton, R.W. (Editor); Gilliam, Bret (contributor) "Evaluating Enriched Air (Nitrox) Diving Technology" 1992 Scuba Diving Resource Group (SDRG) Perry, Martyn (editor); Gilliam, Bret (contributor) "1992 International Conference on Underwater Education Proceedings" 1992 NAUI Lang, Michael (editor); Gilliam, Bret (contributor) "Repetitive Diving Workshop Proceedings" 1991 American Academy of Underwater Sciences NAUI HQ (editor); Gilliam, Bret (contributor) "1994 International Conference on Underwater Education Proceedings" 1994 NAUI