The Society for Underwater Technology's
40th Anniversary

21 September 2006 London

The Executive Secretary's Opening Speech

The Society was born in 1966 following the demise of the Underwater Equipment Research Society the previous year. This precursor society, which had been set up to facilitate the 'interchange of information between users and suppliers of [undersea] equipment', wound itself up in 1965 due to lack of membership, citing problems due to 'commercial and military secrecy'.

Many of its members went on to become early members of the SUT. In 1966 a Steering Committee was put in place to form the Society for Underwater Technology, leading directly to the first general meeting on 2 March 1967, hosted by Lord Wakefield of Kendall in the House of Lords. His Lordship was duly elected as President, with Rear Admiral Sir Edmund Irving as the first Chairman of Council. Other names, some of which are still very active and familiar today, included Dr Nic Flemming as Honorary Secretary and V Grimoldby as Honorary Treasurer. The original structure of the Society, with its very wide remit across all areas of technology subsea, seems very prescient with specialist technical committees being set up as an integral part of the Society. The original technical committees were Biological Technology (chaired by Ian Richardson – who was later Chairman 1967–70 and President 1970–72), Earth Science (Dr Tony Laughton – later, as Sir Anthony, to be President in 1996–97) and General Technology (Captain W O Shelford RN (Rtd) then of Siebe Gorman, thus pointing up the early interest in diving). The organisation went quickly to work with the technical committees meeting a month later.

The elected managing committee at this first open meeting took the Society into its first Annual General Meeting on 7 December that same year. This was held at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers at Birdcage Walk, and Sir Edmund Irving was elected as President with Ian Richardson as Vice President, Nic Flemming and V Grimoldby confirmed as Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer, respectively. The Society had also now found a home at the IMechE through its 'daughter society' scheme, paying £500 a year for office space and admin assistance. In membership terms, the first meeting saw two corporate members and 39 individuals in differing categories. Eighteen months later, it stood at 15 corporates and 176 individuals.

At this time the Society's association with what was to become Oceanology International was initiated with plans to run a major international conference in 1969 alongside an existing exhibition series in Brighton. Other actions during these early years included its registration as a charitable organisation in May 1968 (24th) and its incorporation as a limited company in October that same year (15th). Names active in the Society that are still very familiar now include Michael Ranken, Mike Borrow, Don Lennard and David Stott. Others who I am delighted to see here tonight are John Houlder and George Williams.

Anyone reading the minutes of Council or the Annual Reports from this time will be assailed by a feeling of deja vu: Council was reviewing the way forward for the Society, technical groups were being reviewed for relevancy, education and training was becoming important (with the desire to see the shortage of key categories in the industry being filled) and rules for the formation and operation of branches being written. Meetings were being held, with for example two on fish, three on underwater vehicles, one each on North sea oil and gas and diving offshore in the 1969–70 year.

In the early '70s branches were being sought, mainly in the UK, while tie-ups with overseas organisations (such as the Marine Technology Society in the USA and the Engineering Committee for Ocean Engineering (ECOR – an international organisation of which the SUT took on the Secretariat and that of its British wing some time later– 1979)) were also being sought. In the UK branches were established in East Scotland, West Scotland, East Anglia, Southern England and Southwest England. Abroad, associated with a Malta Summer School activity, a branch was considered and then rejected. Key elements of the Branch network was a strong relationship with Council (much as is being considered today). (I note a Mr John Bevan, then Secretary of the Southern Branch, was looking at expanding into South Wales!) Overseas Branch possibilities were being looked at in Europe (Sweden, Norway, Holland and France) but Council, probably wisely at that time as Branch activity in the UK was proving difficult to sustain, decided against going in this direction in 1973.

With the expansion of the activities of the Society, its support requirements were increasing. A Journal had been added and this was being edited by an Honorary Editor (Mrs Molly Neal). By 1974 membership had risen to 80 Corporate and 604 individual members.

I am now just getting to the end of the first decade of the Society – don't worry I am not going to take all the successive in such detail, but I thought it right to dwell on the first steps on the road to the very active and energetic international society we have today. I will pick out some key events later, but going through old annual reports I can't help the feeling of plus ça change – let me pick out some sentences from the 1971 Annual Report and a 1973 Council meeting:

There is certainly no doubt that there is need for a learned Society which is interdisciplinary in character and provides a forum for discussion between all those concerned with the oceans to enable identification of the problems and solutions to be suggested whether this be in the field of science, technology or commercial exploitation. A considerable amount of time was spent by Council, by members and by Captain Duncan Ritchie's Policy Committee in discussion precisely what the policy of the Society should be and how it should operate.

'We have a full program of technical meetings.'

'We have been requested to co-sponsor a symposium on Underwater Medicine and Physiology to be held in the Bahamas next August and have willingly undertaken this task.'

'A three-week course on diving technology was held in the summer.'

'A careers brochure has been produced. The demand for this brochure has been quite astonishing. It will need to be re-issued and up-dated regularly.'

'The recent meeting of regional representatives had revealed once more the differing conditions under which local organisers worked….'

'It was agreed to accept this recommendation, whilst continuing to consider the drafting of Rules for Branches against the request that one or more be set up.'

I suppose one shouldn't be too surprised – the Society is still run by similarly energetic and forward-looking people. The underlying ethos and raison d'être remain unchanged and the founding fathers were long-sighted in seeing the need to for a society to provide a forum through which knowledge and information could be exchanged across the very wide range of technologies that need to be employed in the unique and unifying environment that is the underwater world. Activities such as the way forward (which we now call the business plan), our relationship with other organisations in our field and how we need to get our message out to an ever wider audience through meetings, publications and branches are always going be with us. If they are not, then we are in decline.

The Branch structure in the UK did not survive, at least at that time, and was reduced to a group of regional organisers who tried to keep activities going across the UK. I shall return to this theme later. In the meantime a strong area of interest for the Society in 1978 was the perceived lack of government department organisation in the marine area. A working party on the Role of Government was set up. The House of Lords commented in due course (and, as an aside, the Coordinating Committee for Marine Science and Technology was set up). Regrettably we can also say that here not much has changed despite the best efforts of the SUT and the Inter-Agency Committee for Marine Science and Technology, as a recent Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology report makes clear.

I cannot leave the '70s without mentioning that we were very honoured to have HRH Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, as our President from 1975 to 1976.

Taking the theme of Branches forward, we see several more attempts to form them. At the beginning of the 1980s Regional Coordinators were in place for the Southwest, Southern England, the Midlands and Northwest, Scotland East, Scotland Northeast and Scotland West. Ten years later the Aberdeen Branch, Southern and North-eastern Branches were formed. Of these only the Aberdeen Branch is still going, and going very strongly at that. Again our thoughts are now turning to more activity in the Northeast and the South. However, in addition to Aberdeen, the big success story of the most recent years is in the overseas branches. Branches are very active in Houston and Perth (Western Australia) where the model developed in Aberdeen has proved very successful with a strong local income stream generated, and in Rio de Janeiro operating on a different model. All these Branches will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the founding of the SUT in their differing ways.

The Society has always been at pains to ensure that it was relevant to the conditions of the day, looking frequently at its organisation but holding true to its original purpose. The success of the Society has led to its increasing its staff from one part-time administrator to the staff we have today. Conferences, meetings and courses have always been important and our first full-time organiser (Jean Pritchard) joined in Birdcage Walk in 1980. She moved to Aberdeen in 1990, effectively taking the job with her and adding the important secretarial function for the Branch there to her portfolio. The Journal finally came too big a job for an honorary post, and we took on our first full time editorial assistant also in that same year when Molly Neal retired.

The earlier extract about the need to maintain well-qualified and high-quality entrants into the sector is another underlying theme. In 1983 the Educational Support Fund was launched, and given a shot in the arm in 1990 with some particularly effective fund-raising. It is a great pity today, when the need is arguably at its highest, that the Society finds it now so difficult to raise money, particularly in the UK. Our students are still of very high quality, and it is a shame that we are not able to support them in larger numbers. It is pleasing to see though that some of the overseas branches are now providing scholarships in their areas.

In the last 40 years the Society has seen changes, but I believe it has retained its vitality and relevance against a changing backdrop. We moved from the Mechanicals to the Marines in 1990 And then followed the Marines from Mark Lane to our present site at Coleman Street when they moved here. We also formed the Marine Engineering Science and Technology Federation with them after they expanded their remit when they became the IMarEST and added science and technology to the more traditional engineering remit. This is still bedding down. Our Council, despite the general ageing of the offshore industry, remains young, active and dedicated to the ideals of the founding fathers.

Plus ça change for the SUT means that we continue to abide by the principles of the learned society for the whole technology which is used underwater, but that we routinely review our relevance, our way of working and the service we provide to the whole sector. I have no doubt that we will be here (and in many other places) in 40 years time but that during that time we will see many changes in the environment in which we exist and that the Society will have adapted (and led) accordingly. It will have risen to the many challenges it will face and be a true reflection of the original vision.

I give you the Society for Underwater Technology.