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Early humans started hunting fish as a food source many centuries BC,
even if they didn't dive.
According to anthropologists, early humans started spearing fish like salmon,
trout, and catfish, which were plentiful in streams and estuaries. Rich in Omega-3 oils, this diet might have contributed
to the evolution of hominids via the significant increase in brain size, from 600g for homo erectus to 1,500g for homo
sapiens.
This early Greek painting shows a fish shop in Sicily, around 400 BC. The
fish monger cuts up two large bluefin tunas. Aristotle describes the tuna hunt with harpoons and primitive nets in the straits
of Sicily.
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Freediving in modern times started in Southern California, and specifically in La Jolla, San Diego. Some
of the early dive gear was home made, like the ones shown below, on display at the Museum of Freediving History, in Huntington
Beach.
It is believed that Californian surfers witnessed freedivers in the Pacific Islands and brought the
sport back to the US. Their gear were home-made, pilot-like goggles, garden hose snorkels, and crude spears.
The images above show some of the early gear of the pioneers in the sport. These are found in the Museum
of Freediving in Huntington Beach, California.
Guy Gilpatrick, a Californian, brought the sport to France. His book "the compleat goggler" (published in
1938) chronicles his first impressions of freediving and spearing fish in the Mediterranean.
Shortly after, European divers like Dumas, Cousteau, and Hans Haas got into the sport, and it was then
all history.
In the post-war years the first dive gear became commercially manufactured, like dive
masks, rubber suits, and fins. Some of the legends of the sport like Al Schneppershoff below, got started in spearfishing
and the sport witnessed tremendous growth and popularity.
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