Interviewer(s): D. Austin. New Iberia, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

I met Bill Fullerton at the divers' reunion on March 10, 2002. Bill was a tender for George "Dog" Taylor, and the three of us spent some time talking about oilfield diving during the 1960s and 1970s and especially efforts to increase safety. Bill agreed that I could call him for an interview and was happy to set up a time to meet. We met at his house in New Iberia. Bill has lived in New Iberia since 1974 and is considering moving back to New Orleans, where he began his diving career. During his interview he talks about the Bourbon House in the French Quarter, a major diving hangout and important feature within divers' networks. He also talks about the importance of hurricanes in providing work for divers and his experiences working offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.

Bill's father worked for Gulf Oil Co. After his parents broke up, he was raised by his grandparents in northern Louisiana. He moved to New Orleans in 1960 to take a position at the Times Picayune. When that fell through, he took a job teaching school. He soon met some divers at the Bourbon House in New Orleans. His friends got him a job as a tender in 1962. He then went to diving school in Oakland, CA, did a little abalone diving there, and returned six months later to New Orleans to get into the diving industry full time. He retired from diving in 1980.