Interviewer(s): D. Austin. Schriever, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

I was referred to Tom Hynson by Willie Brown. Tom and Willie dove together for many years; Tom told me that Willie was one of the best divers in the business. Tom, too, had a long and successful diving career. When I called, he was happy to set up an interview, and we ended up spending an entire morning talking about his work and then looking at photos. We selected some of the photos to scan and did a photo interview after the regular interview was concluded.

Tom was born in Marshall, Texas in 1935. He moved to Louisiana in 1956 to work as a rigger for McDermott. His cousin was a rig builder, and Tom worked with him for a short while. However, he discovered he did not like high places and that divers made more money, so he went to California in 1957 to go to diving school. He returned to Louisiana and began his diving career working for Don Inman and Brown & Root out of Buras. He also did freelance diving and stayed in the business until 1986 when he became a deckhand and spent his next ten years working on boats.