About Taylor Divers Reunion

The Taylor Divers reunion continues and is celebrating our 33rd year without exception. This year, The 33rd reunion, October 26, 2024, at 12:00 PM will be held at a new location: Pat’s Rest Awhile in Mandeville, La. Since the reunion’s inception, it has grown in attendance and still remains primarily a Taylor Diver reunion. However, since so many of us have been in the industry for so long and have worked for many other dive companies over the years, the reunion is attended now by divers industry-wide. All divers are welcome to come and participate, tell stories and lies, and see old friends. We hope that we continue to enjoy this one special day out of the year for many years to come.

A Brief History of Taylor Diving

In 1957, Edward Lee Taylor and Mark Banjavich, two ex-Navy divers, along with French diver Jean Valz, formed Taylor Diving & Salvage and based their operations on the New Orleans Lake front (Read about the Jester II, the schooner owned by Taylor, Banjavich, and Jean Valz that saw the birth of Taylor Diving). They developed the techniques and equipment necessary (recompression chambers for surface decompression) to extend the use of mixed-gas diving to the deeper depths required by the offshore industry. Taylor Diving was acquired by Brown and Root in 1968. The Corporate base and yard was ultimately established at 701 Engineers Rd in Belle Chasse Louisiana.

They developed the techniques and equipment necessary (recompression chambers for surface decompression) to extend the use of mixed-gas diving to the deeper depths required by the offshore industry,( ultimately the Saturation Diving Technique and associated equipment ). This is heralded as one of the top 50 key events which shaped the offshore oil industry. Mark was also involved in the development of equipment known as the Closed Circuit, Free-Flow Underwater Breathing System (United States Patent 4026283), Helium Reclamation (United States Patent 3964866) and the Electric Heating Apparatus For Supplying Heated Fluid To A Diver’s Clothing (United States Patent 3558852).