True stories from a lifetime in one of the toughest jobs on Earth...

Jim Rigney has been a commercial diver since the age of seventeen. Starting as a harbour diver in northern Tasmania, Jim has gone on to forge a long and extensive career within the offshore diving industry, taking him all over the world as an air diver, saturation bell diver, medical technician and diving superintendent.

The Life of a Diver is a collection of Jim's experiences and observations from a lifetime within the commercial diving industry, both in Australia and abroad. It's the life of a diver who worked on the salvage and survey following the 1975 Tasman Bridge disaster; who made it a personal mission to establish Australia's first saturation diving training facility in the 1990s; and who once wanted to teach an ill-behaved crew member a lesson and inadvertently created an internet viral hit in the process.

Jim also shares insights from over forty-five years in a tough but rewarding industry, and how he has navigated the day to day challenges that come with off-shore work - and what improvements can still be made.

The life of a diver such as Jim Rigney is one of adventure, danger and the search for stimulating work and innovation.