Pelican Products Story

JHL Supply proudly carries Pelican flashlights and other Pelican products. But how did the Pelican products line begin you ask? Read on.

Dave Parker, Founder and President of the Pelican company, has been an avid Scuba diver since age 11 and has dived some of the most exotic spots in the world. Several times during his years of diving, Dave discovered that something he needed to make a dive complete, was simply not available. It dawned on him that “...if I need something like this, I’ll bet all the other divers do too!” It was from this thought that in 1976 Pelican became a reality and Pelican’s first product and patent, the Pelican Float, was that concept.

After a normal days work at his advertising and industrial design business, Dave and his wife, co-founder Arline, an airline stewardess for TWA, would spend evenings in their garage building Pelican floats.

Dave built all of his own equipment and handled the assembly end of the business. Arline boxed, billed and mailed everything out between her regularly scheduled flights to New York and back. Their homemade float was sold through mail order ads placed in scuba diving magazines.

Dave decided that if the Pelican products line was going to prosper, he needed to get some help. That help came to him in the form of Jerry Linehan. A business school graduate from the University of Southern California, and long time friend of Dave's, Jerry came along four months later to shore up the financial end of the business. From its inception as a small garage operation, Pelican products have blossomed into an international marketing and manufacturing firm.

Yes, Pelican company has changed a great deal over the past several years. It is safe to say that it will continue to change in the upcoming years as well. However, there is one thing that will not change, that you can continue to count on, and that is Pelican’s Commitment to Excellence!

View the entire Pelican product line

Learn more about Pelican Flashlight by going to www.pelican.com