I cannot remember if the instructor (who climbed aboard our boat after
the recovery) told me yes or no when I asked if he had a pony bottle
on, so I cannot definitively say (my memory tells me one answer but I
would rather not comment unless I am 100% sure)...and when his body was
pulled from the water he was without his BC and tanks so we didn't see
it then. Divers from our boat observed that divers in the group who
initially assisted the victim did have ponies, although from the
article it appears that buddy-breathing went on for a short while.
For those not familiar with the wreck of the Chester Poling, it is a
coastal tanker that broke in two during a storm in 1977. The stern
section sits upright in 100 ft of water. The bow turtled and settled
in 190 ft of water. The stern is a popular dive but can easily exceed
an "advanced open water" divers training level in poor conditions.
----------------------
It appears as there were three divers and an instructor also on the
boat. The instructor and the three divers went down together. At some
point, the deceased approached one of the students and took his regulator,
whether it was the primary or the octupus, is unclear. The paper seems
to indicate it was the octupus. However it appears as they exchanged
the regulator several times and then the deceased refused to relinquish
it, at which point the student headed for the surface, without the
deceased.
----------------------
The visibility was good, probably
25 feet. The seas were running about 3 ft and there was some current
midwater and on the wreck. On the bottom, I had 36 degrees water
temp (figure +/- 1 degree). My hands were becoming very cold after
25 min and had small ice flakes from the moisture of my breath coming
through the reg during most of the dive. That was something I have
experienced before, so I was not alarmed (I was also using Poseidon
Odins, which do pretty well in real cold water). There are two
moorings on the wreck, we were moored on the stern and the Cape Ann
Diver II was moored on the break end of the wreck.
Scuba diver dead in Gloucester waters
By JOHN ENOS
Staff writer
A Belmont man died while scuba diving on the hulk of the sunken oil
barge off Eastern Point yesterday afternoon.
Anthony Kalinowski, 50, of 18 Payson Road, was pronounced dead on
arrival at Addison Gilbert Hospital.
A Coast Guard vessel transported his body to the Harbor Loop station
after it was recovered from the Chester A. Poling.
Kalinowski had gone out to the spot where the barge broke up and sank
in January 1977. He was diving from a Cape Ann Divers' boat with four
other scuba divers.
Three were students instructed by Michael Paskiewski, 38, of Spencer.
He and the others were interviewed by Detective Joseph Fitzgerald and
Patrolman Sean Conners at the hospital.
Paskiewski told the police that Kalinowski dived first and alone,
ahead of the others.
The next time he saw Kalinowski, Paskiewski said, he was struggling
with Jesse Dotteror, 26, of Worcester.
Paskiewski said Dotteror broke away and the instructor tried to stop
Dotteror who was heading toward the surface too quickly.
Dotteror told the policeman that Kalinowski had come to him
underwater and took his extra regulator. After Kalinowski took two
breaths from it, he handed it back, the Worcester man said.
After Dotteror took two breaths, Dotteror said, Kalinowski took the
regulator back. When he refused to return it, Dotteror started for
the surface.
Another scuba diver, Shane Duclas of Chicoppee, told police he later
brought Kalinowski up after finding him on the barge's deck.
The man did not have a regulator to an air tank in his possession,
Duclas said.
The men interviewed by Fitzgerald and Conners estimated Kalinowski
was underwater for 15 minutes.
Local police notified the state police detectives assigned to
investigate unattended deaths for the Essex County District
Attorney's Office. They also contacted Belmont police to notify the
dead man's family.
The state's Medical Examiner's Office took jurisdiction of the case,
with an autopsy scheduled to determine the cause of Kalinowski's
death.
----------------------
Although the reason for the initial OOA is as yet unknown, the victim
still
deceased even though:
a) The victim was able to reach an alternate air source and begin buddy
breathing. ( I wonder why the donor did not go to his backup reg?)
b) He was observed by an Instructor during the OOA buddy breathing
c) From the Instructors comments in the newspaper report he seems to
have
intervened with the pair but was not able to establish an alternate air
source with the victim after the initial donor separated to the
surface.
This is in no way a criticism of the people involved, just an
observation
that a few chances to make a survivable ascent seem to have slipped by
for
whatever reasons.
I would also observe that unfortunately in like fashion to many other
incidents, the full story may never be known because he was diving solo
and
this seems to have been fully sanctioned by the dive operation. I get
the
sense from the description of his gear that he was on a single tank.
It is one thing to admit that as a charter operator/dive boat you
cannot
'force' people to stay in buddy pairs once they hit the water ... it is
another to officially condone, solo diving to 30m (on a single tank?)
They
may have some liability problems in their future with this one...
----------------------
The rest of the stuff I have seen deteriorates into a defense for solo diving...which we all know is crap.
