Name your most adventurous dives!

[TSandM]

Is that a SINGLE TANK on the Doria? That would be adventurous, indeed!

 

[Akimbo]

Is that a SINGLE TANK on the Doria?...

Sure, plus the umbilical because we were in sat. That single 80 was a large bailout. It wasn't common to wear them valve-down in those days. Those three white knobs on my right hip controlled distribution of 2½ GPM of 110° hot water to the suit -- DUI went to one valve a few years later. The mask is an old Kirby-Morgan Band Mask (they didn't make hats yet). The blue thing in my hand is a 120VAC cable powered 500 w Birns & Sawyer light (not turned on).

There was a lot of work shallow on the Port side, about 160', so we were on open circuit air. We were so acclimatized to air at that depth from repeated preparatory dives on Scuba before going into sat, we couldn't detect any narcosis

We switched to HeO2 when deeper inside on closed-circuit Push-Pull -- exhalations were returned to the surface, reprocessed, and pumped back down. Between the exhaust regulator being a PITA, annoying leaks, and requiring a dedicated man on the surface; air was much easier.

 

[TSandM]

Ah, I didn't realize you were on an umbilical. Whose project was that? (Just finished reading Peter Hunt's book about the Doria.)

 

[Superlyte27]

Oh, If you are talking commercially, I have a lot more to add. Reactor 1 Bay 1 of the Port St. Lucie power plant when Reactor 1 Bay 2 intake pump kicked on. To start the list.

 

[Akimbo]

Ah, I didn't realize you were on an umbilical. Whose project was that? (Just finished reading Peter Hunt's book about the Doria.)

Saturation Systems in 73. Bob Hollis’ article on the Scuba Diving Magazine Web site is a little melodramatic and incomplete, but generally accurate. Jack McKenney’s 2-part article in the January & February ’74 Skin Diver Magazine issues are the most accurate piece written on the project. We were the first group to make a sat dive on her (two technically) and removed the double outer hull doors to the first class foyer. That opening was enlarged by Oceaneering divers in 1981 for Peter Gimbel’s Expedition — creating Gimbel’s hole. Oceaneering divers removed tens, if not hundreds, of tons of debris. Only one of the three safes in that area was recovered.

Gimbel proved our conclusion to abort the dive after surveying the inside was correct: It would cost far more to salvage the safes than was in them. At least we had an excuse… young, cocky, and stupid. I still feel sorry for our investors and the whole crew — most were friends, shipmates, and neighbors. I doubt any of us ever worked so hard.

Saturation Systems became a manufacturer after that dive and built two large chambers for Oceaneering, one of which was the main living chamber on the sat complex used on the Gimbel expedition. It is a small world.

A group made an attempt at sat on her in 1968, but is virtually forgotten. They used a home-built habitat made from wood called the Early Bird. They were sort of a Who’s-Who of commercial diving pioneers. Alan Krasberg (innovative engineer from Westinghouse) put the project together with Nick Zinkowski (Author of Commercial Oil-Field Diving). The supporting team included Winston Chee (Westinghouse engineer, later Assistant Engineering Manager at Taylor Diving & Salvage). Al Giddings was on the photo team. Unfortunately, they got skunked by weather and the budget. Too bad really, it would have been a spectacular accomplishment.

 

[Akimbo]

Oh, If you are talking commercially, I have a lot more to add. Reactor 1 Bay 1 of the Port St. Lucie power plant when Reactor 1 Bay 2 intake pump kicked on. To start the list.

The Doria wasn’t really a commercial dive; a failed treasure hunt would be more like it. About the only people that made money on this dive sold the helium.

 

[Julieofthesea]

Swimming with Hammerheads in the Galapagos was pretty exciting. I recommend it. My topside photos are here: Galapagos - a set on Flickr