".....opens with the historic - if tragic - thousand-foot dive of 50 years ago by Hannes Keller, which is also detailed in my book,
SEALAB.
Others will likely find the article to be a good read, and it was especially great to see that writer Nathaniel Rich cited my book as a key source, and even called it "a deft account of deep diving history." Much appreciated."
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SEALAB Author Ben H.
Ben H,
I have not read your book nor do I have it. I suspect it is a great book and a peak for many of the current generation into an exciting time in diving history. I have a file on this dive packed away somewhere, but would like to offer to you from my memory a first hand account of my witnessing of that historic event.
Re Hannes Keller Dive--1962
I was there and can offer the following from a very dusty memory;
I was there in my 17 1/2 foot Sea King boat along with about 30 other boats. bobbing alone side the mother ship
It was a cool crisp winter day with minimum swell--I recall the event took place on the Avalon Banks where it is normally calm.
The dive began with not much fan fare other that some cheering when the capsule went over the side.
Then it was waiting! Borrrring! a nap, some lunch and chatting with others on their boats, since most were LA county UW instructors so we all knew each other, and had lots of stories and lots of catching up...
The tragedy began on the decent at 200 feet. It was known via deck monitoring that there was a gas leak from the capsule. Dick Anderson and a English UCLA student Chris Whitaker (s) were dispatched for a look see and repair..It was discovered Peter Small foot was caught in the capsule door and was unconscious, but Keller was breathing. They returned with Dick bleeding at the top of his head from pushing up on the capsule door with his head, Whitaker was bleeding from his nostrils as a result of this his his first deep dive. Dick obtained a sharp knife and went over the side to cut off a fin that was prohibiting him from closing the hatch door. Whitaker according to report or rumor also obtained a knife and slashed his over inflated PFV and followed.
Dick never had contact with Whitaker and surfaced with out him. After a short time all the civilian boats began a surface search, but no body surfaced-- Whitaker was lost forever.
Upon reaching the deck it was verified that Peter Small was DOA and Keller was alive and well.
So now two dead Englishmen .
After arriving at the dock Keller grabbed all the data and immediately headed back to Switzerland
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A "Blue Label" Investigation board was established --which included number of military and scientific divers and LA County UW Instructors, Clint Degn, John Craig and Tommy Thompson. I have the report of the board but can't locate it at this time .. but it was certainly unfavorable to Keller.
Three weeks later Peter Small's wife, who was the sole heir to an Engish air plane manufacturing company, was so distraught at losing the love of her life stuck her head in a oven and turned on the gas, loosing her young life in the process
Now three English subjects are gone, directly and indirectly as a result of that dive.
I discussed the findings of the blue ribbon committee with Tommy Thompson, who was a neighbor so a lot of what I have described is from memory of being an eyewitness and from the discussions with Tommy.
About 2-3 three weeks later I ran on to Dick. Dick always had a massive head of hair...he parted it for me and there was a huge scab bed, proof positive that he certainly used his head to attempt to close the hatch.
The event has been all but forgotten in most diving circles, most recreational divers who were there are no longer with us; Jim Auxier, Al Tillman, Tommy Thompson, John Craig, Dick Anderson. Harry Wham (The Las Vegas dive shop owner, who was the official Photographer of the event) Harry's demise is cetainly a story for the dark of the night over a cool one..Only Jim Stewart (SIO CDO) was on the mother boat and is now 85, alive and well and lives in SoCal.
The US reports that I have read were not as complete as the English report published in the BSAC "Triton," THE British dive magazine of that era--It certainly did not pull any punches........
This dive was also was a preamble to the a "National Wet NASA.." AKA "Man in the sea."
A few years later Barry Cannon a member of Sea Lab died on national TV...then the "Man in the Sea" suddenly became the "Man on the dock." As a nation we have never recovered from these UW tragedies and have never reestablished a national program for UW exploration and exploitation--and it started with the Keller Dive...
I fear I have rambled on and on... But who knows were we would be if we as a nation spent only a portion of the money that we spend on NASA on oceanographic and diving research?
SDM
