OK, so episode two the diver evidently has his air cut off at 70ft with at least an hour deco obligation. My question is, did they ever explain how the guys air was cut off and why did he not hit the backup air that they said was on the "stage"?
Billion Dollar Wreck
- Thread starter Doby45
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WKG
New
A ScubaBoard Staff Message...
I was watching a new TV show in the History Channel called Billion Dollar Wreck, and there was a diving accident with one of the divers. They are diving on a wreck in 270 feet of water using a gas mixture. During one of the Deco stops, the diver was panicked and indicating he had no air coming from his helmet, and was rushed to the surface. They had a chamber on the boat, but after 9hrs he was still showing signs of deco sickness. This was an unfortunate incident, and to me it appeared the dive master planned for just about every possible thing that could go wrong.
However I don't recall the show ever addressing what actually happened, and how the diver could run out of air as they were not using tanks, and you could see the dive master switching valves from the mix to air. Do any of you know what happened and how this accident happened?
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Randy g
Contributor
Made for TV= Drama
A hard hat diver has many bail out options, first and foremost, the tank on his back. Just turn the valve on the side block of the helmet to activate. If he were truly out of air, he wouldn't have been able to talk. Try it.
I think the guy panicked and got severely bent.
I watched this show. I think there is no treasure. There have been many salvage operations on Republic.
I think the guy panicked and got severely bent.
I watched this show. I think there is no treasure. There have been many salvage operations on Republic.
OP
I agree with you @HowardE and even though they said this was the guys first "mixed gas" dive, they said he had a ton of salvage experience. The ton of salvage experience would tell me he was familiar with the hardhat and umbilical diving style and also familiar with the bail out options. My wife watched and was like "oh my gosh they even said it was his first mixed gas dive" which goes to show me that people that have no dive experience at all and some that have limited dive experience will see this and form wrong opinions.
The main salvage master guy even said he did not know why the guy did not bail out to his own bottle or the gas that was on the stage/cage.
The main salvage master guy even said he did not know why the guy did not bail out to his own bottle or the gas that was on the stage/cage.
OP
OldPhotog
Registered
I saw that same show. The diver indicated he was breathing helium when he should have been on air - and he sounded like he was breathing helium. Next he indicated he had no air. We may have to wait until this week's episode.
Jim Agnew
New
The show Billion Dollar Wreck has terrible editing, it's almost too hard to watch with all the choppy cuts to so many events, murder, treasure, decompression illness, hanging dialogue. The episodes, like most all reality shows, overlap minutes redundant footage after each commercial break too, why do they do this? Do the producers think we forgot what we saw 2 minutes ago?
By the looks of the wreck from this show and other sources there would need to be a Herculean effort to move the crushed decks and debris to even get near the possible location of any gold. Assume you would need the capabilities of the US Navy's salvage technology or at least a commercial saturation dive team to make this at all possible. You will never get the job done on 30 minute dives with one diver. Just my observations. Thx
By the looks of the wreck from this show and other sources there would need to be a Herculean effort to move the crushed decks and debris to even get near the possible location of any gold. Assume you would need the capabilities of the US Navy's salvage technology or at least a commercial saturation dive team to make this at all possible. You will never get the job done on 30 minute dives with one diver. Just my observations. Thx
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OP
I could not agree more with you. I was telling my wife how crappy it is that EVERY shows does that now with the 3min recap of the last 5min every time they go to commercial break. Damn hour long shows only have 20min of actual content. I also fast forward through all the crap on this show regarding him and his old lady and the "killin" and all that.. I really like the Salvage Master on the show and he seems to me to be the only knowledgeable person on the boat. STILL can not figure out what happened with the second diver and his lack of ability to bail out to one of the two other gas options. And the whole "this is a secret ship wreck that the gubment knew about and kept it hush hush" is laughable. If the government knew about this wreck and it had the gold on it that he claims it does they would have sent the Navy Salvage team down for that junk 50yrs ago.
Jim Agnew
New
But I'll keep watching...better than watching the Bachelor with my wife!
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