SUB AQUA JOURNAL HOWDEEP IS DEEP? 750 Well Broadway Long Beach , NY 11561 516 / 889-1208 PUBLISHER / EDITOR JOEL D. SILVERSTEIN If you have ever wondered why some divers go deeper than 130 feet this issue may answer some of those questions . Before I go ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/ MANAGING EDITOR on about how wonderful it is to dive deep, let me say deep is any JAMES P. CLEARY dive below 60 feet. If you want to dive below that depth, think it ASSOCIATE EDITOR through . Be prepared in advance, know the tables, contingencies, MELISSA A. ORENSTEIN risks. Deep diving is not an activity to be taken lightly . The men and CONTRIBUTING EDITORS women who dive to extreme depths have many years of training and TOM BAKER DANIEL BERG, in-water experience . Diving deep is not for everyone nor should it be; KIRDY KURKOMELIS, BARBARA LANDER, HILLARY VIDERS, Pb.D the hazards and risks involved are great, some deadly . Recently, four divers died while deep wreck diving here in the CONTRIBUTING North East. I am deeply saddened and concerned by their deaths, so WRITERS & PHOl'OGRAPHERS EDWARD BETTS much so that this issue was almost pulled. Rather than not discuss this CAPT. STEVE BIELENDA very real aspect of diving, we have tried to add a note of caution in GLENN BUTLER CATHIE CUSH every story; a very real note . BERNIE CHOWDHURY Unfortunately, two of the deaths occurred on the ROD FARB Andrea Dorio HANK GARVIN less than two weeks apart. It was reported that one diver was BRET GILLIAM untrained in mixed-gas diving and ran out of gas. The other diver LES GLICK BRADLEY GOLDEN deviated from the plan with his buddies, got lost inside the wreck, and PROP. HENRY KEATTS also ran out of gas. Another diver was "home brewing" nitrox and CAPT. HOWARD KLEIN RICHARD KOHLER used the wrong mix for his depth . The fourth diver's cause of death JOZEF KOPPELMAN has not yet been disclosed. CAPT. JOHN LACHE.NMEYER PE.TE & JACKIE NAWROCKY My point is, although there are many things to see below 130 JEFFREY RUDE.LL, MD feet (and in many respects this issue glorifies them) deep diving is BRADLEY SHE.ARD JEFFREY J. SILVERSTEIN dangerous . If you want to venture far into the deep, please, take the DARRYL STEINHAUSER time to learn and develop the skills necessary to dive with the greatest Sub Aqua Jounw welcorMS unsolic:itad safety procedures possible. It's not worth dying for. materials, both written and photographic. In this issue, Barb Lander leads off with a pioneering effort by Submissiorwand queriesshould be accompa­ nied by a self.addressed envelope to insure some extraordinary divers who visit the Ostfriesland in 338 feet of their return. Allmaterial published ia subject to water. Their team leader was test diving a new gas mix called neox. editing . Reproduction without permission of the publisher ia prohibilltd . Mail all editorial Dan Berg tenaciously completes working dives to 120 feet, revisiting correspondence and photographs to the the USS Algol to recover the auxiliary helm . I make my maiden editor. voyage to the Andrea Doria after four years of training. Hank Garvin NOTICE: shares some insights on when not to dive . Kirby gets another chance Diving ia a potentially dangeroia actvity . Per­ sons engaging In this actvity should be certi- at diving the Oregon (one of my favorites) but opts for dinner and 1ied by a reputable training agency . Once artifacts rather than celluloid memories. certiled you should dive within your training and personal limits. lntormation published in Captain Lachenmeyer "drops in" to share some insights on the Sub Aqua Journal is not a substitull tor weight belt solutions . Hillary tells why staying wet on the inside can education or training . SUb Aqua Journal is not responsible or liable tor the contlnts of prevent decompression sickness. This issue also includes two new any intormation or rec:ommendatione pub­ product reviews and an exciting new book on deep wrecks by diver lished herain . Brad Sheard. SUBSCRIPTIONRATES: Single copy $1 .95. Authors Bret Gilliam and Robert Von Maier share a timely Annual subacriptlon $21.95. Subacriplon excerpt from their latest book with some sensible metho s of planning outside of U.S. add $10.00 postage. Paid orders U.S. bids only. Send r9qUNla to the your gas consumption. When you' re out of air you' r t of life. Let's circulationdepannent. Postage paid at Gar­ be responsible down there. den City, NY (permit no. 148). Deep Diving - the focus of this issue Entirecon11nts Copyright C 1892 by: who venture in search of their dreams. SA.I Publlahlng Inc. Al righlll r&NrWd. SUB AQUA JOURNAL e AUGUST 1992 • 2 THE GLOW FROM B E On the Ostfriesland 338 feet below the surface, Brod Sheard captu res this pio neer ing moment on film . milled about the crowded dive Osrftieslarul were labeled "un­ diver to use "neox ." Despite the deck filming and interviewing as divable . • Clayton and Gentile hazing Ken endured prior to the preparations continued. Finally, marked their third visit to the dive he did not glow in the water. after four hours of preparation, historic battleship in two years . (Although later that night tired the first team disappeared beneath Packer, Gatto and Sheard, al­ divers thou ght they detected a red L the fortuitously calm water 72 though not newcomers to deep glow from Ken's bunk . NOT !) miles off Cape Charles, Virginia . diving, chalked up their first dive Ken has plans for anothe r More than 300 feet below the to the Ostf,iesla,ui . neox dive using a seco nd bottom divers would explore the Osrfr­ Such an extreme depth is not mix of heliox. He believes he can ieslarul, a World War I German feasible on air; the toxic effects of achieve an optim al decomp ression battleship; a war prize . She had oxygen under pres sure would by breathin g heliox first, off-gas­ 0 been sunk in 1921 by aircraft as likely overcome the divers long sing that mix by swi tching mid­ part of an experiment conducted before they could complete their dive to neox. Hold on to your by General Billy Mitchell. The dive, if they didn't succumb to thesa urus he - calls this "deep success of aircraft against naval narcosis first. tissue isobaric inert gas counte r vessels ushered in a new era of Most of the divers were using diffu sion and subsa turation." As military strategy . heliox 12 % as their bottom mix . good as the idea sounds it is Explorers Ken Clayton , Gary The exception was Ken Clayton probably not something you want w Gentile, Tom Packer, Steve Gatto who with the co-operation of Un­ to try . Lou Sarlo, of the Gas by Barbara Lander and Brad Sheard were them selves ion Carbide was field testing a Station, Inc. calculates the cost of heralding a new era . Only a few neon-oxygen mixtur e. Ken be­ a neox fill at over $700 . The sun was high in the sky years ago wrecks as deep as the lieves he is the first recreational Beca use this group was break­ but the usual pre-dive hustle and ing new ground on several fron­ horseplay was missing . A com ­ tiers, the Explorers Club award­ plicated maze of lines was being ed its coveted flag based on the rigged beneath the Miss Liruisey . Scie ntific, Historic, and Adven­ Dozens of regulators and tanks ture Merit of the expedition . were being carefully checked After near ly three hours in and re-checked . Dive plan s and the water - with only 11 min­ contingency plans were reviewed utes on the battleship - divers with team members and support climb ed out of the watt:r exhila­ divers for what seemed to be the rated. TY camera rolling they hundredth time . answe red the inevitable question Cri ses happened - a staged "Was it worth it?" Eyes aglow bottle disappeared and lines with excitement (Ken's eyes fouled . Patiently , the crew reset glowing perhaps more than the the lines, divers rigged and others ) they answt:red as one, placed another bottle . Tensions "Of cou rse. " mounted while a TY news team SUB AQUA JOURN AL • AUGUST 1992 • 3 WRECK VALLEY TheALGOL Revisited by Dan Berg Hank Garvin and 1 had finished our second dive of the day. We were ju st starting a long decompression schedule and were impatiently waiting for a lift bag to ascend . The water just below the twenty-foot thermocline was murky, making horizontal visibili­ ty only ten feet or so. Then , suddenly a white blur raced past us on its way to the surface. We hoped for the best but could not clearly see what was at­ tached to the bag. Hank swam out on the loose end of my tether me that the auxiliary helm was still there. line to take a closer look. When he returned I could clearly see the Hank and I were going to look for the helm and recover it smile on his face. Our project was finally complete. while filming the entire operation for one of the Di ve Wreck Valley Two months earlier Hank and I had made our first trip to the Cable television episodes. Stan and Rolli e provided a wealth of USS Algol since she was scuttled as an artificial reef back in No­ information including detailed three dimensional blue prints of the vember of 1991. Over the winter we bad corresponded with two Algol, which we had studied befor e de cending. On the first trip of the Algo l's crew members , Rollie Broe!! and Stanley Simmon s.