APD recall over faulty hoses
Ambient Pressure Diving has found that some hoses fitted to its products could be unsafe due to insufficiently crimped connector fittings.
The fittings should be crimped so that eight flats are clearly visible on the fitting collar (picture, top). If the collar is smoothly rounded, crimping has not been done (picture, bottom).
“While these [uncrimped] hoses work properly for a time, there is potential and a very real risk of the hose fittings coming away from the hose,” says the company.
Potentially affected are low-pressure hoses used on Inspiration, Evolution and Evolution+ rebreathers; the Buddy Blast Hose (air horn end only); second stage regulator hose (second stage end only); and gas connection system (second stage/ADV end only).
Among the rebreathers, the hoses to examine are the ADV hose (ADV end only); buzzer hose (both ends); oxygen supply hose (solenoid end); and handset hose (lid end).
It is thought that the problem relates to a small number of hoses made between April and July this year. But it is “prudent to look back further”, says APD, such that customers who purchased hoses after January 2007 – either as part of another product or as a spare – are asked to check their hose-crimping.
Divers should not dive again with any hose suspected of being defective, but contact APD to obtain a replacement.
APD is contacting directly all its known customers who have bought potentially affected equipment.
APD hoses which employ screw-together fittings – which account for the majority of low-pressure hoses made by the company since the mid-1980s – are not affected by the recall.
To obtain a replacement or make an enquiry about the recall, call AP in the UK on 01326 563834, or in the USA on 603-447-2600. Alternatively send an email to Nicky@apdiving.com
Source: Divenet
Claimed by the Sea – Long Island Shipwrecks
Author Adam Grohman has recently released his most ambitious project to date, “Claimed by the Sea – Long Island Shipwrecks”, taking an in depth look at eleven shipwrecks situated in the waters around Long Island. The wrecks that are included in the book are the: Savannah, Lexington, U.S.S. Ohio, Circassian, Seawanhaka, Oregon, Louis V. Place, General Slocum, U.S.S. San Diego, Andrea Doria, and the Gwendoline Steers, and the history of the wrecks is included along with photographs of the sunken vessels and recovered artifacts…
“Claimed by the Sea is an amazing look into the past,” Grohman claimed. “The research outlines the sometimes forgotten nautical history of Long Island. The book dives into the history of 11 different shipwrecks starting with the loss of the Savannah – the first vessel to utilize steam power for transatlantic travel – to the terrible loss of life aboard the tug boat Gwendoline Steers in the early 1960s. Throughout the research I was reminded of the one theme that sadly remained constant – all were claimed, most under terrible conditions, in situations that pit man versus the enormity of the sea.”
“The joy of the project stemmed from the ability to work with other divers,” Grohman continued. “I had the unique opportunity to work with several historical research centers, both locally and globally, and dive groups as I dove into the past. Divers from the Long Island Divers Association, Wrecksploration, and Seascapes USA Dive Shop, including Larry Gerber, Mark Silverstein, John Bricker, Bob Auteri, Harold and Doug Acker, Adam Altman, William Pfeiffer and Tony Bliss, opened their dive logs to help me tell the stories of these wrecks that rest on the bottom of our waters. The end result is an interesting look at history. It is truly a hands on – and on the bottom – approach to our past.”
For more information on this and other books by Grohman visit: www.stores.lulu.com .
Source: The Roslyn News
Out of the office – Into the Blue
Today Big Blue Tech will be boarding the Mv Trident for 4 Days of technical wreck exploration and training. BBT will be joined by other members of the Koh Tao community and rebreather divers from Pucket and Australia.
The plan for the trip is a 3 day stint at HTMS Pangan and an additional day exploration.
From BBT will be James “Canada” Thornton-Allan, Niall Mackenzie as the main instructors; Ben, Marco and Shoko who are completing their DSAT Tec Deep course and Matt Rolph as medic support (he’s bringing his fancy satellite phone too)
This day has come together from a combined effort to train Ben, Marco and Shoko to a level where they can complete deep ocean decompression dives using oxygen and nitrox to accelerate their time.
During this time we’ll be out of reach. Feel free to email us and we’ll get back to you on our return.
Japan issues arrest warrants for Sea Shepherd ‘eco-terrorists’
TOKYO, Japan (18 Aug 2008) — Japanese police have sought arrest warrants for three anti-whaling activists after their heated clashes with Tokyo’s whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean last year, the government said on Monday.
“It’s natural to seek an arrest warrant after determining that there was a crime,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told a news conference.
“No matter what you think about whaling, physical protests should be avoided.”
Two Americans and a Briton from the hardline Sea Shepherd group are suspected of having obstructed Japan’s whale hunt through protests such as jamming a ship’s propeller with a rope, Kyodo news agency reported.
Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police is looking to place the three on an international wanted list once the arrest warrants are obtained, Kyodo added.
Japan’s whale hunts have come under growing pressure from environmental groups, who say it is cruel and violates a 1986 global moratorium on commercial whaling.
Japan, which considers whaling to be a cultural tradition, says it only undertakes whaling for scientific research.
Protests last year against the whaling fleet outraged Japan, which called the activities “piratical, terrorist acts”. Activists had poured acid on the deck of a whaling ship, slightly injuring two crew members.
Clashes took place again earlier this year, setting off a spate of diplomatic complaints between Japan and Australia, although the two countries agreed not to let the issue hurt ties.
Meat from the hunts, which under rules set by the International Whaling Commission must be sold for consumption, is available in Japanese supermarkets and restaurants, though appetite for what is now a delicacy is fading.
Source: Divenet
Team links wrecks with war records
British divers have explored the wrecks of WW2 tanks and other military hardware off the coast of West Sussex.
The team, from Southsea Sub-Aqua Club, spent five days surveying a site eight miles out in Bracklesham Bay, where two tanks, two bulldozers and a field gun lie “jumbled up” at a depth of 20m.
From photographs and video from the site, experts at the Tank Museum in Bovington have identified the tanks as Centaur CS IVs, which were intended to support forces landing in Normandy on D-Day. Surviving examples are rare.
The bulldozers are armoured Caterpillar units, which allowed British forces to clear obstacles from the beaches.
The divers also noted a large kedge anchor tucked beneath one tank. Two ammunition sleds, two propellers and ammunition were among the many additional items found at the site.
As a result of their work, the divers believe they have the evidence to prove that the machines were lost from a Landing Craft Tank (LCT) known to have turned back from the crossing and to have lost two tanks overboard in bad weather. Some had believed that the wrecks were from a section of Mulberry Harbour bridge.
The project had the approval of the Ministry of Defence and will submit its report at the end of the summer. It received a grant from the British Sub-Aqua Jubilee Trust, and was supported by Silent Planet Ltd, of Portland.
Individuals with information or comments about D-Day activities in the Bracklesham Bay area are invited to make contact. Club website – www.southseasubaqua.org.uk
Source: Divenet
Devastation of Pearl Harbour
Hollywood duo Josh Hartnett and Ben Affleck portrayed the American desire to avenge the infamous Pearl Harbour bombings playing two US pilots in Michael Bay’s hit 2001 epic.
But, the true devastation of the revenge attacks on Japanese forces in 1944 has been captured in one of the most ambitious underwater projects ever undertaken.
Secrets: A Japanese tank on the sunken deck of the the San Francisco Maru TX
Operation Hailstorm was two years in the making – but on February 17, 1944, American forces blitzed the Chuuk Islands, in the south western region of the Pacific Ocean, sinking 70 Japanese ships, 270 aircraft and killing close to 3,000 people – though the official death toll has never been confirmed.
And commissioned by the BBCs Natural History Unit, a 30 strong team of divers, deep sea biologists and under water cameraman explored remotest depths of the Pacific to unravel some of the secrets behind the America’s revenge attacks.
Revenge attacks: Michael Pitts on the bow gun
‘We were pushing the boundaries, spending extra long periods as a visitor in an alien element’, presenter-explorer Kate Humble told the Sunday Mirror.
‘I’m not a brave person and I was nervous because every dive has its risks’.
Series producer Dale Templar said: “It was a true voyage of discovery.
Voyage of discovery: Presenter-explorer Kate Humble explores a reef
‘Most of the sites we explored had never been dived before.
‘The expedition undertook some of the deepest and most dangerous diving ever attempted by a TV crew.
Kate Humble admitted she was ‘nervous’ before the fact finding dives
Pushing boundaries: Team member Bob Cranston
‘But one of the most awe-inspiring sights was the graveyard of the Japanese fleet.
‘There were just so many ghosts down there.’
Pacific Abyss will be shown in three hour-long specials starting next Sunday on BBC1 at 8pm.
Ghosts: Mike de Gruy surfaces after a night dive
Awe-inspiring: Kate Humble explores the Betty Bomber TX
Red Sea will be ‘ugly, empty lake’
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A key Egyptian conservation group has lamented the partial failure of a fishing ban announced recently to boost stocks in the country’s waters.
“The National Authority of Fisheries recently issued a decree banning all fishing in the Egyptian Red Sea for a period of three months,” stated Amr Ali, MD of the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA).
“Sadly, this decree was not observed. Exceptions were taken and fishing continued in parts of the Red Sea with the justification of the social needs of the fishermen and their families.”
According to Ali, fish continued to be taken from “the area of the Gulf of Aqaba, and from Hurghada to the deep South”. Yet this represented “just 2 per cent of the total fish catch from the Egyptian Red Sea”.
“Essentially, by destroying these fish stocks, we are sacrificing tourism in the region and the natural resources of the Red Sea for just 2 per cent of the fish catch,” he said. “You do not need to be a genius to see that this is total madness. Nor do you need to be a mathematician. The revenue from this 2 per cent catch is clearly minute compared to the total income from tourism in the Red Sea.”
While stating that HEPCA understood “the effects of such a declaration on the lives of the Red Sea fishermen”, and would work “with our partners to minimise any potential social damage and to work on positive solutions”, Ali said that, if such fisheries continue, “we are also condemning the reefs of the Red Sea to certain death”.
“In time,” he declared, “the Red Sea will resemble nothing more than an ugly, empty lake.”
HEPCA is working, said Ali, with the Egyptian Chamber of Diving and Watersports (CDWS) and South Sinai Association for Diving and Marine Activities (SSDM) on “an initiative working towards declaring the Red Sea a no-catch zone”.
The initiative will build “on the many positive steps taking by SSDM since the end of 2007, in association with the National Parks of Egypt, the Minister of Tourism, the CDWS and the Governorate of South Sinai”.
* Dr Mahmoud Hanafy, a senior marine biologist and professor from Suez Canal University, has joined HEPCA as Scientific Advisor, having previously worked with the organisation on specific projects.
Known for his research and other work in conservation and fisheries, Dr Hanafy also works as a Special Advisor to the National Parks of the Red Sea, and for the Red Sea Governorate.
Source: Divenet
BBC’s Pacific dive special
Tune in to BBC1 on 17 August for the first of a three-strong series in which presenters Kate Humble and Mike deGruy (pictured) dive great sites in the Pacific.
The first programme, which runs from 8pm, covers the WW2 shipwrecks of Truk Lagoon. After her first dive in the area, Humble said: “If every dive is even a quarter as good as this one, we’re going to have a very, very exciting month.”
The series was commissioned by the BBC’s Natural History Unit and was shot using a 30-strong team of divers, biologists and cameramen.
The expedition, says the BBC, “undertook some of the deepest and most dangerous diving ever attempted by a TV crew”.
Mike deGruy is set to appear at the Dive 2008 Show at the NEC, Birmingham on 1 and 2 November.
Soursce: Divenet
Diver Finds Million Dollar Golden Chalice Off Florida Coast; ‘Spectacular’ Artifact Only 18 Feet Underwater
Key west, Florida — Divers for the historic shipwreck search and salvage company Blue Water Ventures Key West have discovered an intact, centuries old, golden chalice in the waters of the Florida Straits.
The ornately etched vessel, which the Spanish called a bernegal, was discovered in about eighteen feet of seawater and one foot of sand by the team’s newest member, 20 year old Mike DeMar, whose last name means “of the sea.” DeMar, who moved to Key West from Seattle, Washington, just four months ago, said that searching for lost shipwrecks and their treasures had been his dream since childhood and “today it just got sweeter.”
For the past three years, BWVKW, a joint venture partner of Mel Fisher’s Treasures, has been searching an area near the Marqueses Keys, where the 480 ton galleon Santa Margarita is known to have been destroyed in a fierce storm, taking down with her 143 passengers and crew and a fortune in treasures. With more than 30 years of historic shipwreck search and recovery experience behind him, Operations Chief Dan Porter, captain of the companies search and salvage vessel Blue Water Rose, took the helm in 2007 and has identified and led the team along a new artifact trail into previously unexplored areas.
“What a spectacular discovery,” said Blue Water Ventures Key West President/CEO W. Keith Webb, “not only because of the astounding beauty and rarity of the artifact, but also because the area of exploration that produced it – the northern-most that gold has ever been found – has given our team every reason to expect a very adventurous summer.”
Savour the side effects
Side-mounting cylinders is not just for cavers and other tekkies, says Martyn Farr. Don’t dismiss the system till you’ve tried it – it offers tangible benefits for any diver
“I defy any divers of average ability not to feel at home in side-slung tanks within 10 minutes of trying them, and wanting to run out to buy their own!” So says Scott Bisset, proprietor of Deep Blue Dive Centre in Tynemouth, who was at first sceptical when he sampled the side-mounting system on a TDI cave-diving course I ran last year.
“That was until I tried it in the water,” he says. “Side-mounts are not solely for use in caverns and caves but are extremely effective for anyone serious about wreck penetration or any overhead environment.” And, he might have added, for any diver with back trouble or who wants to feel that bit safer.
When a diver’s cylinders, regulators and gauges are configured at his side rather than on his back, he is using side-mounting, a concept that came from the cave-diving world. By streamlining the position of the cylinders, one either side of the body, it is possible to pass through extremely low sections, less than half a metre in height.
Potential for confusion
Cave-divers in Britain began side-mounting their equipment in the early 1960s. Initial trials employed a single bottle, slung between armpit and thigh by a belt attached to one cylinder band. The diver’s lead was usually attached to a separate belt, to which the battery pack for the underwater lighting was also sometimes clipped.
This worked well, but as cylinders increased in size they tended to slip from the required position towards the chest.
In the early ’70s, a fully redundant system was commonly used, with the diver having three belts around his waist. This could give rise to confusion, and the system was still prone to cylinder movement. So, a few years later, divers began to experiment with a single, more substantial, waistbelt system which held the bottles firmly in position.
In the early ’80s the Troll Harness appeared, with shoulder straps to ease the burden of carrying the weight above water. Any size of cylinder could now be used.
The harness was a vast improvement over the previous system of belts, but other problems had yet to be resolved. As the bottles were secured against the diver’s body at a single, narrow point, using a metal cylinder band, they tended to swivel, especially as they became depleted. This could result in the cylinder valve and regulator first stage catching the floor of the passage, stirring up sediment and so on.
Perhaps the greatest concern was that the cylinders could not be easily disconnected from the harness, certainly not under water.
However, a number of divers still use this system today, and it is worth noting that the “record” traverse dives undertaken in British caves in the late ’70s and early ’90s used this basic configuration.
Another problem with the Troll Harness was that the cylinders, regulators attached, were “built” into it on dry land, and it was often a struggle getting to one’s feet and then shuffling awkwardly to the water.
Backstrain was a common complaint. In the early ’90s, US divers came up with subtle modifications, and it is to the resulting system that most British cave-divers now subscribe.
Parallel positioning
The American side-mounting system removed much of the physical stress encountered on entry and exit from the water.
The diver now dresses in the harness, dons his instrumentation and makes all his last-minute preparations unencumbered by cylinders or regulators. Bottles, equipped with valves, are the last items to be attached, and these can be clipped to the body either out of the water or effortlessly at any depth.
Another major advantage is that the cylinders are attached to the diver at two points – waist and shoulder.
The favoured method of connecting the cylinder at the waist is to use a large karabiner. This is modified slightly, with the hook on the latch filed off and any screw-gate removed to ensure ease of connection and subsequent disconnection with possibly cold, gloved fingers.
A variety of fittings can be used to retain the cylinder in the armpit and shoulder area. A small accessory karabiner, or bolt-snap, is connected to a length of shock cord running beneath the armpit, and secures the neck of the cylinder valve to a shoulder ring on the harness.
The set-up feels a little looser and floppier above water than the previous system, but under water the bottles remain perfectly parallel with the body, and no longer pivot as the gas depletes.
Minimalist approach
For the solo diver, or one forced to kit up or dekit in awkward conditions, this rig is a real blessing. Beyond this, it gives divers the opportunity to remove one or other cylinder below water, either to negotiate a constricted section in a cave or wreck, or even to pass to a buddy who might be low on gas.
Side-mounting harnesses are commercially available but differ considerably.
There is much to commend a versatile, flexible rig. On short, shallow cave dives in the British Isles, for example, buoyancy control might not be required, so the harness will of necessity be a minimalist arrangement.
In the deeper caves of Florida, redundant buoyancy control is essential, and here a wing built in to the side-mount harness is invaluable (stab jackets or vests are suitable for supplying buoyancy control but a small wing, able to be detached, is perhaps better).
Finely balanced
Side-mounting can also be used to complement traditional back-mounted configurations, but divers in Britain, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean are today using multi-cylinder rigs as a direct extension of the side-mounted system outlined.
Using two cylinders of equal size on either side of the body provides a finely balanced position in the water. Provided that they are breathed down fairly equally, the trim is maintained throughout the dive.
At the outset, you might need to experiment a little with the positioning of your weights. Establishing the centre of gravity is not as easy as it is with conventional back-mounted cylinders, but neither is it difficult.
With two separate regulators you have a redundant system on which the cylinder valves are arguably more accessible than with a back-mounted manifold. In effect your “buddy” is right there by your side!
Because you are swapping mouthpieces on a regular basis, you are constantly checking the condition of each system, which does wonders for the confidence. In terms of overall safety, this is far better than carrying a pony bottle.
The system is used to best advantage with short high-pressure hoses, although it is perfectly easy to “stow” the excess beneath bungee or “snoopy” loops.
Care needs to be taken to ensure that the routeing of hoses is neat and orderly, and to ensuring that both mouthpieces are always instantly accessible. An elasticated, quick-release Fastex connector will hold the regulators conveniently close to the neck. In an emergency out-of-air scenario, the quick-release fastening on the donor’s regulator does not need to be disconnected, as the elastic will slide down the length of the hose.
Easy on the back
Like anything tried for the first time, the arrangement takes a little getting used to. In terms of comfort it will not be found lacking, and for anyone with back trouble who is concerned about carrying excess weight, this could be the solution.
I suffer from a weak back myself, and would certainly not contemplate wearing a pair of 15 litre cylinders in the traditional manner.
However, where I can walk bottles into the water separately, there is no constraint on the size of cylinders that can be worn side-mounted, and even a pair of 20 litre bottles can be deployed comfortably using this configuration.
Jim Fishback has a name that few will recognise in Britain, but he is one of the leading divers with Dive Rite of Lake City, north Florida. He has a severe disability which, were it not for side-mounting, would have forced him to abandon diving, and probably most other forms of exercise as well.
Anyone who has seen the beautiful Florida springs would understand how devastating a prospect this would be, but side-mounting allows Jim both to exercise and continue his love of diving.
Pub post-mortem
I suspect that there are many divers in the community who might experience more than a little physical stress when it comes to struggling with the weight of their equipment.
And, because of the need for balance when using side-slung equipment in the recreational sphere, I would recommend a pair of lightweight 7 litre (232 bar) cylinders to anyone.
Tony Sidney, an instructor on the same TDI course as Scott Bisset, also appreciated the absence of weight on the lower back. “Even after two hours under water on our first open-water session, I exited with no aches or pains, as I would have had with the back-mounted 300 bar, 10 litre twins I usually use for pleasure-diving,” he says.
“After the first day’s diving we were sitting in the pub trying to come up with a list of disadvantages for the side-mount over the back-mounted set-up. I still can’t think of a single disadvantage!
“I found the side-mounts easier to don and doff and more comfortable in the water than back-mounts, and I felt reassured because I could see and easily get to my tank valves.
“Because I use a back-mount system anyway, I don’t need to buy any type of harness, because the backplate can be used to secure the tanks close to the body.”
When your dive is over, it takes seconds to unclip a side-slung set while in the water. Then you can clamber back onto the boat, or dry land, with minimal effort. Think about it.
History worth saving: ‘Moonlight’ shipwreck to be protected from scuba looters
by RICK OLIVO
In her day, she was the archetype of the trim, speedy Great Lakes schooner.
Carrying a full set of canvas aloft, with cargos of grain and iron ore, she was a magnificent vision; widely regarded as the biggest, fastest and most beautiful of all the three-masted lakes schooners of the age.
She was the “Moonlight,” a wooden ship in an era of iron men and near-mythic triumph and tragedy on the Great lakes. She is renowned in sea-shanties that recall her grace, beauty and speed, her epic sailing duels with other schooners, racing the wind for home, and she is sadly remembered for her ignominious end, foundering in a fall gale near the Apostle Islands in September of 1903.
Fast-forward 102 years.
On July 30, 2004, shipwreck hunter Jerry Eliason is conducting a systematic searching for the legendary bulk freighter Marquette, which had sunk in the area of Michigan Island.
Instead, in some 240 feet of water, he discovered something he hadn’t even been looking for: the broken remains of the once majestic Moonlight.
Later that year, Bob Olson, Rick Peters and Ken Merryman, divers for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society, found the vessel to be an astonishing archaeological treasure trove, amazingly intact after more than a century in the icy, preserving cold waters of Lake Superior. There the divers found the ship’s china, lanterns, anchors and the original steering wheel – all items that are commonly quickly looted from the sunken remains of vessels in shallower, more accessible waters.
“One of the best stories about this ship is how well she is preserved,” said Tamara Thomsen of the Maritime Preservation and Archaeology Program of the Wisconsin Historical Society, which collaborated with the Shipwreck Preservation Society to get the Moonlight listed on the Wisconsin Register of Historic Places as a preliminary to inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.
The State Historic Preservation Review Board of the Wisconsin Historical Society met last week and voted to include the Moonlight shipwreck on the state registry.
“It’s a time capsule,” Thomsen continued. “Everything that went down with her – the items the crew had brought on board – everything is there and it hasn’t been touched; it’s only been dived on by a few divers. For an archaeologist, it’s amazing.”
Thomsen praised the high ethical standards of the ship’s discoverers.
“They could have easily sneaked out there under the noses of the state and taken everything off of it. But because they chose to come forward and actually take the steps to put it on the National Register, it will be a fabulous place for divers and researchers to visit, because everything will still be there,” she said.
And it is history worth saving.
Rewind back to 1874.
The three-masted schooner Moonlight was built in the Milwaukee works of Wolf & Davidson, one of a new class of larger, faster lake schooners that signaled the golden age of sail on the Great Lakes, Thomsen said. She can hold a then-amazing total of 50,000 bushels of grain and could fly enough canvas to make her the fastest ship on the Great Lakes.
“The Moonlight achieved fame and recognition across the lakes as a beautiful sailing ship with fine lines and exceptional speed,” Thomsen said.
The Moonlight was immortalized in the shanty “The Crack Schooner Moonlight,” which celebrated a race between the craft and a similar vessel “Porter,” when both craft put on their full complement of sail and raced to see who could be first to Milwaukee with a full load of grain.
Even as the glory days of sail faded before the irresistible chug-chug-chug of the coal-fired steamboat, the Moonlight continued to do yeoman work as a towed bulk carrier barge, although much faded from the picturesque windjammer she once was.
Her end came as she left Chequamegon Bay laden with 1,400 tons of rich Gogebic Range iron ore, during a lull in a ferocious autumnal gale.
During her 24 years, the Moonlight, like most Great Lakes Schooners of the era, had had any number of narrow scrapes. In 1895, she and her companion barge, Henry A. Kent, ran aground in Lake Superior when their tow, the C.J. Kershaw, burst a steam pipe and lost all power in strong northwesterly winds. The Kershaw was impaled between two large boulders near Chocolay Reef and was pounded to pieces by storm waves, while the Kent and Moonlight were tossed high and dry on the treacherous coast of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Although written off as a total loss, a heroic salvage effort brought both vessels back from the dead, and the Moonlight continued her career until yet another storm proved to be her undoing.
As they left Chequamegon Bay in September of 1903, the crew of the Moonlight could not have known that the storm they thought they had sat out was to return with a vengeance. At the height of the gale, the Moonlight’s tow cable to the steamship Volunteer parted, and in short order, despite the efforts of the Moonlight’s crew to get pumps on line, it was clear the ship was foundering. With great difficulty, the Volunteer circled around and managed to offload the crew, with the decks nearly awash. There, some 12 miles off Michigan Island, the once proud Moonlight slipped below the waves, never again to be seen plying the lakes she had known so well.
The Ashland Daily Press issue of September 15, 1903 ran the story on its front page.
“The schooner Moonlight, which left last Saturday with iron ore, now lies on the bottom of Lake Superior, a short distance from Michigan Island,” The Press succinctly reported.
There was sorrow too, from her former skipper, Dennis Sullivan – the very man who had captained her in her legendary race against the Porter.
“I feel as if I had lost an old friend. There was never a better or truer ship flying the American flag. I remember the feeling I had on the first day the Moonlight went into commission. I would not that day have exchanged places with the president of the United States,” he was quoted as saying in The Daily Press.
According to Thomsen, the circumstances of the Moonlight’s sinking are more than a bit suspicious. Joseph C. Gilchrist, who owned her when she went down, was a ship owner second only to U.S. Steel on the Great Lakes at the time. Most of his ships were self-insured, but for some unfathomable reason in 1903, he had a number of his vessels and cargos heavily insured. Several Gilchrist vessels sank or went aground that year. The John Craig stranded on Simmons Reef. V.S. Swain sank at her dock. The Waverly sank in Lake Huron, followed by the A.A. Parker near Munising, Mich. Then, in short order, the Moonlight and Marquette both went down within a month of each other and both near Michigan Island. The year ended with one more loss, the Steamer Manhattan, which ran aground near Munising and burned.
“In fairness to Mr. Gilchrist, the odds of having a number of losses were pretty good, due to the large number of vessels on his fleet roster,” said Thomsen. “It is also noteworthy that many of the losses were clearly accidental. Still, marine circles were abuzz with talk of Mr. Gilchrist’s amazing bad luck.”
There are few sunken vessels among the hundreds claimed by the Great Lakes who can match the color and interest of the Moonlight, or her glorious record and sad end. There are even fewer who can match her amazing state of preservation. The cold depths of Superior have kept her in an icy, watery state of preservation; even the paint and numbers on her wooden hull remain clearly visible.
“It isn’t the kind of thing that comes along too often,” Thomsen said. “This one is definitely a jewel.”
That is something Shipwreck Preservation Society President Steve Daniel agreed with, noting the treasure trove of artifacts still on the Moonlight.
“A lot of these ships, you don’t see that,” he said. “It’s worth preserving as is.”
Source: mLive
Advanced-diving conference launched
The inaugural EuroTek conference for technical divers will be held in Birmingham this autumn.
The conference, sub-titled The European Emerging Dive Technologies Conference, is to be staged over 15 and 16 November at the city’s International Convention Centre (ICC).
It is, says its organiser, “a dedicated advanced-diving conference set to showcase the very latest in advanced and technical diving technologies, expeditions and presentations”.
There will be talks from an “international cast of speakers and presenters acknowledged as being among the world’s leading authorities in their respective fields of diving expertise”.
And divers will be able to attend “technical sessions, workshops and clinics giving you a chance to meet, listen and learn from some of modern diving’s most accomplished personalities”.
On the Saturday night there will be a limited-tickets gala evening dinner, complete with diving-achievements awards ceremony.
Full details – www.eurotek.uk.com
Product Review – Halcyon Bellowed Pockets
Halcyon Bellowed Pocket
from their website :
“The bellowed pocket features a streamlined, tapered sidewall design that still allows ease of use with dry gloves or mittens. It also has two tough braded nylon loops with enough room to clip off a spools and accessories. Two large grommets along the bottom of the pocket allow for quick draining.”
These pockets aren’t a new product and come in a variety of sizes and thankfully only black. We say thankfully because when there’s more colours to choose from it’s the pink and yellow that is usually available.
I would think most agree that Halcyon make quality rugged gear. It’s arguable that some features and some designs are not the best for open wreck diving but when it comes to pockets these work perfectly.
The exterior is a heavy duty cordura nylon similar to what you would find on mountain climbing equipment. The shape is perfect to fit many items from a back up finger reel to spare mask. There is however one feature that really makes this product stand out; thats the retention loops inside.
The retention loops allows you to clip everything in your pocket to loops inside. If you need something and you’re smart to clip everything then all you have to do is pull everything out, pick what you need and shove the rest back in. This makes it very easy to get a hold of something quick without loosing anything.
It also has a strong Velcro fastener as it’s main closer. I personally don’t like Velcro as it destroys wet suits and eventually gets old. But with having ours for over a year it still olds strong with daily use.
One thing i would say is negative about this product is it has a tendancy to destroy wet suits around where it’s stitched on. At the corners of the pocket where most of the stress is placed you will find it will start to rip after a lot of use and you really need a tailor that knows how to use long supporting stitches. It’s you’re using anything more than a 3mm wet suit you will need some craft knot work to get it to stay on.
Halcyon says it’s best to glue it on using cement which i can agree with but then if you want to take them off then it’s pretty much a pull and rip process.
In the end we use this product on our gear, it reduces the amount of gear hanging off you and perfect for people who want large, accessible pockets without adding it to their harness.
Holland & Barrett bows to pressure
Holland & Barrett, the UK’s largest chain of health foods stores, has finally stopped selling shark-cartilage capsules.
Credit for bringing about the change goes to marine-life pressure group Bite-Back, which waged a year-long email campaign to bring about a ban.
More than 3000 supporters contacted the American-owned company to request that the item be discontinued. The capsules will no longer be sold in any of H&B’s 550 stores.
“Businesses profiting from the shark-fishing industry are effectively endorsing an underwater genocide,” said Bite-Back’s Campaign director Graham Buckingham.
“This is a perfect example of how Bite-Back supporters can help devalue a dead shark. We are grateful for Holland & Barrett’s decision and we’re confident that it will have knock-on effects throughout the retail industry.”
Bite-Back says it also recently inspired the world’s only Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant, Hakkasan in London, to stop selling the shark-fin soup it formerly sold at £42 a bowl.
ASDA, Sainsbury’s, Somerfield, Tesco, Wagamama, Waitrose and many individual restaurants have changed their merchandising policies in the past following Bite-Back campaigns.
Dead Andrea Doria diver identified
by NEIL STRATTON
NANTUCKET, Massachusetts (1 Aug 2008) — To get a true picture of what Houston diver Terry DeWolf was trying to do when he lost his life exploring the wreck of the Andrea Doria this week, think of touring a museum at least 230 feet from the nearest breathable oxygen and at least 50 miles by water from the nearest hospital.
The site, deep in the Atlantic Ocean south of Nantucket, Mass., is the grave of 51 people who lost their lives when the luxury liner collided with another ship and went down more than 50 years ago.
It is also considered the Mount Everest of diving, a perilous plunge of more than 200 feet to the seabed that now, with DeWolf’s death, has claimed the lives of 15 divers.
“It’s a pretty dangerous dive,” said Capt. Ed Ecker of the East Hampton Town Police Department. “I don’t want to speculate, but what generally happens is that they either get the bends or something goes wrong with the equipment.”
On Monday, the dive boat John Jack sailed out of Sportsman’s Dock in Montauk, N.Y., ferrying DeWolf and nine other divers to the site of the wreck as part of the 2008 Andrea Doria Expedition, a charter led by Richard Kohler, a famous diver and television personality who gained fame on The History Channel’s Deep Sea Detectives program.
The first divers hit the water Tuesday at noon. DeWolf went in Wednesday around 7:50 a.m. CDT with the day’s divers, but didn’t return as expected about four hours later.
“Some of the divers went back down and ended up recovering his body,” said U.S. Coast Guard 1st District public affairs officer Connie Terrell.
Coast Guard helps out
The John Jack’s crew was assisted by a detail from the U.S. Coast Guard’s Hammerhead, an 87-foot cutter dispatched when Joseph Terzuoli, captain of the John Jack, sent out a distress signal. From there, the John Jack brought DeWolf back to Montauk. Terzuoli’s wife, Susan, said he was unavailable for comment Friday as he helmed the John Jack back to its home port of Brick, N.J.
Ecker said there would be an autopsy at the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office in Happauge, N.Y., and that the toxicology report would be forthcoming.
“They have to check his tanks and so forth, and with the tanks it could take a couple months,” Ecker said.
DeWolf headed Tri-Tek Communications Inc., which touts itself as “a full-service provider of turnkey solutions to the telecommunications, cable television and various other industries” on its Web site. He and his wife, Tammy, were married 18 years and had three daughters: Amanda, 17; Christina, 15; and Kaitlyn, 12.
Amanda said she is soldiering on because “the crying has all gone out of (her) system.” A family member said DeWolf had been diving for more than 20 years.
Ann Keibler of Houston-based dive shop Oceanic Ventures Inc., confirmed that she knew DeWolf but would not confirm that she had dived with him or comment further, citing the family’s wishes.
Interest in Andrea Doria
In October of last year, DeWolf went on a trip to the Cayman Islands and brought back an ornate glass chandelier that seems to have piqued his interest in the Andrea Doria.
The Italian luxury liner, which sank in 1956, is popular with divers not only because of the technical challenges it presents, but because it is considered a trophy dive: The wreck, now deteriorating rapidly, is dotted with relics such as embossed china cups and dishes.
“He liked really unique things that told a story by (themselves),” Amanda DeWolf said of her father.
Typically divers who make deep, dangerous dives to sites like the Andrea Doria are “technical” divers, who are more highly trained and use more advanced equipment than “nontechnical” divers, who seldom venture deeper than 130 feet.
An expensive trip
J.T. Barker, 51, helms the dive boat Under Pressure, which runs mostly nontechnical divers to sea for expeditions out of Hatteras, N.C., and Virginia Beach, Va. He used to ferry divers to the Andrea Doria site, but stopped in 2001 because the expense of the trips became prohibitive.
Barker said that while he can’t speak to DeWolf’s level of experience, of the prior 14 diver deaths at the famous wreck, “there were some of them that shouldn’t have been there.”
Funeral arrangements for DeWolf had not been finalized as of Friday afternoon, Amanda DeWolf said.
She said that while it “turns her stomach” to look at her family’s backyard pool, she will carry on her father’s legacy.
“I will later scuba just to continue his dream of how he wanted things to be,” she said.
Beating diving burglars
Divers who plunder wrecks illegally could face arrest once they get back to shore, if a new underwater surveillance device ever reaches production.
An international team is designing a unit which, when attached to a valuable wreck site, would be able to detect acoustic signatures produced by boat propellers and scuba equipment.
The unit would be programmed to send, via a surface buoy satellite transmitter, an alert to the monitoring party, if it detected the combination of a propeller noise stopping within the vicinity of the wreck, followed by the sound of divers’ bubbles.
Various challenges have still to be addressed, however. In the case of a wreck close to shore, divers might reach it by rowing out; and the divers might use silent rebreathers.
Further, while it would be one thing to detect that a raid had taken place, it would be another to determine where the offending vessel departed to afterwards, in order to apprehend it.
Speaking at the recent Acoustics 08 conference in Paris, a member of the project research team, Tuncay Akal of Tubitak-Marmara Research Center in Kocaeli, Turkey, said the was confident “we’ll be able to build a functioning prototype”.
Any effective unit which reaches production would be of use in cases of wrecks representing monetary, cultural or historical worth, owned privately or by military forces, or when protected statutorily as important archaeological sites.
Any working prototype would, said Akal, be tested on a 50m-deep Roman wreck that lies off Turkey’s Bodrum harbour.
Introducing the eRDPML
Electronic Recreational Dive Planner for Multilevel Dive Planning
Features
The eRDPML is the next generation electronic dive planner. Like its predecessor the eRDP, the new eRDPML is not a dive computer but an electronic dive table that allows the user to plan single level and multilevel dives. While the first generation eRDP provided the same information as the Recreational Dive Planner (RDP) table, the eRDPML provides the same information as The Wheel, in an electronic format. The eRDPML helps maximize bottom time by allowing dive planning in two-metre/fivefoot increments.
The eRDPML has a robust design that includes a flip cover to protect the unit when not in use. The general rules and dive planning abbreviations (NDL, ANDL, ML, etc.) are printed on the inside of the flip cover, which provides easy access to information. Like the previous eRDP, the eRDPML is designed solely for use on the surface — It’s WaterProof! it’s water resistant, not waterproof. (why not!!!!?!?!?)
The eRDPML allows you to select either metric or imperial for dive planning and offers the same three modes as before:
Dive Planning – allows you to plan up to five consecutive single depth dives or two- to three-level multilevel dives (similar to The Wheel).
Surface Interval – for finding minimum surface interval between dives
Maximum Depth – for calculating the maximum allowable depth for a given time
The same general rules and guidelines that apply when using The Wheel also apply when using the eRDPML. Like the eRDP, the eRDPML will prompt you to use some of these rules. For example:
Reminding you when a safety stop is required
Warning you when your planned dive is beyond the RDP limits
Reminding you when Special Rules for Multiple Dives (WX and YZ rules) apply
Warning you when your next planned level in a multilevel dive exceeds the multilevel ascent limit (Exceeds ML Ascent Limit)
Incorporating eRDPML in your diver courses
Because the eRDPML replaces the original eRDP and The Wheel, you can use it in any PADI course to plan either single level or multilevel dives. Though your PADI Office will no longer distribute The Wheel or the original eRDP, you may continue to use them in your diver-level courses until your stock is used up.
Beginning 1 January 2009, PADI Divemaster candidates will be required to have and be competent in the use of the eRDPML in addition to the RDP table version.
Now if only they’d make a little hand held technical dive planner… probably not waterproof either.
ACT NOW: BOYCOTT PALAU
ACT NOW: BOYCOTT PALAU
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While Palau deliberately and methodically promotes itself as an eco-friendly dive destination committed to the protection of marine wildlife including dugongs, dolphins and whales, behind the scenes it colludes with Japan to block the establishment of whale sanctuaries and reverse the ban on commercial whaling.
Such money-driven hypocrisy is unacceptable and cannot and must not be tolerated by the global scuba diving community. Join the diver-led boycott of Palau and make a difference.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND ACT NOW
Write Palau’s government and tourism officials and demand an end to vote selling on behalf of Japan’s agenda to block whale sanctuaries and overturn the ban on commercial whaling. You may use this sample letter or write your own. The letter will automatically be sent to Palau’s government and tourism officials.
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Dead Andrea Doria diver identified
Powered by CDNN – CYBER DIVER News Network
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| NANTUCKET, Massachusetts (1 Aug 2008) — To get a true picture of what Houston diver Terry DeWolf was trying to do when he lost his life exploring the wreck of the Andrea Doria this week, think of touring a museum at least 230 feet from the nearest breathable oxygen and at least 50 miles by water from the nearest hospital.
The site, deep in the Atlantic Ocean south of Nantucket, Mass., is the grave of 51 people who lost their lives when the luxury liner collided with another ship and went down more than 50 years ago. It is also considered the Mount Everest of diving, a perilous plunge of more than 200 feet to the seabed that now, with DeWolf’s death, has claimed the lives of 15 divers. “It’s a pretty dangerous dive,” said Capt. Ed Ecker of the East Hampton Town Police Department. “I don’t want to speculate, but what generally happens is that they either get the bends or something goes wrong with the equipment.” On Monday, the dive boat John Jack sailed out of Sportsman’s Dock in Montauk, N.Y., ferrying DeWolf and nine other divers to the site of the wreck as part of the 2008 Andrea Doria Expedition, a charter led by Richard Kohler, a famous diver and television personality who gained fame on The History Channel’s Deep Sea Detectives program. The first divers hit the water Tuesday at noon. DeWolf went in Wednesday around 7:50 a.m. CDT with the day’s divers, but didn’t return as expected about four hours later. “Some of the divers went back down and ended up recovering his body,” said U.S. Coast Guard 1st District public affairs officer Connie Terrell. Coast Guard helps out The John Jack’s crew was assisted by a detail from the U.S. Coast Guard’s Hammerhead, an 87-foot cutter dispatched when Joseph Terzuoli, captain of the John Jack, sent out a distress signal. From there, the John Jack brought DeWolf back to Montauk. Terzuoli’s wife, Susan, said he was unavailable for comment Friday as he helmed the John Jack back to its home port of Brick, N.J. Ecker said there would be an autopsy at the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office in Happauge, N.Y., and that the toxicology report would be forthcoming. “They have to check his tanks and so forth, and with the tanks it could take a couple months,” Ecker said. DeWolf headed Tri-Tek Communications Inc., which touts itself as “a full-service provider of turnkey solutions to the telecommunications, cable television and various other industries” on its Web site. He and his wife, Tammy, were married 18 years and had three daughters: Amanda, 17; Christina, 15; and Kaitlyn, 12. Amanda said she is soldiering on because “the crying has all gone out of (her) system.” A family member said DeWolf had been diving for more than 20 years. Ann Keibler of Houston-based dive shop Oceanic Ventures Inc., confirmed that she knew DeWolf but would not confirm that she had dived with him or comment further, citing the family’s wishes. Interest in Andrea Doria In October of last year, DeWolf went on a trip to the Cayman Islands and brought back an ornate glass chandelier that seems to have piqued his interest in the Andrea Doria. The Italian luxury liner, which sank in 1956, is popular with divers not only because of the technical challenges it presents, but because it is considered a trophy dive: The wreck, now deteriorating rapidly, is dotted with relics such as embossed china cups and dishes. |
Terry DeWolf leaves behind his wife, Tammy, and three daughters: Amanda, 17; Christina, 15; and Kaitlyn, 12. “He liked really unique things that told a story by (themselves),” Amanda DeWolf said of her father. Typically divers who make deep, dangerous dives to sites like the Andrea Doria are “technical” divers, who are more highly trained and use more advanced equipment than “nontechnical” divers, who seldom venture deeper than 130 feet. An expensive trip J.T. Barker, 51, helms the dive boat Under Pressure, which runs mostly nontechnical divers to sea for expeditions out of Hatteras, N.C., and Virginia Beach, Va. He used to ferry divers to the Andrea Doria site, but stopped in 2001 because the expense of the trips became prohibitive. Barker said that while he can’t speak to DeWolf’s level of experience, of the prior 14 diver deaths at the famous wreck, “there were some of them that shouldn’t have been there.” Funeral arrangements for DeWolf had not been finalized as of Friday afternoon, Amanda DeWolf said. She said that while it “turns her stomach” to look at her family’s backyard pool, she will carry on her father’s legacy. “I will later scuba just to continue his dream |
Scuba diving accident kills another Andrea Doria diver
by JOSHUA BALLING
NANTUCKET, Massachusetts (31 July 2008) — The body of a man presumed to be the missing diver who failed to surface Wednesday morning after exploring the wreck of the Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria 50 miles south of the island was recovered by fellow divers early in the evening.
Coast Guard officials said the man, who had not been positively identified as of 8 p.m., was recovered by some of the nine other divers who dove on the wreck site with him earlier in the day.
The crew of the Coast Guard cutter Hammerhead assisted in recovering the body once it reached the surface. The diver’s body is currently being transported to Montauk, N.Y., where it is expected to reach this morning.
The name of the dive boat has not been released pending notification on the man’s next of kin.
Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England in Providence, R.I. received a radio distress call around noon from the 38-foot dive boat reporting that one of its divers had not surfaced at 11 a.m. as expected.
Two Jayhawk helicopter crews from Air Station Cape Cod searched the area from the sky throughout the afternoon, and Hammerhead, an 87-foot patrol boat from Woods Hole, Mass., arrived on the scene a little after 5 p.m., Coast Guard petty officer Connie Terrell said.
After the body was recovered, the Coast Guard did a post-search-and-rescue boarding of the dive boat and will continue its investigation into the man’s death, but wrapped up the on-the-water portion of the operation. The helicopters and Hammerhead headed back to their home ports.
On July 26, 1956, the Andrea Doria sank to the bottom of the Atlantic 53 miles southeast of Nantucket, 11 hours after colliding with the Swedish liner Stockholm in a dense fog common in that part of the ocean during the summer months.
Because of her location relatively close to the coast, and in water accessible to experienced divers 250 feet below the surface, the Andrea Doria has proven an incredibly alluring, albeit it incredibly dangerous, attraction for both professional and amateur divers.
She has not given up her secrets easily. Fourteen men have been killed diving on the wreck, most recently experienced diver and Andrea Doria expert David Bright the week before the 50th anniversary of the sinking in 2006. Five divers were lost in one 13-month span between 1998 and 1999.
Visibility below the surface is practically nil, the currents are strong, and because of the depth, divers can only spend 15 or 20 minutes on the bottom before they must return to the surface, stopping along the way for over an hour to decompress. Any one of a dozen things can go wrong: Equipment can malfunction, divers can run out of air or get snagged in the spidery cables dangling throughout the ship or the fishing nets draped over the wreckage. The chances of survival? Minimal.
Jacques Cousteau made a single dive to inspect the Andrea Doria. He surfaced to say he would not return. The water was too deep, too shark-infested, and the currents too tricky for his safety and health, he said.
Some 14 divers have died over the years exploring the wreck of the Andrea Doria, which sank 53 miles southeast of Nantucket on July 26, 1956.
“You have to stay on schedule and if you get disoriented you can get in trouble real fast,” Nantucket lobsterman Chuck Butler, who dove on the wreck in 1974, said following the death of 54-year-old William Schmoldt in 2002.
“On the surface and on paper it seems straight-forward, but down there you are in the dark and on the verge of what amateurs can do.”
Bart Malone, who has made more than 170 logged dives to the Andrea Doria since he first reached the wreck in 1985, for years served as a mate on the Seeker, one of the two principal dive boats to work the Andrea Doria. He was on five of what he calls the “death trips” and personally knew two of the divers who perished.
“I lost my partner in 1993. We were both breathing the same gasses, but he didn’t want to use the argon gas to keep him warm. I always felt he just got cold and numb and dumb. He never made it back,” Malone said of Matthew Lawrence. “I found him sitting on the bottom. It’s always when we found a new hole into the ship that people died. It’s a shame when they die, but it’s greed that kills.
Today, the vessel has seriously deteriorated. The superstructure has completely pulled away from the ship and lays on the ocean floor, exposing far more of the Andrea Doria than has ever been revealed before. At the same time, divers must head even deeper to reach the wreckage, increasing the danger.
“You’re basically working the bottom,” Malone said. “It’s a scary swim to get down there.”
Source: CDNN – CYBER DIVER News Network
Underwater Cleanup – Wreck Preservation – After Party
Yesterday was the official underwater cleanup and raffle to raise money for Bio Rock.
Bio Rock is a local initiative to create an artificial reef electrified to stimulate coral growth with a mild surface supplied electrical current over a metal structure.
This was a joint effort with several different dive schools on the island each providing a crew of cleaners and prizes for the raffle.
Our contribution was a 4 man technical support crew to be on hand if larger objects or dangerous items needed to be removed. Thankfully we weren’t needed which means the underwater environment is improving.
However during this event James and Mac explored the shallow wreck “Mai Had Maru” to see it’s condition and if it was in causing danger to the environment. We found it fully overgrown and rooted in the sea bed. The wreck is very popular with snorklers since the max depth on the wreck is about 4m.
After the cleanup is was back to the beach to clean and pack up gear, grab a quick shower and join the party at Vibe Beach Bar where one of our techinical divers was resident DJ for the night playing his classic funk and soul infusion.
A BBQ was provided for the cleanup crews and for others who bought a ticket and raffle tickets being offered to the partiers to win prizes.
The prizes we offered was a free nitrox course and discover technical dive which was donated to help the cause.
There’s a lot of heavy eye’s tired faces today, which naturally means a success the night before.
Pictures from the event.
