Shadow Divers: John Chatterton's Interview with ScubaBoard

[Chatterton]

John,

You have always been one receptive to innovation in scuba technology where it made sense, i.e. new gas mixes and rebreather technology. Where do you foresee, or would like to see, scuba technology going in the future? Say near term such as 5-10 years and long term such 20 or more years.

In my opinion (since you asked), I see rebreathers as the technology for the not too distant future. The established manufacturers are all looking at ways to improve their units, and the technology. At the same time, there are hats being tossed into the ring with new software, new hardware, and new ideas. It really is an exciting time to be in diving! Prices will most likely come down while the reliability and performance increase.

At the same time, I think the use of Open Circuit Trimix will become irrelivant in general and for deeper dives in particular. The rising cost and availablility of Helium will probably play a role in the decline of Trimix OC. Rebreather technology is becoming reliable enough that it manages the risks of deep diving better, and cheaper, than OC.

Dive technology moves kind of slow. I spent 20 years working with Surface Supplied diving technology, which is little more than a hose, a compressor, and a bucket. It has been around for well over a hundred years. At some point there will undoubtedly be new technologies that enable us to dive deeper and stay longer, but with less risk to the diver. What those new technologies will be, and when they get here is anyone's guess??

Cheers

 

[Chatterton]

John...

Went diving yesterday...I will give you one guess where

#1) The Hutton

#2) The Indra

I can't give you any other choices because we haven't been anywhere else in months. How many dives do you have on the Doria...Probably almost as close to the number you have on the Indra and Hutton

I wonder if all the other wrecks vanished and no one has told us...

Was still a good dive...Saw a nice rope so I decided someone could use it. It hadn't been there long. I started coiling it...and coiling it...and coiling it...Turns out it was about 100 feet of rope at the end of which was a new anchor. I didn't have a lift bag with me so I swam it up and that was a pretty sight with me trying to stay neutral...Not a piece of Doria china but a recovery nevertheless...which was fun...

Very overcast but it was a very smooth ride out and back...Viz about 30 feet which, as you know, is good for the...oops...almost gave it away. Doesn't help you because the viz at one is pretty much like the other...

Maybe one day we will get back to the sub or Papoose.

Hope you are doing well...

Bobby

Bobby,

Still it is January and you are out diving!! Not too bad.

I was out on Sunday scallop diving near my house here in Maine with some friends. We got a bunch of scallops and had a good time, and a challenging dive. We were not looking for a repet.

I have roughly 160 Doria dives, and have not been there in a couple of years. Maybe I will get back there this summer?? Then again, maybe I should come down there and just hang out with George and you guys in Morehead City?? By the way, my new favorite wreck down there is the Spar.

Cheers

 

[mike_s]

John,

First off, great to see you here. (I just found this thread).


So what's in the future for your group and shows?

Any chance Deep Sea Detectives (or another show) will be back on the air?


Do you have anything else planned, such as books about wrecks or diving?


Thanks. -Mike

 

[Chatterton]

I have also just read Shadow Divers, which I got for Christmas. Despite being a voracious reader, this is only the second book ever that I have been unable to put down (literally). I started reading it about 10pm and finished it at 7am.

Thanks for wrecking my study schedule Robert Kurson!

I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for the guys putting their lives on the line, extending the limits of diving and adopting new technologies. An awesome read, and I just wish I had the kind of dedication, focus and balls to dive a hundreth as well as Richie and John.

I have a question for John... in the engine room, on the dive you recovered the box with the identifying plate: the book talks about a pipe blocking the stack of boxes. You hit it with your sledgehammer and then you realise it's an oxygen cylinder.

At that point - having already had an recovered oxygen cylinder blow up your garage - you made the call to hit it again, in the certain knowledge an explosion/tank puncture would have killed you (and possibly Kohler waiting for you the other side of the obstruction?)

Can you tell me what went through your mind at that point, and was the book accurate in its depiction of this incident? All through the book I thought I could have justified doing everything the way you did, were I a super fit, super skilled, super confident and super brave diver... but I couldn't have taken a second swing at the oxygen cylinder!

Geoff,

Rob is a very talented writer and he has caused more than one lost nights sleep.

As for me, the reality is probably far less brave and much more frustrated?? If you look at the context, it had been six years since the discovery (almost to the day). This was not a casual exercise, it was something that I believed was important and also something I could do.

I had spent the first four dives in the E-Motor Room, over 3 seperate trips, just getting to the boxes. It took a big piece of the summer to arrive at this point, and now it was September. The weather could shut us down anytime. My nightmare was finishing the dive season without a positive ID on the sub. On the fifth dive, I was traveling light and not carrying any tools. It was a huge, huge disappointment to not be able to move the boxes because the "pipe" was laying on them with the whole mess encrusted together. I couldn't find anything in there to use as a tool. Using my hands, I tried everything I could to break them up but simply could not do it.

Now on the 6th (and final) dive I had a 12# sledge with the handle sawed off, not just a little lump hammer. I was armed for bear and this was going to be it, period. When I saw the "pipe" was really a gas cylinder I quickly ran the possibilities through my mind. The bottle in my garage blew, but it took a day or so, and it was the lessening of ambient pressure, and accelerating the corrosion, by bringing it to the surface that precipitated the issue in the first place. This was a bigger bottle, and it was steel as opposed to aluminum (like the small bottle). And there was no guarantee that the integrity had not been compromised with the bottle already filled with water?

Basically I had no issue with the gas bottle, I wanted the box. If it was going to work at all, it was going to work then and there. Waiting for yet another dive to think things over offered no advantage. I was forceful, but very direct in my application of persuasion. Obviously, it would do me no good to hit the cylinder valve as I did not have any sort of suicidal tendencies?? I thought I could make it work. I had confidence. I took a deep breath and did what I had to, even if there was a little trepidation??

All in all, there were a bunch of things on that particular dive that did not go very well, however it would seem the gas cylinder and the sledge, were apparently on my side??

Cheers

 

[Chatterton]

John,

First off, great to see you here. (I just found this thread).


So what's in the future for your group and shows?

Any chance Deep Sea Detectives (or another show) will be back on the air?


Do you have anything else planned, such as books about wrecks or diving?


Thanks. -Mike

Mike,

Thanks.

I think that 57 episodes of DSD should be enough for anyone, at least the History Channel thinks so? I can't see a return to DSD, but what do I know. The series has done very well for them, even abroad.

Richie and I are working with Brad Matsen on a book about Titanic for release in the fall, and we have a PBS special we are working on. I am pitching a few other ideas to TV, which might work out, and might not??

Richie and his wife, Carrie, are also very busy training rebreather divers and have plenty of students. Evan Kovacs is doing a lot of work for Woods Hole. I have recently started a new underwater survey company with a friend of mine, John Mattera who owns Pirates Cove in the Dominican Republic.

Richie, Evan, and I also have a couple of non-commercial dive expeditions planned that are very exciting.

It always seems like I have something to do??

Cheers

 

[TravisD]

John, my wife and I just finished the Book (well, Book on Tape!) and found it absolutely impossible to walk away from. An extremely compelling story!

If I may be so bold, do you have any rough figures that you would be willing to share on what the whole expedition cost? (Just dollar wise, as it's way too apparently what it cost otherwise).

And I would like to add my sincere thanks to your participation here. Being able to read and hear your words in an interactive forum sure does make the world seem a great deal smaller. Best of luck with your continued adventures!

 

[ReefHound]

John, my wife and I just finished the Book (well, Book on Tape!) and found it absolutely impossible to walk away from. An extremely compelling story!

If I may be so bold, do you have any rough figures that you would be willing to share on what the whole expedition cost? (Just dollar wise, as it's way too apparently what it cost otherwise).

Wow! Are you trying to send the man into convulsions? :11:

 

[Jimmer]

Hi John, unfortunetly up here I don't seem to find DSD on tv very often, I assume because I have the Canadian History Channel. Do you know if the History channel is going to be offering a DVD set of the show? One show I do get and am a big fan of is The Sea Hunters with Mike and Warren Fletcher, who happen to be locals around here and friends with my instructor. I saw the Sea Hunters episode with Richie diving with Mike and Warren to ID the U-215 and was wondering if there is any chance for another joint effort between the two groups of great shipwreck hunters. I think you and Richie should team up with Mike and Warren to find the Marquette and Bessemer #2 in Lake Erie.

Jim

 

[TravisD]

Do you know if the History channel is going to be offering a DVD set of the show? Jim

Jim - I checked yesterday and History Channel does have DVD's available. Seems to be around US$24/ea -- not sure how many shows are on each.


Edit: Here's the page with them for sale.

 

[Jimmer]

Thanks for the link Travis, I'll have a look through that and see which episodes are the most intriguing.

Jim