Article: A Fantastic Adventure Book About Commercial Diving - Into the Lion's Mouth
- Thread starter Steve Barsky
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Bombay High
Contributor
Phenomenal book.
I read it cover to cover in one sitting.
I have spent most of my diving years in the North Sea. In the Brit sector as well as Norwegian. I started on 40's Alpha soon after the Piper Alpha disaster.
Reading this book brought back many memories.
Not sure it will appeal to many on this forum.
See the reviews on Mark Longstreaths site ....
I read it cover to cover in one sitting.
I have spent most of my diving years in the North Sea. In the Brit sector as well as Norwegian. I started on 40's Alpha soon after the Piper Alpha disaster.
Reading this book brought back many memories.
Not sure it will appeal to many on this forum.
See the reviews on Mark Longstreaths site ....
Thank you for the two reviews. I'm always looking for something else to read about diving, and my recent conversations with Bombay High have just piqued my curiosity to learn more about this very different area of underwater experience.
I have to disagree with Mr. Barsky on one point: that Walker & Guiel 'were not victims of the diving industry' - I think they were, considering the way the industry was at that time. The pressures to perform & conform were much greater than they were even when I started ( 1981 ) in the offshore oilfields. The key to it all I believe was the Diving Superintendent John Nadeau. Apparently, he was one of the most respected diving leaders of that era in the N. Sea, yet he cut all those corners in preparing the system to dive because THE JOB HAD TO GET DONE!! No lack of pressure on Nadeau either. He's under tremendous pressure by Infabco to get the SALM install completed. He had to do this with a brand new sat system/dive vessel, without the benefit of a shakedown period to iron the bugs out of the system, and to see in general how the vessel performed. The diving crew faced similar strain, & I think the author demonstrates this sad reality in the chapter "Hobson's Choice", where he recalls a story from the 1600's: "Thomas Hobson owned a livery stable in Cambridge, England, and as the story goes, he used to give his customers only one choice when renting them a horse: the one closest to the door. If the customer indicated he wanted something else, Hobson would tell him to go find another stable when he knew there was none within a day's journey; more than 300 years later, Richard & Skip were now faced with Infabco's version of Hobson's choice: either dive or leave the job." I think every man on that dive crew recognized the problems inherent in the system & the jury-rigged changes made, but felt they had to risk it so that they would work another day.
Regards,
DSD
Regards,
DSD
Hollywoodivers
Contributor
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I have been looking for this book to buy. Wasn't sure of the exact title but had heard about it from a saturation diver named Sanjay. He said it was one of the best real looks into the politics and dangerous decisions sometimes made. I want to read it asap and thanks for the review.
OP
You're welcome. It's an amazing story.
Hollywoodivers
Contributor
- Messages
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- # of dives
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I just ordered my copy, can't wait to read this. Did you ever read Al Hanson's More Than 9 Lives ? That was also a really good diving book. If you can find it get that one too a great read as well.
i was looking at the old vid in the like blow last 20 mins on the vid are about the two northsea dives and infabco
maybe of intrset to some ,,
Edinburgh gold salvage - video??
maybe of intrset to some ,,
Edinburgh gold salvage - video??
Michael Smart
New
For those of you who read books on electronic devices, Into the Lion’s Mouth is now an ebook. It can be downloaded in either Kindle File Format, or the ePub File Format for most eReaders. Just visit the website: Into the Lion's Mouth by Michael Smart or Facebook Page: http://Facebook.com/intothelionsmouth.
Into the Lion's Mouth is the true story of the most notorious "lost bell" diving accident in North Sea history.
It covers Richard Walker and Skip Guiel's entry into the little-known world of saturation diving, how they came to be trapped on the bottom of the sea, the dramatic rescue bid to save their lives, why it failed, and the nearly decade-long struggle by the relatives to achieve justice for their deaths.
Written by former deep-sea diver Michael Smart, this book is the culmination of eight years of research to solve the haunting mystery behind the dual fatality and the discovery that it was not a "pure" accident, but that a cascade of failures and criminal negligence were responsible for one of the most awful scenarios ever imagined.
Into the Lion's Mouth is the true story of the most notorious "lost bell" diving accident in North Sea history.
It covers Richard Walker and Skip Guiel's entry into the little-known world of saturation diving, how they came to be trapped on the bottom of the sea, the dramatic rescue bid to save their lives, why it failed, and the nearly decade-long struggle by the relatives to achieve justice for their deaths.
Written by former deep-sea diver Michael Smart, this book is the culmination of eight years of research to solve the haunting mystery behind the dual fatality and the discovery that it was not a "pure" accident, but that a cascade of failures and criminal negligence were responsible for one of the most awful scenarios ever imagined.
This is the documentary mentioned in the book that was presented several months after the accident "The last dive"
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