wow wouldn't that be surreal .your diving a wreck , look up and see your dive boat coming down to see you ..5,349 things running threw your mind then ....talk about task loading !!!
Can anyone ID two of these people?
- Thread starter Kay Dee
- Start date
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Kay Dee
Contributor
Well, in a similar boat sinking vein, I was once doing a very late afternoon / very very late 'summer' dive in the Baltic Sea off Finland back in mid 90's, off a small private 'cabin-cruiser' boat with about four divers aboard. I was first in the water and was told to go wait at the surface on the anchor line. After a short time I heard very loud voices speaking excitedly in Finnish - which I did not understand - coming from astern, but just from the tone I could tell something was very wrong! Sure enough, in no time at all, the others where in the water (without their cylinders on) and the boat had sunk stern first leaving, thankfully, just the tip (of the air filled bow) sticking out of the water for us to gather around. Luckily a Mayday had been sent just prior to their abandonment, and we spent what seemed like an eternity, but was probably about two hours maybe, but well after dark, before the coast guard arrived. Needless to say, we all had drysuits on so did not suffer too much. Lost a bit of kit, but nothing irreplaceable. 
The cause of the accident? The boat had just been serviced and prop shaft replaced and.................a stuffing gland left out / or 'unstuffed', and this was the first time the boat was back in water post service. So, as long as we were mobile at speed, no or little water ingressed, but while we geared up after stopping it certainly did, and.................well, another adventure for the log book.
PS. Chairman, I have not forgotten you request re 'course details' but as I said, its going to take a bit to dredge all those pretty much forgotten details out of the old memory banks. But some instances, like the one above, the death of the guy on the RJB & CC, the cave dive alluded to in an earlier post, and beating, literally, circling sharks away - with a u/w camera housing - whilst at the surface waiting for the pickup boat after a dive on the outer GBR definitely gets ones attention, and forever sticks in ones mind.
The cause of the accident? The boat had just been serviced and prop shaft replaced and.................a stuffing gland left out / or 'unstuffed', and this was the first time the boat was back in water post service. So, as long as we were mobile at speed, no or little water ingressed, but while we geared up after stopping it certainly did, and.................well, another adventure for the log book.
PS. Chairman, I have not forgotten you request re 'course details' but as I said, its going to take a bit to dredge all those pretty much forgotten details out of the old memory banks. But some instances, like the one above, the death of the guy on the RJB & CC, the cave dive alluded to in an earlier post, and beating, literally, circling sharks away - with a u/w camera housing - whilst at the surface waiting for the pickup boat after a dive on the outer GBR definitely gets ones attention, and forever sticks in ones mind.
No offense was taken @Kay Dee. I knew you were joking.
Back in the 80s a very nice schooner was found way up in northern Lake Huron with both of her masts still standing. The wreck was in 180' but the masts rose to 75' which was still in the daylight zone. So the divers tied off to one of the masts.
After a summer of diving, they decided to get one last dive in. Unfortunately while they were down the wind and waves kicked up quite a bit. Down on the wreck they noticed the mast was moving quite a bit. So up they went to to the top of the mast. Once at the top, they say this mast moving 10ft side to side with their anchor line taught as a wire. They blew past most of their deco obligations and got up to the surface in a hurry.
Once they reached the stern of their boat to climb up (in 6-8ft seas), the mast finally fell over. They said they felt it through the water column and the bow of the boat suddenly plunged about 6ft under water before their mooring line snapped. The boat bobbed back up and now was being blown off into the lake.
They got up and started her up and began the slow ride back to shore. All 3 bilge pumps were running the entire way. They pull up to the dock and the boat starts to settle. They pop the engine hatch and see that water is almost up to the deck. Through sheer luck they get the engine started again and run her up on the boat launch ramp.
When the mast fell and dragged the bow of the dive boat under, it cracked the hull (fiberglass). That was the closest call my friends ever had! The boat was trashed and the insurance company paid off and they got a bigger aluminum Marinette which is used to this day.
Back in the 80s a very nice schooner was found way up in northern Lake Huron with both of her masts still standing. The wreck was in 180' but the masts rose to 75' which was still in the daylight zone. So the divers tied off to one of the masts.
After a summer of diving, they decided to get one last dive in. Unfortunately while they were down the wind and waves kicked up quite a bit. Down on the wreck they noticed the mast was moving quite a bit. So up they went to to the top of the mast. Once at the top, they say this mast moving 10ft side to side with their anchor line taught as a wire. They blew past most of their deco obligations and got up to the surface in a hurry.
Once they reached the stern of their boat to climb up (in 6-8ft seas), the mast finally fell over. They said they felt it through the water column and the bow of the boat suddenly plunged about 6ft under water before their mooring line snapped. The boat bobbed back up and now was being blown off into the lake.
They got up and started her up and began the slow ride back to shore. All 3 bilge pumps were running the entire way. They pull up to the dock and the boat starts to settle. They pop the engine hatch and see that water is almost up to the deck. Through sheer luck they get the engine started again and run her up on the boat launch ramp.
When the mast fell and dragged the bow of the dive boat under, it cracked the hull (fiberglass). That was the closest call my friends ever had! The boat was trashed and the insurance company paid off and they got a bigger aluminum Marinette which is used to this day.
SandyRobinson
Contributor
That sounds like one helluva day/adventure!
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