its interesting to note that a hyperbaric chamber works by, "lowering the air pressure...etc" to paraphrase.
Doria Death?
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OP
From another source:
The charter was planned for
Sunday, 7/28 through Monday, 7/29, so it just happened last night, apparently as part of the planned departure.
On a related diving emergency note....
A coast guard chopper was called to airlift one of the crew at the tail end of our Doria trip this weekend. He omitted what appears to be between 10-20 minutes worth of deco incurred during a 34 minute 190fsw dive while pulling the hook for our departure. The total deco missed has not been confirmed, but is in the right ballpark.... Immediately after his dive he removed his gear, during which time he complained about a "difficult deco". Which it was. I and another rebreather diver were the last pair out before the captain and a mate went in to do their dive and pull the hook, the water was getting rough and I remember 5+ foot swings up/down on the mooring line while I was at my 20 foot stop. Seas were about the same when this guy finally came up. He was on the surface for about 20 mins when he declared "I feel faint" and had to be helped to the deck. He was too weak from that point on to do anything but lay on his back and breath. He was put on O2 from a demand valve (connected to a T cylinder on
board) and reg that is usually hung at 20fsw for emergency deco. He was placed on the deck on a sleeping back and pillow, reg in his mouth as we headed back to shore.... 110 miles to Snug Harbor. Coast Guard chopper met us ~55 miles out. The airlift was an interesting site. When we got back to shore we were told that he was in the chamber for a 12 hour ride, decided upon due to depth and duration of the dive. He was apparently
doing much better by then....
Of note... he was smoking pretty consistently after the first day's
dive, and some folks may have seen a few beer cans in his possession as well. Just doesn't pay to mix that into the deco soup. The prime factor I am sure was missed decompression, but this was surely exacerbated by his between dive behavior...
The charter was planned for
Sunday, 7/28 through Monday, 7/29, so it just happened last night, apparently as part of the planned departure.
On a related diving emergency note....
A coast guard chopper was called to airlift one of the crew at the tail end of our Doria trip this weekend. He omitted what appears to be between 10-20 minutes worth of deco incurred during a 34 minute 190fsw dive while pulling the hook for our departure. The total deco missed has not been confirmed, but is in the right ballpark.... Immediately after his dive he removed his gear, during which time he complained about a "difficult deco". Which it was. I and another rebreather diver were the last pair out before the captain and a mate went in to do their dive and pull the hook, the water was getting rough and I remember 5+ foot swings up/down on the mooring line while I was at my 20 foot stop. Seas were about the same when this guy finally came up. He was on the surface for about 20 mins when he declared "I feel faint" and had to be helped to the deck. He was too weak from that point on to do anything but lay on his back and breath. He was put on O2 from a demand valve (connected to a T cylinder on
board) and reg that is usually hung at 20fsw for emergency deco. He was placed on the deck on a sleeping back and pillow, reg in his mouth as we headed back to shore.... 110 miles to Snug Harbor. Coast Guard chopper met us ~55 miles out. The airlift was an interesting site. When we got back to shore we were told that he was in the chamber for a 12 hour ride, decided upon due to depth and duration of the dive. He was apparently
doing much better by then....
Of note... he was smoking pretty consistently after the first day's
dive, and some folks may have seen a few beer cans in his possession as well. Just doesn't pay to mix that into the deco soup. The prime factor I am sure was missed decompression, but this was surely exacerbated by his between dive behavior...
JamesK
Contributor
If it is true that their were two, that would be 2 crew members! That does not seem right to me. Something has to be wrong in this. I don't think any ship could be that unlucky.
Spectre
Contributor
Did some more digging. This is from Captain Zero:
-----
The diver did not miss any planned deco. He did all his deco just fine. He onlly did a 20 Min dive to 190. The diver is home now & fine. I am sure he will be back in the water in about a month. Yes the diver does smoke but he smoked no more or less than usual. The beer cans were not his. I do not alow crew to bring beer on trips but I often will pay for a beer run after we dock, though I rarely drink myself.
-----
Finally... a bit of good news.
-----
The diver did not miss any planned deco. He did all his deco just fine. He onlly did a 20 Min dive to 190. The diver is home now & fine. I am sure he will be back in the water in about a month. Yes the diver does smoke but he smoked no more or less than usual. The beer cans were not his. I do not alow crew to bring beer on trips but I often will pay for a beer run after we dock, though I rarely drink myself.
-----
Finally... a bit of good news.
kelpmermaid
Contributor
I was looking for something else when I came across this:
http://www.app.com/app2001/story/0,21133,599011,00.html
http://www.app.com/app2001/story/0,21133,599011,00.html
Finesse
Guest
The hair on my neck stood up when I saw the town that William Schmoldt was from, as that is the town I grew up in and lived for 25 years. The name also haunted me, as it sounded very familiar (Brielle is a small coastal town and has a pop of only around 4,500 so not to surprised). As it turns out the Schmoldt family was a backyard neighbor and friends of my Grandparents. I remember when I was growing up during the summer his Dad would bring over these elaborate spreads of seafood to share with us. I also recall patronized his dive shop.
Im starting to know way too many divers that have passed as a result of the sport but I guess living on the ocean and having the allure of the Atlantic right at your doorstep that sadly, things like this are bound to happen. I know personally I have a hard time not being in, on or close to the ocean .I think I was born with saltwater in my veins
Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family
Im starting to know way too many divers that have passed as a result of the sport but I guess living on the ocean and having the allure of the Atlantic right at your doorstep that sadly, things like this are bound to happen. I know personally I have a hard time not being in, on or close to the ocean .I think I was born with saltwater in my veins
Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family
MSP Rescue Diver
Contributor
From: marvin.gozum@v...
Date: Wed Aug 7, 2002 10:44 am
Subject: Commentary by diver who know victim RE: UWEX: Doria accident Sunday 8.4.02
Hi Cindy,
Although Bill has been diving for decades, he confined his diving to shallow
wrecks until last year. That's a good thing, too. He was kicked off most
of the boats up here, at least starting with the late NE wreck pioneer
George Hoffman years ago on the Sea Lion. Why? It's not because people
didn't like him. Almost everyone liked Bill. It's because everyone got
tired of rescuing him for the same things over and over. No one wanted him
to die on their boat. He was one of those rare guys who learned from their
mistakes and could repeat them exactly (again and again).
I've been up here diving here since I moved to NJ from Florida in 1991. I
got to witness various "Schmoldty's" several times. He was a great help
around the boat, but in the water he was a different story.
When he started techdiving (I do not believe that anyone would give him his
trimix cert, even though I think he started in two different intructor's
trimix classes), everyone wondered how long he would be alive. As I said to
someone privately, you just can't get away with the same things playing in a
250 foot sandbox as you do in a 70 foot sandbox. He's run out of air many
times before.
As it was, he was banned from all three tech boats I usually dive on (the
Seeker, Depth Charge and Independence), and the only boat that would take
him to those deep wrecks was the John Jack. He tried to sneak onto our St.
Augustine (250') trip a few weeks ago on the Independence, and Dan Bartone
(capt) blew his stack. Zero had reserved a spot for himself "and friend".
When we found out who it was, well....
Again, it's not that we didn't like Bill, we liked him a lot, and he was a
really nice guy. It's that he had a death wish and a somewhat callous
attitude about his non-stop screwups in the water (he even bragged about
being kicked off all those boats).
Christina
-----Original Message-----
From: Sea Gypsy [mailto:seagypsy@a...]
Sent: Tuesday, August 06, 2002 9:32 PM
To: uwexploration@t...
Subject: RE: UWEX: Doria accident Sunday
At 07:00 am 08/06/2002, you wrote:
>Hi All,
>This happened on Zero's boat, the John Jack, where Bill Schmoldt was
>co-captain. This one really makes me angry. Although I liked Bill, and he
>was a very nice and helpful guy personally, he did not belong in the water
>on these kinds of trips and was not qualified to do these types of dives.
>This was the one time in which he "didn't cheat death once again."
>
>Christina
Christina,
If Bill's bio is accurate, it sounds as though he had some relevant
experience. http://www.captainzero.com/bill.html
In the spirit of accident analysis, what additional qualifications or
skills do you think he should have had that may have prevented this?
Cindy Wallace
PA
Date: Wed Aug 7, 2002 10:44 am
Subject: Commentary by diver who know victim RE: UWEX: Doria accident Sunday 8.4.02
Hi Cindy,
Although Bill has been diving for decades, he confined his diving to shallow
wrecks until last year. That's a good thing, too. He was kicked off most
of the boats up here, at least starting with the late NE wreck pioneer
George Hoffman years ago on the Sea Lion. Why? It's not because people
didn't like him. Almost everyone liked Bill. It's because everyone got
tired of rescuing him for the same things over and over. No one wanted him
to die on their boat. He was one of those rare guys who learned from their
mistakes and could repeat them exactly (again and again).
I've been up here diving here since I moved to NJ from Florida in 1991. I
got to witness various "Schmoldty's" several times. He was a great help
around the boat, but in the water he was a different story.
When he started techdiving (I do not believe that anyone would give him his
trimix cert, even though I think he started in two different intructor's
trimix classes), everyone wondered how long he would be alive. As I said to
someone privately, you just can't get away with the same things playing in a
250 foot sandbox as you do in a 70 foot sandbox. He's run out of air many
times before.
As it was, he was banned from all three tech boats I usually dive on (the
Seeker, Depth Charge and Independence), and the only boat that would take
him to those deep wrecks was the John Jack. He tried to sneak onto our St.
Augustine (250') trip a few weeks ago on the Independence, and Dan Bartone
(capt) blew his stack. Zero had reserved a spot for himself "and friend".
When we found out who it was, well....
Again, it's not that we didn't like Bill, we liked him a lot, and he was a
really nice guy. It's that he had a death wish and a somewhat callous
attitude about his non-stop screwups in the water (he even bragged about
being kicked off all those boats).
Christina
-----Original Message-----
From: Sea Gypsy [mailto:seagypsy@a...]
Sent: Tuesday, August 06, 2002 9:32 PM
To: uwexploration@t...
Subject: RE: UWEX: Doria accident Sunday
At 07:00 am 08/06/2002, you wrote:
>Hi All,
>This happened on Zero's boat, the John Jack, where Bill Schmoldt was
>co-captain. This one really makes me angry. Although I liked Bill, and he
>was a very nice and helpful guy personally, he did not belong in the water
>on these kinds of trips and was not qualified to do these types of dives.
>This was the one time in which he "didn't cheat death once again."
>
>Christina
Christina,
If Bill's bio is accurate, it sounds as though he had some relevant
experience. http://www.captainzero.com/bill.html
In the spirit of accident analysis, what additional qualifications or
skills do you think he should have had that may have prevented this?
Cindy Wallace
PA
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