Former Bathyscaph Trieste II Crew Member/Diver/Photographer

[Dan DeVoe]

Greetings everyone!

I was doing some research about the potential health affects of diving in AVGAS, and came across this site. I just joined your community and wanted to introduce myself.

After boot camp, sub school and electronics tech training, my first assignment was as a crew member aboard the Bathyscaph Trieste II in the late 70's. When I joined the Trieste in San Diego, the Chief of the Boat said "You're going to be a Scuba Diver!". We only had a crew of about 16, so I didn't have much choice. The funny thing is.... I wasn't even a very good swimmer, but I went through an intensive training/preparation period, and I passed the Navy's Scuba Diving Course.

My main specialty was Electronic Technician, but out of necessity (or maybe nobody else wanted to do it) I was not only a Diver, but also the Ship's Photographer.

Looking back, it was the most incredible 2 1/2 years of my life. We were deployed through the Panama Canal and in the Caribbean around Grand Cayman and Puerto Rico, working with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, National Geographic, Scripps Institute. and other scientific research groups. I don't dive as often as I'd like, mainly just on vacations, but the spirit of those days lives on and I'd like to get back into diving now that my son is older..

I noted @Akimbo and maybe one or two other members were Trieste crew members, and I'd like to ask a favor of them or anyone that has insight. Most of the Trieste divers I served with have suffered some health issues, and one of my former shipmates Dan Burkett is having serious health issues . We suspect it is from diving frequently in AVGAS (it was used for flotation). Akimbo and others - if you have any information, or would be willing to do a "buddy letter" for "Diver Dan", please respond to this post or contact me at drdevoe@sbcglobal.net.

Thanks!

DD

 

[NYCNaiad]

Welcome to Scubaboard!

I can't help in regards to AVGAS, but just wanted to let you know that the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute & the bathyspheres/submersibles like Alvin inspired me so much! I ended up at the Acadia Institute of Oceanography one summer when I was young because of Woods Hole.

Hope you get back into diving more now that your son is older.

Happy diving!

 

[Sam Miller III]

Dan
Your name has a familiar ring to it -- but when and where ?' After discharge were you involved in OC diving or NAUI activities ?

I was never involved with the Trieste, but was involved with the late Andy Rechnitzer the original project manager on the world record dive into the Challenger trench.

In 1961 Andy was hired as a project manager to develop the DDS Beaver -I was brought on as a CDO & DSO-- the Beaver project folded and the Beaver was sold to a French company who used it for many years. we all went our separate ways, but Andy and I remained in contact until his passing about 10 years ago.

"Jens" Jensen was the photographic honcho on the Trieste . I was involved in the then infant activity of UW photography. Jens gave me two strobe cases intended for the Trieste which had never been used. I also had no use for them so stored them away for possible future use --After the passage of almost 60 years I still have them stored away.

I attempted to donate them to the USN of several occasions but was rejected...Have any suggestions?

SAM Miller

 

[ram04769]

Hello Dan and welcome to ScubaBoard. It sounds like you had a remarkable career with the navy. Thanks for your service! Best of luck in getting the information you are looking for in regards to AVGAS.

 

[Akimbo]

Hi Dan
I was a new electronics tech (AX, Airman)/diver for a short time on the Trieste II in 1970. It was between sometime in the spring until early November. I was assigned TAD (Temporary Active Duty) right after 2nd class diving school until I had enough time in service to make PO3 (Third Class Petty Officer or E4), which was required for 1st Class Diving School. This was at the end of the post-Scorpion overhaul and right before they got orders for a "scientific mission" north of Hawaii. I didn't realize they were looking for the Soviet submarine K-129 that was lost until reading Blind Man’s Bluff.

I was only offshore aboard the White Sands (Trieste’s support vessel) for about a week for the post-overhaul certification dives. It was enough for the Av-Gas to destroy my first custom wetsuit that Dick Long measured me for at his dive shop was in La Mesa. Little did I know that it was the beginning of a decades-long friendship. A Photographer’s Mate and I were the only divers aboard so we did all the pre and post dive underwater work. I remember his face but not his name.

This was the first dive that the T-2 had converted to nearly all underwater mate-able EO (Electro-Oceanics) connectors. I can’t imagine how they got much done before that since they would have to de-gas her and get her on deck of the White Sands (a semi-submersible dry dock) in order to do even minor electrical/electronic repairs. I understand that they had a lot of long service loops (extra-long cables) on externally mounted 70mm still cameras before EOs so divers could dismount it and get it on the Trieste’s deck, or sail in sloppy seas, so film could be changed.

I had no symptoms other than some really minor skin-burns that healed in about a week, but it was VERY limited exposure. What kind of health problems are T-2 divers experiencing? I would think that refueling crews on air gangs would have gotten a lot more exposure than any of us.

 

[The Chairman]

Holy cow! Welcome to the Board Diver Dan! @Akimbo, all this time and I never knew this about you. Amazing!

 

[Akimbo]

@Dan DeVoe

Maybe you can find more of us if you can find the organizers of this?
Trieste Anniversary Party

 

[Dan DeVoe]

@Dan DeVoe

Maybe you can find more of us if you can find the organizers of this?
Trieste Anniversary Party

@Akimbo - I attended the 50th anniversary event in San Diego, I still wear the commemorative hat that Rolex gave each attendee. I wasn't thinking about these issues back then, many of the problems came to the surface (no submarine pun intended) just recently. You probably remember George Ellis, he passed away from cancer a few years ago. He asked me about the AVGAS exposure, as he thought he might have been impacted. Three of the T2 divers are having serious problems, including Dan Burkett. I think Dan B joined the Trieste about 1974 so you probably missed him.

 

[Marie13]

Explanation on the AVGAS, please.

 

[Akimbo]

... You probably remember George Ellis, he passed away from cancer a few years ago. He asked me about the AVGAS exposure, as he thought he might have been impacted...

I would look to the Aviation sectors in the military and industry for data:

Carcinogenic Effect of Military Fuel Vapors - Permissible Exposure Levels for Selected Military Fuel Vapors - NCBI Bookshelf

12 Carcinogenic Effects of Jet-Propulsion Fuel 8 | Toxicologic Assessment of Jet-Propulsion Fuel 8 |The National Academies Press

Unfortunately, it seams that everyone gets cancer if something else doesn't get us first. Cells are constantly mutating in all of us. The VAST majority are "unsuccessful", meaning that the immune system recognizes them as defective, they can't absorb nutrients or get rid of byproducts, or can't reproduce. Cancers are the ones that are way too successful and are invisible to the immune system.