Nitrogen Pete

[Anthony Appleyard]

Naval divers in the early days of oxygen rebreather diving developed a mythology about a monster called Oxygen Pete who lurked underwater for unwary rebreather divers and caused oxygen convulsions etc. See Oxygen toxicity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That led someone to write by analogy in a UK scuba diving magazine a poem about a Nitrogen Pete who lurks at 200 feet with "a speargun and a big iron bar" to attack unwary divers who dived too deep on ordinary air. Have you heard the expression "Nitrogen Pete" anywhere else?

 

[Gene_Hobbs]

The first reference to "Oxygen Pete" anyone** can find is on page 291 in:

Sir Robert Davis (1955). Deep Diving and Submarine Operations, 6th, Tolworth, Surbiton, Surrey: Siebe Gorman & Company Ltd, 693 pages.

There was no reference to a "Nitrogen Pete" in the same ref. Good luck on your hunt and thanks for all the hard work in wikipedia!

**thanks to Dr. Harris for the source! (is in the earlier editions but the 6th is the one I have)

 

[Nemrod]

No

Nitrogen narcosis was once refrrred to as Rapture of the Deep but I have never heard of anyone named Pete.

N

 

[LIVES4SHARKS]

Unable to find any data on Nitrogen Pete per se.

Carolyn:shark2:

 

[LIVES4SHARKS]

Between the two world wars Siebe Gorman & Co. introduced the technique of using different concentrations of oxygen mixed with nitrogen. It had been established that divers could not tolerate oxygen concentrations greater than 2 Ata for extended periods of time without difficulty. The divers affected by this incapacity and convulsions associated with high O2 concentrations invented a mythical monster, "Oxygen Pete," who was supposed to lurk on the bottom of the sea waiting to molest unwary divers. Oxygen toxicity hits during this time were referred to as "getting a Pete."
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=oxygen+pete++diving&first=11&FORM=PORE

Interesting reading!

Carolyn:shark2: