RALPH WHITE - Titanic DDS pilot...

[Sam Miller III]

Ralph White, What sad news! What very sad sad News!

It is reported that Ralph was fine early Super bowl Sunday morning, one of his favorite days of the year. By mid-day he was beginning to feel ill, and was rushed to the hospital early that evening complaining of abdominal pains . An emergency surgery was immediately performed for an abdominal aortic aneurysm. By Monday morning he was stable was on his way to recovery , but suffered a cardiac arrest around noon and another later that evening. He could not be revived from the second heart attack.

He had been a dear friend for over 50 years

Many years ago I was the DSO and CDO of the DDS Beaver program in Anaheim, California. A very young a 21 year old by the name of Ralph White was hired for the program. Brimming with enthusiasm he was an accomplished diver, underwater photographer and was soon to became a world renown DDS pilot.

Ralph and I remained in contact all those ensuing years by occasionally bumping into each other a various events. The last time I recall having a lengthily set down conversation with him was a few years back at a meeting of the Los Angeles Adventures Club. It was those type occasional meetings that allowed us to reconnect and catch up on or lives.

And what a life of adventure Ralph lead - the world was his play ground-

Ralph White is best known to the underwater world as a world class DDS pilot on the Titanic. It has often been stated, and is true, that Ralph has more dives piloting a DDS on the wreck of theTitanic than any person in the world and has more time on the deck of the of the Titanic than any of the passengers had when the ship was afloat.

A diver, underwater photographer, a DDS pilot--true man of adventure...

a old friend that is already being missed....
Sam Miller

 

[Scuba Cowboy]

I met Ralph at the 2004 HDS Conference. Very nice man, he was one of the guest speakers. Very sad news indeed.

 

[Erickson92]

I was looking up Mr. White to show who he was when i ran across notice of his death. I am deeply sadend by this news. A couple years ago while attending Our World Under Water convention, Mr.White was speaking. My father, he and myself chatted for a while, but i made no connection to who i was speaking to. As i youngster i was fasinated by the Titanic and i still am. I like to concider myself a "Titanic Buff".As being that both my parents are avid avid divers, i was quite the fan. After Mr. White departed i relized who he was. I begged Patrick to ask him for his autograph. I would have been happy to have a napkin signed by Mr. White. A couple weeks later i recived a poster with the bow of the titanic photo, addresed to me, Telling me to always follow my dreams and to "Watch out for icebergs". It is one of my most prized posesions today. I would like to extend my sympathys to all of Mr. Whites family and friends. He truley was an insperation- K

 

[oasisofmaragal]

I miss Ralph. He was one of the most interesting people on earth to talk to! We always seemed to run into each other at dive events and the conversations ranged from sky diving to what was for dinner. His sense of humor was awesome.

 

[CMAS One]

While working in Bermuda as Scientific Diving Officer for the Bermuda Biological Station I was lucky enough to meet Ralph. Bermuda was the jumping off point for their Titanic mission and the assembly of equipment/crew was underway. Ralph offerred and delivered an excellent talk and tour of the Russian research ship and equipment that was to carry them to the Ultimate Ship Wreck. He was a wise, funny and very generous man. He will be greatly missed.

Frank J. Toal Jr.,President
CMAS AMERICAS