Beneath The Sea (eBook)

Diving and Other Life Adventures

William L. (Bill) High (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022 | 1. Auflage
300 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-6678-7457-9 (ISBN)

Infos

With a career spanning more than 65 years, Bill is probably the oldest living person that has spent as much time underwater as he has and found many adventures throughout his life both below and above the ocean. These stories are individually written, so you may enjoy them in any order you wish. You are bound to be amused and enlightened with his story telling of how things were and how some things came to be. Share with Bill as he tells you of his time spent living underwater, his adventures with the sea life he encountered, what it was like to dive in a fish seine with all the fish bustling and jostling about. Learn what it was like to be alone in the Alaska wilderness with nothing much to do but count fish. These are stories of an exciting life well lived. Enjoy the adventure, then go out and find your own!

Textauszug

Chapter 3

Victoria’s Sewer Outfall

The telephone call came from Don Sorte, an old friend from the International Hydrodynamics Co. Don and his partner Mac Thomson were the designer-builders of the Pisces Class of deep submersibles. Their company also had a commercial diving division that was faced with a difficult problem. Don said he needed an underwater photographer right away. Without hesitation, I assured him I had the equipment and expertise to meet any need.

After I had glibly agreed to take the pictures, Don went on to explain a little about the job. First and foremost, two other professional diver-photographers had failed on previous attempts to produce the needed images. The diving location was in Victoria, British Columbia, at a depth of 215 feet. He didn’t stop there. The Hyco diving barge was anchored over the city’s sewer outfall at great expense and they could not continue until photographs were obtained to adequately illustrate the nature of the break in the pipe. From the pictures, a construction team would fabricate a patch that could be lowered over and around the damaged site.

The dive was only possible during a short tide cycle window when the current slowed enough for the divers to descend and ascend the taut cable secured between the barge and the break. Also, it was necessary to coordinate the dive with the city pumping station so effluent would not obscure the details of the break nor contaminate the divers. In addition, we had to consider the allowable time at that great depth with the necessary penalty of decompression time up near the surface where current flow would be at is maximum. This was obviously serious commercial diving and considerably more complex than any dive (except the Tektite II saturation program) I had undertaken up to that time. Fortunately, Don ended the call by assuring me that his commercial divers would handle all the technical details, I only had to shoot the pictures.

At the time I only possessed a Calypso camera, a fine small 35mm unit designed to go no deeper than 175 feet. My friend Dan Twohig had just purchased a state-of-the-art Giddings underwater housing for a Nikon camera with motor drive. I borrowed it. I reasoned that if my easy-to-use Calypso camera flooded at the excessive depth or, its electronic flash (strobe) failed from any of several common reasons, I could switch to the less familiar but sophisticated system. I was careful not to tell Dan how deep I intended to go with his very expensive housing and strobe light but, I knew that no quality professional photographer would take on such a critical assignment without backup gear. Certainly, the image created for the barge load of commercial divers had to be that this foreign scuba-duba-do diver would be right at home with their very technical dive plan.

Scuba divers were not regarded very highly by conventional commercial divers. I was well trained in both scuba and commercial gear and certainly had a lot of complex diving experience even though I had not previously been down more than 175 feet. Fortunately for me, I had made a number of deep submersible divers as well as having recently completed a then relatively famous saturation dive. Few of the commercial divers that were to stand by or assist me had that experience so they were a bit more tolerant of this outsider than they might have been otherwise.

I was quickly rushed from the Victoria airport to the waterfront and onto a fast boat. Much action at the site was underway preparing for the dive. Radio contact with the pumping station was established. Our dive plan was carefully reviewed. Gary, one of the divers who had already inspected the sewer pipe where a freighter’s anchor had broken it open, explained exactly what I should expect to see. He would be my buddy and help in any way that I demanded.

Timing was all important. If we could finish the job in 10 minutes or less, then the decompression period on the ascent would be only 10 minutes. However, to stay 11 or up to 15 minutes, we would be required to decompress at 30 feet, 20 feet and 10 feet for a total of at least 27 minutes. That meant we would be holding onto a line below the surface in a fast-running tide. Should some accident compel us to stay on the bottom 16 minutes, we would become dangerously chilled hanging in the current for over 43 minutes on the way up.

My partner and I rehearsed our photo plan. Gary would carry my Calypso camera system and a yard stick. At the bottom I would take a position, determine visibility, and set the camera focus then shoot using Dan’s more professional Nikon. Only a few seconds would be necessary for the strobe to recharge itself; so rapidly, with the power film advance, I was to shoot the entire 36 exposure film roll from changing positions and at various light settings. In the unlikely event that some glitch developed with the primary camera, I was to signal for the spare. We would make the switch and continue per the plan. While I took pictures, my partner was to place the yard stick conspicuously near the pipe break so it would provide a scale reference with the photos.

What a scene for a movie! Around the table the entire team hunched over charts and diagrams. Fingers pointed as though to pinpoint a vast treasure. We scratched and pondered appropriately. I was quietly getting more apprehensive by the minute. Just maybe, I had bitten off more than I could chew.

The timekeeper set the event cycle in motion. A call went out to the pumping station “off in 10 minutes”, said the radio operator. I moved out on deck to lay out my gear. It was gone! Then I saw it neatly arranged near the dive entry platform. “Stand here” said a burley fellow as he took my arm in his paw and shoved me toward my gear. Never before had I experienced the joy and slight fear of having a diver tender handle my gear and suit me up. I hardly knew how to receive the equipment components from a stranger. Normally, I would always double check connections and fittings but not today. That would have been a terrible insult to this skilled technician and a diver never should have his tender mad at him. He lifted the big set of double cylinders onto my shoulders. I started to reach for the mask, but he neatly knocked my hand down. Each piece of equipment went to the right place in the right order and timed to the minutes remaining until the dive.

At the correct second, we two divers jumped into the harbor. Each took the prescribed camera and started down to the sewer pipe, 215 feet below. The cable slipped through our gloved hands as we descended. The water was quite clear but quickly the light faded to a sinister gloom. We paused at 100 feet just to confirm with each other that all was well. I had to stop looking at my depth gauge after we passed 150 feet because I didn’t know how I would react seeing the needle pass the 200 feet mark. On we went, the sound change in the air supply regulator clearly told me what I didn’t want to see on the gauge, we were deep! Rather suddenly, the surroundings became a bit lighter, and I could see the 4 feet diameter pipe below us. Some of the low penetrating light reflected off the silt and sand bottom to brighten the area. We were at the bottom, and it didn’t seem so treacherous after all.

Now, to concentrate on the task at hand. Would narcosis rob me of my rational thought? Thank goodness I didn’t have to keep track of the bottom time because I was using every ounce of concentration to arrange the focus and the light settings. The strobe ready light blinked brightly. I could barely see, through the camera lens, the anchor impact site with the huge crack and missing pieces of concrete. Carefully I squeezed the shutter trigger for the first shot.

The strobe flashed, much to my relief. Then, without hesitating for a moment, the trigger switch, stuck open by the great water pressure caused the camera electric motor drive to continually fire off the entire film roll in about 10 seconds. I was doomed! Quickly I handed over the camera to the commercial diver and signaled for the questionable alternate. Gary had no idea what the problem was. Every moment counted. We could not afford a delay because of the huge penalty posed by the required decompression time.

With elaborate care I composed the next picture. Possibly I would only get one shot with this manual camera because some other failure would arise. I saw no water within the lens. Presumably, so far at least, it had not flooded from the excess depth. The trigger was very stiff, but it all seemed to work. About halfway through the roll of film I looked up at the other diver. Gary was pointing to his watch and motioning me to hurry. More camera adjustments and more exposures brought me to frame 32 of 36. Again, I looked up. Gary was using a stick to point to me and then point up toward the surface. Hurry, hurry his actions implied. Oh my God, the stick! Together our narcosis fogged minds realized that he had, through all the pictures, failed to hold the reference measuring stick near the break.

Forget the hurry, hurry, I must use all my will power to ensure every detail was correct. Just a little fresh water began to rise from the break. Now what? Had they turned the pumps back on? With the measuring stick in place, I fired off the remaining 4 film frames. We immediately rose up the reference cable. Again, Gary was in charge, so I followed his measured ascent rate while monitoring my perilously low air supply.

At 30 feet two sets of scuba cylinders were waiting on the line. They undulated slowly in the rising current. Another support diver descended to us to confirm that all was well. I wasn’t about to try explaining...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 14.12.2022
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• ISBN-10: 1-6678-7457-8 / 1667874578
• ISBN-13: 978-1-6678-7457-9 / 9781667874579