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At 12:19 AM 1/11/98 PST, Steve Schinke wrote: >For you not >to admit that narcosis can be controled is idiotic. I'm put in mind of excerpts from a navy diving log about a deep air operation taking place in 1961. At a height of 4,000 feet above sea-level, with winter approaching and water temperatures beginning to fall below freezing point the divers were required to free a dam sluice gate that lay at a depth of 270-feet. Combined with the freezing cold that numbed them to their bones, the divers were hampered in their work by zero visibility caused by decomposing vegetable matter suspended in the lake's water. It was a job whose problems were magnified still further by the need to carry out meaningful work in water depths far beyond the scope of normal air diving operations. (Helium was unavailable in Australia at that time and so was not even an option!) Working from a pontoon placed over the diversion tunnel's intake tower, the divers were tasked with dismantling one of its sides and removing twenty, 3.5 ton trash racks in order to reach the sluice gates at the tower's base. With the help of a floating crane to lift the heavy trash racks, the divers' worked their way progressively down the tower. At a depth of approximately 200 feet, that divers' experienced their first set back. Despite the maximum pull of the crane, the fifteenth trash rack was jammed into the tower frame and, like the next three, could only be removed by the use of plastic explosives inserted between the trash racks and detonated electronically from the surface. Obstinate racks were not the only problem confronting the divers as they progressed towards the 200 feet depth. Physiological and psychological troubles also began to take their toll. Despite the use of a surface powered, 1,000 candle power underwater light, visibility was reduced, at best, to just a few inches. More often than not the divers worked in an inky blackness, a condition that led to more than a few interesting radio exchanges between the diver and those on the surface. Chief Petty Officer W. T. Fitzgerald recalls being asked what he could see. "Nothing!" Came his response. "Are your eyes open?" "I don't know! At 260 feet in the pitch black how do I know if my eyes are open if I can't see? I don't even know whether I'm conscious or not!" At the deeper depths the problems were compounded by nitrogen narcosis. A diver would go down, attach the crane to the next rack and return to the surface confident that he had completed his task. After an unsuccessful hoist another diver would descend to investigate. He, in turn, would report that the first diver had not attached the chains correctly, but that the problem was now rectified. A second failure would entail sending yet another diver down. He would return to report that both previous men had been under an illusion! Narcosis had caused them to have memory lapses in the middle of the job, leaving it only partially completed. Just two excerpts from the dive log highlight the problems that the diving team faced on a daily basis. 14th March 1961 Depth 257 feet. The diver had apparently lost consciousness on reaching the depth. He failed to respond to signals and the order was given for the standby diver to enter the water and Fitzgerald to be hauled to the surface. As the standby diver entered the water, Fitzgerald appeared at the surface still breathing but incapable of coordinated movement. The standby diver immediately pulled him down to the 90 feet decompression stop and escorted him up through the remaining stoppages. On reaching the surface 47 minutes later he was suffering from a severe headache and was partially overcome by the cold. 22nd March 1961 Depth 243 feet. Diver surfaced and reported that the job had been completed. He was well and had conducted his dive satisfactorily. However, the next diver down reported that the previous diver had coupled up incorrectly. The first diver was convinced that he had done the job correctly. I know that air purity standards are far higher today than they then were but - as far as I'm aware! - human physiology remains the same! Doesn't it? Strike -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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