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For the people who would like to know the real truth.... Here it is.... And I'm sorry if the facts don't agree with the fantasies of others. Official Press Release of Divers Supply Compiled by: Jeff Hirschman, Dick McNatt, Renee LaChapelle, Larry Roth, and Captain Ed Cooke January 18, 1997 This report was compiled from all the known facts as it pertains to the accident which occurred on January 12, 1998 that involved Andre B. Smith, John S. Claypool, and Mike J. Elkins. There is no speculation or exaggeration in this report. Only the facts as known to us will be conferred in this report. Dive team consisted of: Andre B. Smith, 57 over 10,300+ logged dives. 35+ years experience in military, commercial, sport, and technical diving. Instructor trainer who was qualified to teach novice through the top levels of technical diving. John S. Claypool, 34 Experienced in sport, technical, and law enforcement diving. Instructor qualified to teach novice through advanced nitrox. Mike J. Elkins, 36 Experienced in sport and technical diving, pursuing further training in order to improve his skills and capabilities. Larry J. Roth, 42 Experienced in military, sport, and technical diving. 29+ years experience. Dive Plan: This was to be the second trimix dive in Elkins class. The plan called for a dive on a sandy bottom to a depth of 250 fsw (feet sea water)with a bottom time of 20 minutes - gas supply permitting. All divers were configured with a trimix consisting of 17% Oxygen, 38% Helium, and 45% Nitrogen which was contained in twin low pressure steel 95 cubic foot tanks with an isolation manifold system. The travel gas, a 40% Nitrox (40% Oxygen, 60% Nitrogen) mix was contained in a single low pressure 72 or 80 cubic foot scuba tank mounted on the left side of the divers harness. The decompression gas, a 80% Nitrox (80% oxygen, 20% Nitrogen) mix was contained in a single low pressure 72 or 80 cubic foot scuba tank and was mounted on the right side of the divers harness. Additionally, two 72 cubic foot decompression bottles (Nitrox 80%) and one 72 cubic foot travel gas (Nitrox 40%) were ready aboard the vessel if needed. All equipment and redundant configurations were in compliance with IANTD (International Association Nitrox and Technical Divers) standards. Dive Profile: The decompression schedule was planned for *100fsw/1min 90fsw/1min 80fsw/1min 70fsw/3min 60fsw/2min 50fsw/5min 40fsw/6min **30fsw/8min 20fsw/13min 10fsw/28min Backup plan (if Nitrox-80 lost) 30fsw/10min 20fsw/19 10fsw/45 *Switch to Nitrox 40% **Switch to Nitrox 80% Eyewitness account of surviving team member: On 12 January 1998, I was a member of the dive team consisting of Andre Smith- IANTD Trimix Instructor, Mike Elkins- IANTD Technical Nitrox Certified Diver, John Claypool- IANTD Trimix Certified Diver and myself- IANTD Trimix Certified Diver. The team's goal was to make a discovery dive in the area of the "Classic Barges" off the coast of West Palm Beach, Florida. Additionally, Mike Elkins was making the second trimix dive of his IANTD Trimix certification program as Andre's student. Futaba Elkins was also aboard as a Technical Nitrox student of Andre's and our safety diver. The boat used for the dive was the SS Minnow operated by Captain Ed Cooke. Due to the speed with which events unfolded and the difficulties experienced, this is my best recollection of the entire incident. A dive plan was worked out by Mike and myself separately, then compared and approved, by Andre. The plan was for a 250 fsw dive for 20 minutes bottom time, 68 minutes decompression for a total run time of 99 minutes surface to surface. All diver's gas consumption rates allowed for safe completion of the planned dive. Gases were planned for 17/38/45 bottom mix, 40% nitrox travel mix, and 80% decompression mix. All gases were mixed and verified in the West Palm Beach Diver's Supply store by Andre and each respective diver . Gear preparation was completed aboard the Minnow without problem, followed by a dive briefing. The brief consisted of the dive plan, surface and decompression plan, and emergency procedures. Every member of the team fully understood the plan and executed it correctly. All divers entered the water and descended normally. Bottom conditions were approximately 1/4 kt north current, 60 ft visibility. A slow drift dive was started with all divers remaining in close proximity. During this portion of the dive Mike was having difficulty with his buoyancy trim and was kicking vigorously to stay off the bottom. He appeared to be struggling, so I went up to him and encouraged him to add more air to his buoyancy compensator, then raised the back of his tanks to help shift any trapped air and improve his trim. He waved me off and appeared to relax some. I stayed right next to him and we continued to drift until we stopped a few moments later to inspect some concrete rubble. At this time Mike signaled to Andre that he was at his bottom mix turn limit. (Approximately 15 minutes into the dive.) We then assumed our ascent positions . I was on Andre's right, John on his left and Mike on John's left. Andre released the first liftbag as planned and we started to ascend. After rising to about 200 fsw, we started to sink and Mike appeared to be having trouble adding and/or venting air from his buoyancy compensator. Andre assisted Mike and we started to go up again and rose to about 175 fsw. Mike was still experiencing buoyancy problems and possibly perceived he was running out of air. We started to descend again and my view was obscured by all the bubbles rising up to my face. Before I could determine were the air was coming from, we descended to about 220 fsw. Andre handed me the buoy line to keep it clear of us while he devoted his attention to Mike. The liftbag deflated sometime during this descent. Andre began to quickly pull it down to use to pull Mike up. John, now too away far to assist, had begun his own ascent and I had my first opportunity to get in front of Mike to assist him. He was beginning to panic and may have exhausted his bottom gas. Before I could get to him with my octopus, Mike began breathing off his travel mix. Due to the great depth and high partial pressure of oxygen in the mixture he was now breathing, his "central nervous system oxygen toxicity" level was dangerously high as was the chance of oxygen induced convulsions. I grabbed Mike by the tank manifold and inflated my buoyancy compensator (vest) fully to try and drag both Mike and Andre to the 100 fsw level where we could more safely handle the problem. We got to approximately 150 fsw, when I felt a shudder in my hand. I was hoping Andre was shaking Mike instead of the onset of his convulsions. When I looked down Mike was not moving. I now ran out of air, stopped swimming and tried to get Andre's attention for air or to signal him to meet me up higher. Andre may have been trying to share his own air supply with Mike, but my view was blocked. We had now sunk back down to180 fsw at which point I lost my hold while trying to get around Mike to Andre. Since my buoyancy compensator was fully inflated I could not stay with them. While I was trying to control my ascent, I saw John above me and attempted to join him. He had his liftbag out and was preparing to inflate it. I caught up to him but could not stop my rate of ascent until 80 fsw. I looked down and saw John, he still appeared fine. I then began to descend down to my first decompression stop at 100 fsw. While stabilizing myself I lost sight of John. Since I was now alone, I deployed my liftbag and began my decompression schedule while I tried to determine how best to modify it, in view of the problems. I tried to signal the boat with my bag while I looked for the others. Later I heard a boat engine revving at high RPM. I hoped the others had surfaced and were heading for the beach. After about 30 minutes a boat drifted up to me and then moved out of my view. Later I saw another boat, that stayed with me. It pulled up on top of me and I then knew it was the Minnow. I finished my new decompression schedule and surfaced after 125 minutes. Once onboard, I found none of the other divers onboard and briefed the Captain on the situation. Captain Cooke told me that Andre's liftbag had come up before mine, but no one was with it. There was only about 90 minutes of daylight left, so I suggested we request a USCG helicopter and then helped Captain Cooke organize a search pattern to find the lost divers. Search conditions were excellent and the sea state low. The Coast Guard data marker beacons (DMB) were easily visible on the surface, making the probability of finding a surfaced diver very high. We searched until 0400 the next day, returning only once to refuel. USCG assets joined immediately and searched through January 15th and Sheriffs department through January 16th. Conclusion: A search was attempted on the bottom of the accident site on Thursday, January 15th but was aborted due to weather conditions. An extensive search was conducted on the bottom of the accident site on Saturday, January 17th. The teams consisted of: 1) RV Ocean Window (561) 252-2526 2) Captain Ed Cooke of the SS Minnow with Trimix Divers: Jeff Hirschman, Renee LaChapelle, and Mike Haverstock Safety Divers: Major R.T. Keegan, Sergeant G. Webb, and Officer D. Howard 2nd Support Team: Larry Roth, Pete Winston, Douglas Frederick Results of the surface and bottom searches: There were no discoveries or recoveries made. We would like to thank the following groups and individuals for all of their help in this tragic event: USCG Station Lake Worth Helo Golf November Captain Bob Johnson of Rampage Dive Charters Palm Beach Sheriffs Department - Dive teams, boat crews, and air search units RV Ocean Window (561) 252-2526 West Palm Police Department and dive team Captain Ed Cooke of SS Minnow And all of those who have gone out of their way to help -- Jeff Hirschman -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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