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From: "Ken Sallot" <ken@co*.ci*.uf*.ed*>
Organization: CIRCA, University of Florida
To: techdiver@aquanaut.com
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 11:57:12 EST
Subject: Can anyone confirm if this is true?
CC: cavers@ww*.ge*.co*
Can anyone confirm if this article really appeared and this is a real 
incident?

Ken
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Here's a story that appeared in the Virginia Pilot - a local and 
respected newspaper. The story refers to the recent sad and tragic 
death of a recreational diver, for no apparent reason.

Take care down there.


JL


>Beach diver's life ends in the depths, with his dreams of going deeper
>
>BY PAUL CLANCY, The Virginian-Pilot
>Copyright 1998, Landmark Communications Inc.
>
>OFF THE VIRGINIA COAST -- Something was terribly wrong.
>Even at 170 feet near the ocean's floor, there was little that would
>faze Tai Wilkerson, a meticulously careful and widely experienced diver.
>
>Yet he was signaling for help.
>
>Mike Fantone, his dive buddy, swam to him. Wilkerson's eyes were wide.
>His life-giving regulator dangling from his lips.
>
>He stopped breathing and went limp.
>
>At that moment, shortly after 3 p.m. Wednesday -- in a cold and lonely
>place at the bottom of the ocean -- all chances that Wilkerson would
>survive may have vanished.
>
>But his friends on the surface loved him too much to let go. For more
>than two hours, they would continue to pump oxygen into lifeless lungs
>and beat on an unbeating heart.
>
>And they would continue to hope, even as the winking lights of the Coast
>Guard rescue helicopter faded at dusk over the rolling Atlantic.
>
>The Lynnhaven Dive Center's deepwater team is among the elite of the
>profession. And Wilkerson, who was certified in virtually every aspect
>of diving that scuba pros can aspire to, was among the very best.
>
>The hazy, red sun was just rising when the team of nine divers put out
>to sea from the inlet at Ocean City, Md., Wednesday morning. They were
>working for Quicksilver, the Virginia Beach treasure-hunting company
>that has been searching for 10 years for the Spanish ship Juno, which
>may have sunk to the bottom with a fortune in treasure in 1802.
>
>It was the third and last day this week of attempts to salvage something
>from a site 40 miles off the Virginian coast of Assateague National
>Seashore that would prove this is the Juno. Something like a cannon that
>divers thought they spotted earlier in the week.
>
>One hundred and eighty feet is too dangerous for most recreational
>divers -- incredible pressures at those depths can rob people of their
>judgment. And even more dangerous is the trip back.
>
>But pros such as the Lynnhaven team have dropped to wrecks much deeper
>than that. Several members, including Wilkerson, had explored the wreck
>of the Monitor, the Union ironclad 240 feet down off Hatteras last year.
>
>Wilkerson's deepest dive was about 415 feet, and he was looking forward
>to pushing the envelope even farther, to 500 feet.
>
>The resident of the Kings Grant neighborhood in Virginia Beach, in his
>early 40s, was a pilot for Airborne Express and was believed to be in
>superb shape.
>
>It took just over two hours for ``Miss Lindsey,'' the 60-foot custom
>dive boat, to reach the site.
>
>``Thank you, Lord, for the beautiful day,'' said Mike Hillier, the
>leader of the team and veteran of thousands of dives. ``What we gotta do
>is find something. But the most important thing is: Come back.''
>
>For the first several hours, they didn't find more than a few pieces of
>encrusted metal.
>
>Wilkerson was one of three divers to make the first jump, at about 9:45.
>Dressed in bulky dry suits, gloves, hoods and loaded with weight belts
>and gear, they looked like astronauts.
>
>For their dive, their plan was to spend about 20 minutes at the wreck
>site.
>
>At these depths, extreme caution must be used. ``Nitrogen narcosis,''
>the effect of condensed nitrogen on the brain, can cause divers to lose
>their judgment. The divers were using a mixture of helium, oxygen and
>nitrogen rather than just compressed air, because the mix delays the
>narcosis effect.
>
>For every minute spent at great depths, divers must spend several more
>minutes decompressing on the way up. If a diver ascends too rapidly,
>gasses in the bloodstream -- in a dissolved state under pressure --
>become bubbles, clogging blood vessels and blocking circulation to vital
>organs.
>
>Decompression illness, known as the ``bends,'' can cause permanent
>damage and even death.
>
>Using a computer program called ``Abyss,'' one diver calculated that for
>a stay of 15 minutes, he would have to spend 42 minutes coming to the
>surface: four minutes at 40 feet, six minutes at 30 feet, six minutes at
>20 feet and 16 minutes at 10 feet.
>
>Typically, divers will hang on to the anchor line, reading computers
>that tell them depth and time.
>
>Wilkerson, who had gone down with a metal detector, told his colleagues
>after the first dive that he got an interesting ``hit'' from an object
>that could have been brass or another metal.
>
>It was cold on the bottom -- 41 degrees -- and visibility was poor. That
>would improve as the day wore on.
>
>``It was crystal clear,'' said diver J.T. Barker, who descended to the
>wreck several hours later.
>
>But the teams were unable to locate the cannon, and time was running
>out. The pressure to come up with proof of Juno's existence was growing.
>
>Shortly after 2 p.m., Wilkerson decided to make one last dive.
>
>Consulting his laptop computer, he determined he could spend up to 15
>minutes more on the bottom. He had to make those decompression stops to
>make it safely back.
>
>Mike Fantone, who had not yet dived to the wreck, would be his partner.
>
>They jumped in the water at 2:55 p.m.
>
>Fantone said he helped Wilkerson adjust his fins, which had come loose.
>They exchanged ``OK'' signals and resumed their descent, stopping at the
>first hang bar to check each other's equipment. They repeated the
>procedure at 100 feet and switched from regular compressed air to the
>helium-oxygen-nitrogen mixture.
>
>Wilkerson stopped about 10 feet from the bottom. It was his job to
>attach a tether to the anchor line so they could safely get back.
>
>But when Fantone looked over his shoulder to make sure his partner was
>following, he said, something was wrong. Wilkerson was pulling down on
>another rope and becoming entangled in it.
>
>``He was really breathing hard, oh Lord, and struggling with the line,''
>Fantone said.
>
>Fantone untangled Wilkerson. He signaled to his friend to calm down and
>thought, for just a moment, he had succeeded.
>
>Then, he noticed Wilkerson's regulator had come out of his mouth and
>replaced it.
>
>``He tried to take a couple of more breaths. But right after that, I
>looked in his eyes, and they went out. His eyes got all dilated, and he
>stopped breathing.
>
>``After that, there was nothing I could do. The only thing left to do
>was to send him to the surface.''
>
>The surface was Wilkerson's only chance. To decompress properly would
>take almost an hour.
>
>There wasn't time.
>
>When Wilkerson's body popped to the surface, pandemonium erupted. The
>crew threw out a lifeline. Barker jumped in the water bare-shirted to
>pull his teammate back to the boat.
>
>They got him to the rear deck, ripped off his mask and immediately began
>cardiopulmonary resuscitation and mouth-to-mouth breathing, frequently
>rolling him on his side to clear his airway.
>
>Several minutes later, Fantone surfaced, yelling for his friend. He was
>risking his own life by ascending without going through decompression
>stops, but he had to know.
>
>Don't worry, we've got him, they said; get back down there.
>
>Fantone descended and hung on the anchor line, weeping while he waited
>the agonizing minutes before surfacing.
>
>Crew members probably knew there was no hope, but they kept up a steady
>rhythm, pressing on Wilkerson'sheart and attempting to breathe for their
>friend. They would suck in pure oxygen from a cylinder and expel it into
>his lungs.
>
>``Jeez, come on Tai,'' one of them would say. They took turns. They
>refused to give up.
>
>It was after 5 p.m. when a Coast Guard boat arrived on the scene.
>Wilkerson was fitted with an oxygen bottle and transferred to the other
>boat. A Navy ship in the vicinity, the Vicksburg, also lent a hand.
>
>Wilkerson was transferred by Navy helicopter to the Vicksburg while Navy
>personnel continued to administer CPR. Then, the decision was made to
>transfer him to Norfolk Sentara Hospital because it has a decompression
>chamber.
>
>Such devices can overcome the effects of decompression sickness by
>putting patients under pressure, forcing gas bubbles to contract.
>
>``Apparently, they think there's hope, if they're taking him to
>decompression,'' said Dave Wyden, another member of the Lynnhaven crew.
>
>As a Coast Guard helicopter picked up Wilkerson from the Vicksburg for
>the trip to Norfolk, a member of the Navy crew radioed to the pilot what
>everyone was thinking: ``Godspeed.''
>
>But it was not to be. At 6:53 p.m., on the way to the hospital,
>Wilkerson was pronounced dead.
>
>On Thursday, Dr. Leah Bush, chief medical examiner, said an
>investigation into the cause of death was ongoing. But she said, ``It
>does not appear at this time to be equipment malfunction or diver error.
>It appears to be an accidental death precipitated by a natural event.''
>
>But Wednesday night as darkness fall and the dive team headed back,
>Wilkerson's friends did not know of his fate and held out hope.
>
>And they spoke of his dedication to diving.
>
>``He'd talk your ear off about it,'' said Hillier on the Bridge of
>``Miss Lindsey.''
>
>``There were very few people who went as far as he did,'' Hillier said.
>``There's no rhyme or reason to things, sometimes -- you know?''
>
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>PILOT ONLINE - NEWS
>



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