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-----Original Message----- From: Bill Mee <wwm@sa*.ne*> To: kirvine@sa*.ne* <kirvine@sa*.ne*>; techdiver@aquanaut.com <techdiver@aquanaut.com> Date: Friday, July 30, 1999 4:45 PM Subject: Re: Where was this guy's buddy? >Like the recent Tony Smith and the Seeker's Doria fatalities of last year he >was no doubt diving without a buddy. This apparently is SOP on boats like >the Seeker. These people do not or can not learn. Besides all of the other >egregious foolishness that goes on it is well known that solo diving or >diving solo with your buddy violates every possible tenet of common sense. >The latter behavior will get you axed from the WKPP faster than anything >else once you have graduated from the parking lot. > >These ignorant behaviors are apparently still widely practiced and people >are proud of them. If you don't believe me check out Christina Young's web >site and just ask yourself where on earth have these people been over the >last several years. Look at the ridiculous gear configurations which range >from the tank boots, steel stage bottles slung from both sides to the deco >bottle strapped in between the back gas. The funny thing is that these >people are so impressed with their own foolishness that they even consider >publishing it on a website. > >The Seeker represents the absolute worst example of self indulgent personal >preference. In my opinion and that shared by numerous others, most of these >multiple fataliities were avoidable by following a handful of simple rules. >The first and most basic, which is taught in every introductory dive course >is "dive with a buddy", dive properly marked bottles and don't dive narcotic >gas mixes. The horrifying gear convolutions and other bozonity only >contributes to the CFs when they inevitably occur. > >Captain Dan Crowell should be real proud of himself now that he has finally >called massive public attention to the worst examples of incompetence in >technical diving. It is totally gut wrenching to observe the families of the >deceased suggesting that the victims died doing something that made them >happy. This is complete bs and they would think quite differently if they >knew that their relatives died as victims of incompetence and negligence and >by all rights should still be alive today. > >These people think they are real smart and they continue to hide behind >behind their cleverly worded releases. The clock is running out on them >though. Most of these practices border on criminal negligence and sooner or >later a civil jury will agree with this viewpoint or a Coast Guard >Administrative court will cure the problem. > > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Katherine Irvine <kirvine@sa*.ne*> >To: techdiver@aquanaut.com <techdiver@aquanaut.com> >Date: Thursday, July 29, 1999 5:44 PM >Subject: Where was this guy's buddy? > > >>http://www.newsday.com/news/nsecthu.htm >> >> Somebdoy try to tell me this is not a bullshit operation. How >>about Christina Young - tell me how it is up there. Tell me how it >>should be done. You people are giving strokes a bad name. >> >>-- >>Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. >>Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. >> >By Joe Haberstroh, Zachary R. Dowdy and Andrew Metz >Staff Writers >A FORMER Vietnam War Green Beret intent on retrieving treasures from the >sunken passenger liner Andrea Doria died yesterday while exploring the wreck >90 miles off Long Island, the fifth diver to be killed at the site in 13 >months and the second in the last week. > >Like the other four men, Charles McGurr of Brick, N.J., 52, had taken the >Montauk-based charter boat Seeker to the wreck, where last year he had found >a prized plate bearing the name of the shipping line ''Italia.'' > >''He was so proud of it because it said 'Italia' on the plate,'' said >McGurr's mother, Blanche McGurr, of Manchester, N.J. ''We are shocked, but I >feel he went the way he wanted to go. He knew the dangers. How many of us >have this choice?'' > >But McGurr's death has shaken the diving community. ''What it means is, we >have to change something,'' said Tom Doherty, owner of Treasure Cove Water >Sports in Westfield, N.J. ''Something has to give. This is impossible. This >is five tragedies too many.'' > >McGurr, an auto body mechanic and father of two grown children, was the 12th >fatality at the Andrea Doria since 1981. He died a week after Christopher >Murley, 44, of Cincinnati, apparently suffered a heart attack July 21 while >swimming along a line leading from the Seeker to the wreck. > > >Newsday >This was the second summer McGurr had served as a crew member on the Seeker. >He turned 52 on Tuesday, and the trip was a birthday present to himself, his >wife, Kathleen, said last night. Before setting off for Montauk Friday, >McGurr and the owner of the Seeker stopped at the restaurant the couple ran >in South Belmar, N.J. > >''They came to the restraurant and got ice and we said goodbye and that was >it,'' she said. > >The Seeker was headed last night to the Star Island Yacht Club, where the >boat is based each summer. The Suffolk County medical examiner's office was >prepared to accept McGurr's body for autopsy. > >Robert Wass, a Smithtown diving-equipment expert, said he had been contacted >by authorities and asked to examine McGurr's gear. > >Authorities had few details of the accident. The Coast Guard said McGurr, >who was working as a crew member aboard the dive boat, was last seen at a >depth of 180 feet, where the Doria lies on its starboard side on the bottom >of the ocean. > >The Seeker crew reported McGurr missing at 11 a.m., and the boat's skipper, >Daniel Crowell, dived to the wreck to locate McGurr. The lifeless body was >retrieved by two Seeker divers at about 1:45 p.m. > >No charter boat takes more divers to the Andrea Doria than the Seeker, and >people who know Crowell said they were stunned by the boat's series of >accidents. > >''This is going to upset Danny pretty good,'' said John Chatterdon, a friend >of Crowell's who has made more than 130 dives on the Andrea Doria. ''Last >year was a real bad year. You just don't expect that to be followed by >another very bad year.'' > >The 697-foot Andrea Doria, which sank on July 25, 1956, after a collision >with another liner, is often referred to as the ''Mt. Everest'' of scuba >diving. Only the most highly qualified divers attempt to explore the wreck, >a darkened maze of muck-filled passageways turned on their sides. The site >is also subject to strong ocean currents and summertime water temperatures >in the 40s. > >Like the three divers who died last summer, McGurr apparently used a blend >of gases known as ''tri-mix'' in his air tanks as he explored the ship. To >avoid the narcotic effect of nitrogen at the high pressure underwater, >divers replace some of the nitrogen in their tanks with helium. So, tri-mix >contains oxygen, nitrogen and helium. > >McGurr's family said he was a competition skydiver and an avid scuba diver >who dived at many wrecks over the years and was a member of a local diving >club. > >Kathleen McGurr said that last summer her husband brought home a cache of >treasure from the Andrea Doria: two cups and saucers, two crystal salad >bowls, and the plate for his mother. > >She said that even though her husband was a veteran diver, she always >worried about his safety. She said they had discussed the risks of diving >many times before. > >''He said if he didn't feel right about something, he wouldn't do it,'' she >said. ''That was the talk we always had.'' > >Murley, the diver killed last week, was a newcomer to the wreck. After >making successful dives last week on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, he was >about to descend on his third dive Wednesday at 5 p.m. when he appeared to >be in trouble, said Joe Jackson, another Cincinnati diver who was swimming a >few feet away. > >''I asked him what was wrong and it was apparent that things weren't >right,'' Jackson said yesterday from the Cincinnati home of Murley's >parents. ''He seemed to be struggling hanging onto the anchor line. Some >people on the boat said they heard him call out for help and as we >approached the back of the boat somebody said he's not breathing.'' > >Crew members pulled him onto the deck and tried to revive him with >cardiopulmonary resuscitation before Coast Guard personnel arrived and >airlifted him to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis. But Murley died of a massive >heart attack that was unrelated to the sport he loved so much. > >Yesterday, about 150 people crowded into the Vorhees Funeral Home in >Cincinnati to honor Murley, who had plunged into the sport of diving with >great passion only two years ago, but had quickly gained the skills to >tackle the world's most feared dive. > >''He was a fast learner,'' Jackson said. ''He was really comfortable in the >water. When things went wrong he would deal with them a lot better than more >experienced divers.'' > >Mark Kammer, Murley's best friend of 27 years and a civilian employee of the >U.S. Air Force, said Murley owned Better Telephones and Technology, a >successful telephone installation company that he had started 16 years ago >in Cincinnati. > >Murley dived nearly every weekend in preparation for the big dive. > >''He went at it with great gusto,'' Kammer said. > >Oscar Corral, Tom Demoretcky and Lauren Terrazzano contributed to this >story. > > -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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