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Subject: Doria Death
Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1999 12:46:45 -0400
From: Jim Cobb <cobber@ci*.co*>
To: "Tech Diver" <techdiver@aquanaut.com>, "JT Barker" <captjt@mi*.co*>
(Forwarded from JT Barker)

Hi George 
I will just send this to techdiver as you will get it away , I will still 
only answer to you. 
THE DIVE 
At 5:30 am I awoke to get an early dive in , Charlie McGurr and a new 
diver 
to the Doria and a another more experienced diver who had dived with 
Charlie many times before had planned to dive early also , I was told the 
current was ripping and it was.Soon everyone was up no one was going to 
try 
to dive in that current.At 7:25 am I took a good look at the current and 
believed I could dive it , I suited up and prepared to enter the water , 
as 
I was about to go I heard someone say " he's got both is tanks on the 
same 
side" and I also heard some answer " thats the WKPP shit " , I hit the 
water and the current was no problem for me , I did my dive and on my 
deco 
I saw Jackie and Alston go by me , the mid water current was still 
ripping.I did not see any other divers , I went to my own hang line to 
deco 
and never saw another diver.I got on the boat and degeared , put my china 
away.I was able to get a photo of the 2 Mikes from Ca. before they went 
in 
the water , they were the last 2 to go. 
The group of 3 that Charlie was a part of had already gone.We did not 
know 
there was a problem until after the new diver came back from his dive and 
as he was boarding the boat , ask where Charlie was , he had never seen 
him. 
This is what I believe happen based on the info from all divers involved 
, 
this is what I believe and all on this trip may not believe as I do.
It was reported by a diver who was decoing at 50ft on the anchor line of 
what he saw , the leader of the group came by first , the current was 
still very strong , the new diver came by next and had a very hard time 
getting by the diver decoing , to the point that he had stopped going 
down 
and after giving an OK sign to the deco diver for having a hard time to 
get 
by him.Unknown to the new diver, Charlie McGurr made his fatal move , the 
decoing diver reported that Charlie had let go of the anchor line to pass 
them both and the current had him , the decoing diver said Charlie was 
kicking and using his hands to try and get back to the anchor line , he 
said that he could see Charlie had made it to the line as vis was about 
30ft vertical here , the new diver had never seen this I think based on 
the 
info at hand , as he had a great deal of trouble doing the pass and still 
believed that Charlie was behind him. 
It was reported by the lead diver that Charlie came to the wreck but not 
all the way , as he looked up Charlie waved him on and pointed up , and 
gave the OK sign.This was not uncommon for him I was later told , vis 
here 
was only 20ft vertical. 
Charlie then started up out of sight , a few mins. past and the new diver 
got to the wreck , he look for Charlie behind him , the lead diver 
signaled 
that Charlie was OK and going up.The new diver did not know that Charlie 
was in front of him and that he should have past him coming down as 
Charlie 
was going back up.The fact that he ask where Charlie was and said he 
never 
seen him tells me this.In his mind Charlie was always behind him. This 
all 
tells me that something happen to Charlie between 160ft and 140ft , the 
wreck is at 180ft , the new diver had to be around 100ft as he was so 
slow 
and had trouble passing the decoing diver.The vis did not let either 
diver 
see what happen , the leader had gotten the OK sign and Charlie was going 
up , the new diver could not tell him he did not pass him , because 
Charlie 
should have been behind him.

Once the lead diver came up we ask him where Charlie was , he told us 
Charlie came up did not do the dive , Charlie is now missing .The lead 
diver goes down (never got out of his gear or on the boat) and counts 
every 
diver that is decoing , the number is one short , the chase boat does a 
surface search , miles from the Seeker , the CG is called , they drop a 
beacon in the water to measure the speed and direction of the current , 
in 
case he is on the surface drifting.
I have now been out of the water for 150mins. , Capt. Dan plans to go 
look 
for Charlie , I offer to go with him , I run new tables for 240ft 20 and 
25 
mins , with 180 min SI , we make a plan of area to look based on the 
facts 
and the direction of the current .Dan will lead , I have never been to 
the 
area we are to look , no line will be run , to cover more area.WE will 
look 
in the debris field , the tie in is 60 ft aft of Gimbels hole.
At this point George what questions do you have? 
On my next post , I will tell where and what happens when we find him, 
also what I believe happen to him.As much as I could place on my web site 
, 
I did a lay out photos of the trip as it happen.
www.capt-jt.com go to the gallery page and click on the Andrea Doria
I now have one very easy question for you: 
Which is more likely to kill a diver: 
A) a diver who does not follow rules of thirds 
B) Zip ties
JT


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