MNScuba.com

So sad,    March 16, 2007.     CNN announced  3 divers died  in KEY LARGO AREA, diving on the USS Spiegel Grove.   Out of air situation appears to be the problem.  1 diver survived and made it to surface but later died.

I've dove the Spiegel Grove 6 times, and there is just to much to see in the boat to do it once and think you've seen it all. 

These guys were obviously not paying attention to time and air consumption.  The article which is attached says the boat is in "at least 40 feet of water,  that is maybe the top deck.  The main interior part of the boat is in the 80 - 90' deep area and the bottom is at about 140.  So in either case, they wouldn't have had much time at depth.  When I dive with a pony on the boat, people look at me like its dumb.

I doubt if these guys had  a pony.  My prayers are for the family and all rescue divers and operators.

HERE ARE 2 separate links




KEY LARGO, Fla. -- Rescue workers and police on Saturday recovered the bodies of two New Jersey divers trapped deep in the wreck of the USS Spiegel Grove, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.
One of the bodies was brought to the surface about noon and the other just before 4 p.m., police said.
Crews braved rough seas and the dangers of traveling deep into a sunken ship to bring the divers out, police said.
Police said four friends, all experienced divers, were exploring in and around the USS Spiegel Grove -- an old Navy landing ship transformed into an artificial reef -- when one surfaced because he began to run out of air Friday evening. Police said Howard Spialter of Westfield, N.J., then sought help for his three friends.
Two divers from another boat explored the wreck to look for the men. They pulled up one diver, who was taken to a hospital, police said. He was later pronounced dead.
The two remaining divers never surfaced and Key Largo rescue authorities later found their bodies deep within the USS Spiegel, the Coast Guard said.
Police identified the divers within the ship as Scott Stanley and Jonathan Walsweer, 38, both of Westfield, N.J. Stanley's age was unavailable.
The diver who surfaced but later died at Mariner's Hospital was identified at Kevin Coughlin, 51, also of Westfield, police said.
The USS Spiegel Grove was submerged to make an artificial reef in 2002. It is over 500 feet long and rests at least 40 feet under water.

maxfactor

Thats tough.  My thoughts go out to the families.  I wonder if they got lost or were just not watching there gas supply? 

I got my pony for solo diving but I about don't feel comfortable without it anymore.

Dive safe everyone
Tim

What an unfortunate story.  I read another article which gave more details of the events.  Several key mistakes were made according to this article.  The didn't have a dive plan. They didn't run reels.  They were diving w/ single tanks and left stage tanks at the exit point, not inside the wreck itself.  They penetrated lower sections of the ship where cut outs have not been made to allow for easy access to open water.

What an aweful tragedy.  I've been on dive boats where many people jump in with no dive plan or even going over basic underwater communication with  their dive buddies.

Bodies of two divers recovered in 'risky' mission
BY CAMMY CLARK
cclark@MiamiHerald.com


KEY LARGO --The bodies of two divers trapped overnight in the bowels of a sunken Navy ship were recovered during two ''risky'' missions Saturday, said Chief Sergio Garcia of the Key Largo Fire and Rescue.

Garcia said a team that included 14 expert divers retrieved the deceased men on two seperate dives spaced three hours apart.

''Both recoveries went flawless,'' Garcia said. ``Garcia said. ``It went just as we had planned.''

The two victims trapped inside the ship, 135-feet deep, were identified as Jonathan Walsweer, 38, a Wall Street stockbroker and Scott Stanley, age unknown, a co-owner of a carpet store. Both were from Westfield, N.J., according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

A third diver, Kevin Coughlin, 51, a real estate entrepreneur of Chatham Borough, N.J., also died during Friday's accident. He was found in distress Friday afternoon by two divers from another boat. Those divers brought him to the surface. From there, the Coast Guard took him to shore. CPR was performed the entire way, but Coughlin was pronounced dead at Mariner's Hospital.

The fourth diver, Howard Spialter, 52, a lawyer and former municipal judge of Westfield, N.J., had surfaced safely when his air supply began to run low. He had remained outside the ship, according to the police report.

The sheriff's office is investigating the accident, which local dive captains have called the worst in Keys history. Three others have died at the Spiegel Grove, but all in separate accidents.

The father-in-law of Walsweer answered the phone at Walsweer's home in New Jersey on Saturday afternoon, but said everyone in the family was too distraught to talk at that moment.

The recovery team met Saturday morning at a diving shop in Key Largo owned by Captain Rob Breser, the leader of the mission. Thirty-five people from about six agencies, including the Coast Guard, participated in a 90-minute briefing on the tricky recovery, Garcia said.

Two expert technical divers, the same ones who found Stanley's and Walsweer's bodies in the pump room of the ship, dove 90 feet to an opening in the ship. From there, Garcia said they had to dive another 45 feet deep (about four stories) and then travel 90 feet laterally to the bodies.

''It's definitely risky with the depth of the dive, the darkness and the confinement of the small space,'' Garcia said. ``Only one person can fit in there at a time. And there are lots of parts on which they can get hung up.''

The divers also have to try not to stir up the silt that can hamper visibility. And at that depth, the divers could stay at the bottom only about 30 minutes before having to surface.

Several safety divers, including experts from local dive shops, were on hand in case anything went wrong.

''This is a part of the ship experienced divers try to avoid,'' Garcia said. ``We're having our divers go into a place that is not the best place to dive. We don't want any more casualties.''

The three deceased divers were among a group of four friends from New Jersey who had chartered the Scuba-Do boat to take them diving to the Spiegel Grove, a 510-foot ship that had been sunk six miles off the coast of Key Largo in 2002 to create an artificial reef and recreational dive site.

The four divers were reportedly all experienced and all had dove the shipwreck the previous day. But on Friday, they ran into trouble when they tried to do an extremely difficult ''penetration'' dive inside the massive ship that is the length of nearly two football fields.

The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. contributed to this report.

Me too, it's standard gear. I'm also asking the Mrs to carry as well. For that matter, I like all my buddies to have 2 systems.

I agree with the pony bottle or redundant setup arguments but if I am reading this right...and I like to think I am...they dove the wreck the day before  and that was there basis for planning an extended and risky penentration?

I immediately have four thoughts that come to mind: 

  As a rule I will never penetrate a wreck on the first dive.  Using this dive to map the entire wreck in my mind.  The longer and more complicated the wreck the more familiarization dives I may need to committ to before penetrating.

Rank the Risk:  Also, it can be prudent to rank the penetration difficulty using a 0-5 scale.  In that way, you would never try a level 5 penentration before some number of penetrations at lower levels.

Penetration:  diving is not always conducive to "buddy diving," and can often obfuscate the return course and quickly lead to panic and group entanglement.

Group Dynamics:  I am willing to bet that their was a diver in the trio that wouldn't have tried this dive but for being apart of this group.

Here's the lastest information on this tragedy:



Seems all four were inside the ship...

Okay, so I didn't have all the information about (5) previous excursions to the wreck but apparently even that number of dives was not enough.

The NJ article referenced the divers as experts and all of them were instructors except one.

Being an Expert Diver doesn't make you an expert on the wreck itself.  Five dives to a wreck that is over 510ft long doesn't make you an expert on the wreck.

The mistake was going after the most dangerous penetration that the wreck offered without sufficient knowledge (mapping the route), understanding (hazards), and preparation (lack of redundancy).     

My heart goes out to the families of the victims!

From what I gathered from discussions on some other boards these guys did the same dive a year ago so it was not the first time they had done this same penetration dive to the pump room on the Spiegel Grove.  One of the guys was a trimix instructor. Sounds like poor dive planning from the public information available.  No reels used for guidelines and inadequate gas for the dive (single 80's). Even if they staged an extra 80 outside the wreck going that deep inside the wreck carrying a single 80 at that depth would be awfully risky regardless of experience level.  With inadequate gas being lost in a siltout with no guideline to follow back out a pony bottle likely would not have helped in this case. 

I don't think anyone was saying a pony would have help them after the decision to not lay a guideline.

It was more of a... If we don't like OW dives without a redundant system how is it that they penetrated a wreck without more planning. I don't understand how people can be so careless.

Eric: Good point about the group think. That's probably the saddest part.

Someone once told me (be it lightly) that everything you need to know is in the 1st three chapters of PADI. I think the, 'No trust me' dives is in one of those.