68 what was meant by lung squeeze: Ibid.
68 ship called the Westward Ho: Barth, interview, Sept. 30, 2002.
68 On November 27, 1962: Lt. John C. Bull Jr., “Project Genesis I Phases C and E: General Consideration of Helium as an Inert Component of a Respiratory Medium with Particular Emphasis on Its Properties of Increased Thermal Conductivity and Effect on Blood Coagulation,” paper written as partial fulfillment of requirements for qualification in submarine medicine, December 1962 (copy in author’s possession).
68 John Bull and Albert Fisher: Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 14; Mazzone, taped interview, June 4, 2003.
68 housed in a basement: Barth, interview, July 11, 2003.
68 examine the heat-sapping: Bull, “Project Genesis I Phases C and E.”
68 endless physical exam: Barth, interview, June 9, 2003; Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 14.
69 slight pressure differential: Barth, interview, June 9, 2003; Barth, Sea Dwellers, pp. 13–14; Bond, Papa Topside, p. 33.
69 gaseous cacophony signaled: Barth, interview, July 11, 2003.
69 without breathing the element: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 35; Bond, “Tomorrow the Seas,” p. 32.
69 chamber was leaking: Mazzone, interview, June 4, 2003; Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 14; Bond, “Tomorrow the Seas,” pp. 18–19.
69 integrity of the experiment: Bond, “Tomorrow the Seas,” p. 20; Mazzone, interview, June 4, 2003.
69 Bond had recently made captain: “Captain George Foote Bond, Medical Corps, U.S. Navy Transcript of Naval Service,” Pers. E24-JFR: kc, 582417/2100, Jan. 10, 1966 (in author’s possession).
69 night shifts could stretch into the day: Mazzone, interviews, Jan. 7, 2003, and June 4, 2003.
70 thrown a typewriter: Mazzone, interview, Jan. 2, 2002.
70 made possible the opportunity: Mazzone, interview, Aug. 7, 2002.
70 dabbed suspect points: Mazzone, interview, June 4, 2003.
70 Barth could see Mazzone: Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 14.
70 slap it with monkey shit: Mazzone, interview, June 4, 2003.
70 more difficult to contain than air: Ibid.
70 using dental cement: Bond, “Tomorrow the Seas,” p. 21.
70 cured with a blow-dryer: Ibid., p. 22.
70 never played cards: Barth, interview, Sept. 26, 2002.
71 “helium speech”: U.S. Navy Diving Manual, Part I, p. 29; Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 13.
71 “Hey topside! I think”: Sea Dwellers, p. 15; Mazzone, interview, Aug. 7, 2002.
71 watched with glee: Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 15.
71 a mischievous order: Ibid.
71 breathing from a scuba tank: Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 16.
71 Aquadro wheeled him through: Ibid.; Aquadro, interview, July 12, 2003.
72 well-publicized deep diving exercise: Thomas Tillman, “The 1962 Hannes Keller 1,000 Foot Dive—Chapter 2,” Historical Diver 33 (Fall 2002): 34; see also “Hannes Keller—Deep Dive Expert,” Skin Diver, January 1963, p. 22.
72 Hannes Keller staged: Al Tillman, “The 1962 Hannes Keller 1,000 Foot Dive—Chapter 3,” Historical Diver 33 (Fall 2002): 36; see also Al Tillman, “An Experiment in Depth,” Skin Diver, February 1963, p. 8.
72 secret breathing gas recipes: T. Tillman, “1,000 Foot Dive—Chapter 2,” p. 34.
72 Dr. Albert Bühlmann: Ibid.
72 as an outsider of sorts: Ibid.
72 “make history” by touching: Hannes Keller, “Towards the Limits of the Continental Shelf,” in The Undersea Challenge, p. 167.
72 signed on as an underwriter: T. Tillman, “1,000 Foot Dive—Chapter 2,” p. 34; Stephen Bullock, “Hannes Keller and USN,” letter to the editor of Historical Diver, no. 38, p. 8.
72 Navy sent Dr. Workman: Officer in Charge, U.S. Navy Experimental Diving Unit to Chief, Bureau of Ships, Enclosure 1 of 6, “West Coast Trip Report (CDR Nickerson and CDR Workman) in Connection with BuShips ‘Keller’ Contract #N62558-3052, Phase III, Open Sea Dives,” Dec. 14, 1962 (copy in author’s possession); Mazzone, interview, Feb. 5, 2003.
73 arriving at Catalina in late November: OIC, EDU to Chief, BuShips, Enclosure 1: “West Coast Trip Report,” p. 1.
73 made available by the Shell Oil Co.: Ibid., p. 1; A. Tillman, “1,000 Foot Dive—Chapter 3,” p. 37.
73 diving bell called Atlantis: T. Tillman, “1,000 Foot Dive—Chapter 2,” p. 34.
73 Keller’s diving partner, Peter Small: “Tools for the Job,” in The Undersea Challenge, p. 120, see also p. iii; A. Tillman, “1,000 Foot Dive—Chapter 3,” p. 37.
73 Atlantis to three hundred feet: OIC, EDU to Chief, BuShips, Enclosure 1: “West Coast Trip Report,” p. 2; T. Tillman, “1,000 Foot Dive—Chapter 2,” p. 35.
73 relatively mild cases of bends: OIC, EDU to Chief, BuShips, Enclosure 1: “West Coast Trip Report,” p. 2.
73 rather than running further tests: Ibid., pp. 2, 3.
73 boatload of journalists: A. Tillman, “1,000 Foot Dive—Chapter 3,” p. 38; Dugan and Vahan, eds., Men Under Water, p. 206.
73 adding pressure to go ahead: “The 1962 Hannes Keller 1,000 Foot Dive—Chapter 5 (U.S. Findings on the Fatal Dive),” Historical Diver 33 (Fall 2002): 43.
73 breathing hoses got tangled up: Ibid., p. 44; T. Tillman, “1,000 Foot Dive—Chapter 2,” p. 35; A. Tillman, “1,000 Foot Dive—Chapter 3,” p. 38.
73 he passed out: OIC, EDU to Chief, BuShips, Enclosure 6 of 6, “Presentation by Hannes Keller on 11 December 1962 at EDU Concerning Diving Operations off Catalina Island,” p. 1.
73 gas mixture had gone bad: “1,000 Foot Dive—Chapter 5 (U.S. Findings),” p. 42.
73 Peter Small blacked out: OIC, EDU to Chief, BuShips, Enclosure 6: “Presentation by Hannes Keller,” p. 1.
73 Christopher Whittaker: A. Tillman, “1,000 Foot Dive—Chapter 3,” pp. 38–39.
74 Keller regained consciousness: OIC, EDU to Chief, BuShips, Enclosure 6: “Presentation by Hannes Keller,” p. 1.
74 Small came around: Ibid.
74 Small felt cold: Ibid.
74 eight hours locked in Atlantis: OIC, EDU to Chief, BuShips, Enclosure 3 of 6, “300 Meter Dive of Keller-Small on 3 Dec 1962,” p. 2.
74 coroner said the cause of death: OIC, EDU to Chief, BuShips, Enclosure 6: “Presentation by Hannes Keller,” p. 2.
74 Keller insisted that other factors: Ibid.; “1,000 Foot Dive—Chapter 5 (U.S. Findings),” pp. 42–43.
74 Genesis D, as they called this: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 35; Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 19.
74 Unit shared Building 214: Interviews with former EDU personnel about the Unit, its chambers, and its old building, demolished years ago, including Kenneth W. Wallace, Navy master diver at EDU, 1962–1967, interviews, June 1, 2003, and July 22, 2003.
75 down into the “wet pot”: Bond, Papa Topside, pp. 35–36; Barth, interview, June 9, 2003; U.S. Navy Diving Manual, Part I, p. 5.
76 Manning and Lavoie were hospital: Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 23.
76 also sent in a canary: Ibid.
76 “They’re gonna hurt you”: Ibid., p. 22.
76 palpable air of skepticism: Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 22; Mazzone, interview, Aug. 7, 2002, and taped interview, June 2, 2003.
76 Unit personnel couldn’t help but: Wallace, interview, July 22, 2003.
76 recently played host to a Swiss: Keller, “Limits of the Continental Shelf,” in The Undersea Challenge, p. 165; Bullock, letter to Historical Diver, no. 38, p. 8; Mazzone, interview, Feb. 5, 2003.
76 a few people around the Unit: Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 22.
76 Dr. Workman, who had recently: Ibid., p. 25; Workman résumé (copy in author’s possession).
76 historic first for saturation diving: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 38.
76 wintry and downright steamy: Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 26.
77 flimsy folding seat: Barth, interview, July 11, 2003; Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 21; Mazzone, interview in San Diego, Aug. 7, 2002.
77 counterweighted trapeze: Wallace, interviews, June 1 and J
uly 22, 2003.
77 blood pressure shot up: Tape recording of Genesis D activity at the Experimental Diving Unit, with commentary dictated by Dr. George Bond, made at various points during the six-day test, April 25–30, 1963 (in author’s possession).
77 Atlantis dive provided a chilling case: “1,000 Foot Dive—Chapter 5 (U.S. Findings),” p. 42.
77 take tranquilizers: Tape recording of Genesis D.
77 consult a Ouija board: Ibid.
78 fire was on Bond’s mind: Ibid.
78 “Well, I hope you all feel”: Ibid.
78 “Notice how your voices”: Ibid.
79 smoke in the roof of the igloo: Ibid.; Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 27; Barth, interview, June 9, 2003.
79 faintly acrid smell: Tape recording of Genesis D.
79 “The subjects are being held”: Ibid.
79 To celebrate: Bond, Papa Topside, pp. 38–39.
CHAPTER 7: DEEP LOSS, DEEPER THINKING
Page
80 tragedy of USS Thresher: Wakelin, “Thresher: Lesson and Challenge,” p. 759.
80 diving to thirteen hundred feet: Norman Polmar, The Death of the USS Thresher (Guilford, Conn.: Lyons, 1964, 2001), pp. 3, 117.
80 Bond received a call asking: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 1; Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 32.
80 close friends and shipmates: Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 32.
80 orders to join the Thresher: Barth, interview, Jan. 17, 2003.
81 bathyscaphe Trieste: Lt. Cmdr. Donald L. Keach, USN, “Down to Thresher by Bathyscaphe,” National Geographic, June 1964, pp. 764–77.
81 Navy bought the Trieste: Edward C. Cargile, “Trieste—The Deepest Dive Ever,” Asian Diver 8, Dec./Jan. 2000, p. 79.
81 record drop to the deepest: Ibid., p. 77.
81 Thresher remains scattered: Keach, “Down to Thresher by Bathyscaphe,” pp. 766–67.
81 best tool the Navy had: Wakelin, “Thresher: Lesson and Challenge,” p. 761; “United States Navy Briefing to Industry on the Deep Submergence Systems Project,” sponsored by Special Projects Office, Department of the Navy, Nov. 24, 1964 (published and distributed by the National Security Industrial Association), p. 10.
81 impossibility of a rescue: Edwin A. Link, “Tomorrow on the Deep Frontier,” National Geographic, June 1964, p. 786.
81 established the Deep Submergence: Memorandum from Secretary of the Navy Fred Korth to Distribution List; SecNav Notice 3100; Subj: Deep Submergence Systems Review Group, establishment of, April 24, 1963 (Edwin A. Link Special Collection, Evans Library, Florida Institute of Technology, online at edwin.lib.fit.edu/cdm4/about.php; hereafter abbreviated as FIT).
82 submarine rescue—while crucial: Rear Adm. E. C. Stephan, USN (ret.), “National Level Implications of the Deep Submergence Systems Research Groups, Deep Submergence Systems Project and Later Navy Ocean Engineering Evolutions; and Current Non-Military and Non-Government Interests in Ocean Engineering,” lecture to ED Salvor/Ocean Engineering Class at Naval Ship Systems Command Headquarters, Washington, D.C., July 5, 1967, p. 3 (copy in author’s possession).
82 summoned by Rear Admiral E. C. Stephan: Ibid., p. 2; Link, “Tomorrow on the Deep Frontier,” p. 778.
82 late at Stephan’s home: Stephan, “National Level Implications,” p. 2.
82 Link agreed to participate: Link, “Tomorrow on the Deep Frontier,” p. 780; Van Hoek with M. C. Link, From Sky to Sea, p. 275.
82 Link headed the industry division: Van Hoek with M. C. Link, From Sky to Sea, p. 274.
82 tapped Charlie Aquadro: Aquadro, interview, May 16–18, 2003.
82 sailed Sea Diver to Washington: Van Hoek with M. C. Link, From Sky to Sea, p. 276.
82 provided with an office: Ibid., p. 278.
83 frequently be seen around the Unit: Wallace, interview, July 22, 2003; Sténuit, The Deepest Days, p. 117.
83 assistance of a medical student: Joan Membery to Marion and Ed Link, Oct. 28, 1962, Folder 359, LC; Ed Link to Membery, Nov. 6, 1962, Folder 238, LC.
83 locking mice into: M. C. Link, Windows in the Sea, p. 63; Joan H. Membery and Edwin A. Link, “Hyperbaric Exposure of Mice to Pressures of 60 to 90 Atmospheres,” Science 5 (June 4, 1964): 1241.
83 verify a decompression schedule: Sténuit, The Deepest Days, p. 135; C. H. Hedgepeth, U.S. Navy Experimental Diving Unit to Link, March 27, 1964, FIT; M. C. Link, Windows in the Sea, p. 63.
83 “the first human colony”: “Two Frenchmen to Spend Week Living in House on Floor of Sea,” New York Times, Sept. 9, 1962, p. 15; see also Cousteau, “The Era of ‘Homo Aquaticus,’” in The Undersea Challenge, p. 10.
83 French national petroleum office: Capt. Jacques-Yves Cousteau, “At Home in the Sea,” National Geographic, April 1964, p. 506.
83 team of some forty-five men: Ibid., p. 468.
83 Conshelf Two’s main sanctuary: Jacques-Yves Cousteau, World Without Sun, James Dugan, ed. (New York: Harper & Row, 1964), p. 19.
83 chef, Pierre Guibert: Ibid., p. 79.
84 Bifteck sauté: Ibid., p. 93.
84 depth of about two atmospheres: Cousteau, “At Home in the Sea,” p. 473. The habitat’s precise depth is difficult to pinpoint in Cousteau’s writing, but, as in the case of Conshelf One, the oceanauts appear to have been living close to or within the no-decompression limit at that time of two atmospheres, or thirty-three feet. On p. 466, Cousteau writes that Starfish House is “on a coral ledge 36 feet beneath the surface.” But once perched on its telescopic legs (see pp. 476, 481, and the photograph of Starfish House on p. 475), its actual depth would have been several feet less. In World Without Sun, p. 70, Cousteau says Starfish House “stands five feet above the coral sand”; in the book’s Foreword on p. 5 he gives the depth as thirty-three feet. In Dessemond and Wesly, Les hommes de Cousteau, p. 108, the ledge’s depth is given as ten meters, or thirty-three feet; if that was the case, and the habitat stood five feet above the ledge, then the entry in the habitat floor would have been at about twenty-eight feet.
84 “only at peril of their lives”: Cousteau, “At Home in the Sea,” p. 482.
84 “would die there in the shallows”: Cousteau, World Without Sun, p. 73.
84 chamber on board Rosaldo: Cousteau, “At Home in the Sea,” p. 482; Cousteau, World Without Sun, p. 198.
84 “the most beautiful”: Dessemond and Wesly, Les hommes de Cousteau, p. 107.
84 “a diver’s paradise”: Ibid.
84 in the mid-eighties Fahrenheit: Ibid., p. 501.
84 Five “oceanauts”: Cousteau, “At Home in the Sea,” pp. 468, 470, 482.
84 smoke their Gitanes: Cousteau, World Without Sun, pp. 90–91.
84 Tuscan cigar: Cousteau, “At Home in the Sea,” p. 465.
84 a handsome parrot: Cousteau, World Without Sun, pp. 77, 79.
84 onion-shaped dome: Cousteau, “At Home in the Sea,” p. 468.
85 silver-hued wet suits: Ibid., p. 482; Cousteau, World Without Sun, p. 72; Wesly, interview, Nov. 2, 2004.
85 about eighty-five feet deep: Cousteau, World Without Sun, pp. 48, 90, 102; Cousteau, “At Home in the Sea,” pp. 498, 501. As with Starfish House, there is some ambiguity in Cousteau’s writing about the actual depth at which the oceanauts lived in Deep Cabin, a twenty-foot-tall structure said to be anchored at ninety feet. The depths of 3.5 atmospheres, or 82.5 feet, and eighty-five feet, both of which appear on the pages cited here, seem to be fair estimates, since the entry hatch was in the floor of the midsection, about five to seven feet above the sea floor.
85 an uncomfortable seven days: Cousteau, “At Home in the Sea,” p. 501.
85 perspired “like fountains”: Ibid.
85 a persistent gas leak: Ibid., p. 503.
85 depth of 330 feet: Ibid., p. 505.
86 to 363 feet: Ibid., p. 506.
86 Aqualungs were quickly depleted: Ibid.; Cousteau, World Without Sun, p. 161.
86 surfaced with the other oceanauts: Cousteau, “At Home in the Sea,” p. 506.
86 suggested that sea floor habita
ts be placed: Bond, “Proposal for Underwater Research,” pp. 4–5.
86 Cousteau his second Oscar: Ephraim Katz, The Film Encyclopedia, revised by Fred Klein and Ronald Dean Nolen, 3rd ed. (New York: HarperPerennial, 1998) p. 302; Internet Movie Database, online at www.imdb.com.
86 story for National Geographic: Cousteau, “At Home in the Sea,” pp. 465–507.
86 on August 26, 1963: Lt. John A. Lynch, MC, USN, “Exercise Tolerance Studies in an Artificial Atmosphere Under Increased Barometric Pressure,” U.S. Naval Medical Research Laboratory Report No. 419, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Research Project MR005.14.3002-4.11. Although undated itself, this report includes more precise dates of Genesis E than seem to be recorded anywhere else. These dates correspond to the handwritten ones displayed by the test subjects in Navy photographs from the experiment (in author’s possession); Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 33, gives the general time period as “mid August of 1963”; Bond, Papa Topside, pp. 40–41, says the experiment would have a “total ‘bottom time’ of twelve days,” but gives an erroneous start date of Aug. 1, 1962.
86 Bond liked the coincidence that E: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 39.
87 able to do useful work: Wakelin, “Thresher: Lesson and Challenge,” p. 762; Mazzone, interview, Jan. 2, 2002; Lynch, “Exercise Tolerance Studies,” p. 1.
87 from experimental chambers into: Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 31; Bond, Papa Topside, p. 39.
87 chamber had finally been installed: Bond, Papa Topside, pp. 39, 41; Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 31.
87 control console along one side: Navy photographs from Genesis E (in author’s possession).
87 sported a rectal probe: Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 38.
88 “Before crossing emergency jumper”: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 45.
88 Christmas tree decorations: Ibid., p. 47.
88 slightly elevated oxygen content: Mazzone, interview, Aug. 7, 2002.
88 passed a cake through: Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 39.
88 showed some minor changes: Lynch, “Exercise Tolerance Studies,” p. 9; tape-recorded dictation of Genesis E results by Dr. George Lord, who was on Bond’s staff at the Medical Research Lab (in author’s possession).
88 “shattering glass in the room”: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 42.
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