Sealab
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124 three teams: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” pp. 167–76; Barth, Sea Dwellers, pp. 90, 102, 181.
124 close to $2 million: Stated by Bond in tape recording of Sealab II press conference for Team 3, Oct. 12, 1965 (in author’s possession); Bond, Papa Topside, p. 145.
124 edge of an undersea canyon: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 134.
124 around fifty degrees Fahrenheit: Ibid., p. 131.
124 “hostile environment”: Ibid., pp. 1, 16; Bond, “Sealab II Chronicle,” pp. 75, 82, 91, 97 (copy in author’s possession of this unedited journal on which the Sealab II chapters in Papa Topside are based).
124 Scripps Institution: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 131.
124 mainland support base: Ibid., p. 12.
125 thirty consecutive days: Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 102.
125 do most of the setting up: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 107.
125 methods for military operations: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” pp. 18–19.
125 Medical monitoring of all: Ibid., pp. 14, 16, 203; Raymond J. Hock, Ph.D., Northrop Space Laboratories, Captain George F. Bond, MC, USN, and Captain Walter F. Mazzone, MSC, USN, “Physiological Evaluation of Sealab II: Effects of Two Weeks Exposure to an Undersea 7-Atmosphere Helium-Oxygen Environment,” printed by Nortronics, a Division of Northrop Corporation, Anaheim, Calif., for the Deep Submergence Systems Project, U.S. Navy, December 1966, pp. iii, 9, 98 (copy in author’s possession).
125 most important mission: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 13.
125 christening ceremony: Tape recording of Sealab II christening; copy of ceremony program (in author’s possession); To Sink a House.
125 Morse and a dozen others: Tape recording of Sealab II christening.
125 “successful beyond expectation”: Ibid.
126 “as commonplace as jet”: Ibid.
126 band launched into: Ibid.; To Sink a House.
126 Bond wept, unashamedly: Bond, “Sealab II Chronicle,” p. 15.
126 their names read aloud: Tape recording of Sealab II christening.
126 favored divers he knew: Bond, “Sealab II Chronicle,” p. 130.
126 Many more had applied: Judith Morgan, “Achievements of Sealab II Are Revealed,” San Diego Union, Oct. 13, 1965, p. A13.
126 still in Monaco: Aquadro, interview, May 16–18, 2003; Dessemond and Wesly, Les hommes de Cousteau, p. 126.
126 spat with Scott Carpenter: Bond, “Sealab II Chronicle,” p. 16.
126 seemed to get along fine: Carpenter, interview, April 6, 2004.
126 autograph some pictures: Rose Anderson, interview, April 13, 2004.
126 sensed a souring: Billie Coffman, interview, Sept. 29, 2004.
126 witnessed a horrific accident: Ibid.
126 Fred Jackson and John Youmans: Geoffrey A. Wolff, “2 Experimental Navy Divers Killed in Decompression Chamber Fire,” Washington Post, Feb. 17, 1965, p. 1.
126 to test a decompression schedule: John V. Harter, “Fire at High Pressure,” in Underwater Physiology—Proceedings of the Third Symposium on Underwater Physiology, sponsored by the Committee on Undersea Warfare of the National Academy of Sciences—National Research Council and the Office of Naval Research, in Washington, D.C., March 23–25, 1966, C. J. Lambertsen, ed. (Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1967), p. 56.
126 had switched: Coffman, interview, Sept. 29, 2004.
127 “We have a fire”: Ibid.; Harter, “Fire at High Pressure,” in Underwater Physiology—proceedings of the Third Symposium, p. 58.
127 Coffman saw a flame: Coffman, interview, Sept. 29, 2004.
127 staring into a blast furnace: Ibid.
127 “thermal explosion”: Harter, “Fire at High Pressure,” in Underwater Physiology, p. 63.
127 joined a dozen others: Wolff, “Experimental Navy Divers Killed,” Washington Post.
127 blackened like the inside: Ibid., pp. 58–61; Ken Wallace, master diver at EDU and a witness to the fire, interview, June 1, 2003.
127 everyone was stunned: John Harter, interview, July 19, 2003; Harter, the previously cited author of “Fire at High Pressure,” arrived at the EDU shortly after the fire; others interviewed also recalled the accident’s aftermath, including Lester Anderson’s wife, Rose Anderson, interview, April 30, 2004; and Lois Workman, the wife of Robert Workman, interview, May 23, 2003.
127 take the accident especially hard: Coffman, interview, Sept. 29, 2004.
127 to the Green Derby: Ibid.
127 Al Vogel: Ibid.; Wallace, Harter, and other former EDU divers and personnel interviewed recalled the bygone days of Vogel and the Green Derby.
127 noticed a rebelliousness: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 76; Anderson is referred to only as “A”; a similar account appears in Bond’s unedited “Sealab II Chronicle,” in which Bond discreetly refers to Anderson by his initials, “L.A.”
127 and had goaded Carpenter: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 76.
127 didn’t show up for the christening: Ibid.
127 They would miss him: Coffman, interview, Sept. 29, 2004; Bond, Papa Topside, p. 77.
127 tried to find the reasoning: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 77.
128 “He’s going to kill somebody”: Rose Anderson, interview, April 2, 2004.
128 agreed that Anderson would have to go: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 77.
128 revolts against authority: Ibid.
128 accepted his fate: Ibid.
128 formalized as the Man-in-the-Sea: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 2.
128 a new Deep Submergence Systems Project: Edwin A. Link and Philip D. Gallery, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (ret.), “Deep Submergence and the Navy,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings (1966?), Folder 1094, LC. Among those acknowledged for assistance in preparation of this eleven-page article are Capt. Lewis Melson and Rear Adm. E. C. Stephan.
128 A busy agenda: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” pp. 3–4.
128 in the organizational chart: Ibid., p. 13.
128 its ultimate destination: Ibid., pp. 131, 134.
128 handful of mentors: Ibid., pp. 67–68, 87; Culpepper, interview, March 11, 2003.
128 like an extra-large tank car: Ibid., p. 2.
128 new Sealab insignia: Ibid., p. 5.
129 pair of barges: Ibid., p. 121.
129 like a floating construction site: Official U.S. Navy photograph, no. VC-3-3480-9-65 (in author’s possession).
129 Mazzone coined one day: Mazzone, e-mail to author, July 1 and 2, 2004; Bond, Papa Topside, p. 71.
129 almost a mile offshore: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 135.
129 oceanographers had mapped: Ibid., p. 131.
129 Finding a suitable site: Ibid., pp. 131–34; Bond, Papa Topside, p. 88.
129 underwater cameras to assess: Story of Sealab II (film).
129 lying unconscious: Bond, Papa Topside, pp. 85–86; Walter Mazzone, taped interview, May 5, 2004.
129 Bunton had to abandon: Bill Bunton, interview, San Diego, Calif., Aug. 4, 2002.
129 swam at top speed: Scott Carpenter, taped interview, May 27, 2004.
129 tried to slow him: Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 99.
130 Disoriented, he hung upside down: Carpenter, interview, May 27, 2004.
130 joined the Navy after high school: Mary Cannon, Berry’s widow, interview, Jan. 23, 2002.
130 several hundred others: Morgan, “Achievements of Sealab II Are Revealed,” San Diego Union, p. A13.
130 as a Western pioneer: M. Cannon, interview, Jan. 23, 2002.
130 start of something historic: Numerous aquanauts and others close to the project expressed this in interviews.
130 Sealab II touched down: “Sealab II Log,” a handwritten log with extemporaneous daily entries mostly made by Bond and Mazzone during their respective watches, pp. 6–7 (copy in author’s possession).
130 a few other technical difficulties: Ibid.; Pauli and Clapper
, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 99; Bond, “Sealab II Chronicle,” pp. 56–57; Story of Sealab II.
130 fitted with a counterweight: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 124; To Sink a House.
130 two-hundred-ton habitat: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 84.
130 much as a submarine operates: Ibid., pp. 39, 42; Bond, Papa Topside, p. 69.
130 within a couple of hours: “Sealab II Log,” p. 7.
130 sizable press corps: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 92.
131 Two dozen photographers: Personal diary of Berry Cannon from Sealab II, entry for Aug. 28, 1965 (copy in author’s possession).
131 down to the lab in pairs: Diary of Berry Cannon, entry for Aug. 28, 1965; Story of Sealab II.
131 crowded onto a lower deck: Story of Sealab II.
131 took a last puff: Ibid.
131 Wilbur Eaton: Barth, Sea Dwellers, pp. 79, 116; Barth, e-mail to author, Dec. 15, 2003.
131 bluff that would have afforded: Bond, “Sealab II Chronicle,” p. 55.
131 through the four-foot: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 40.
131 fits of laughter: Scott Carpenter, “200 Feet Down, the Next U.S. Frontier,” Life, Oct. 15, 1965, p. 100B; Carpenter, interview, April 6, 2004.
131 few days behind schedule: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 30.
131 lead the first two teams: Ibid., p. 168; Carpenter, “200 Feet Down,” p. 100B.
131 preparatory tasks to do: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 182; Diary of Berry Cannon, entries for Aug. 28 and 29, 1965.
131 PTC was a pressurized: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” pp. 112–13.
132 fish had already congregated: Diary of Berry Cannon, entry for Aug. 28, 1965.
132 sensed the warmth: Ibid.
132 light reassured him: Ibid.
132 a safe haven: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” pp. 112, 128.
132 porous latex material: Ibid., p. 278.
132 fit more snugly: Ibid., p. 279; interviews with aquanauts, including Cyril Tuckfield, interviews, Aug. 15 and 21, 2002.
132 sporting electrodes: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” pp. 15, 237; Diary of Berry Cannon, entry for Aug. 28, 1965; To Sink a House.
132 galley and workspace: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” pp. 26, 41; Story of Sealab II.
132 lab was on a slant: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 326; Diary of Berry Cannon, entry for Aug. 28, 1965.
132 made Cannon a little nervous: Diary of Berry Cannon, entry for Aug. 28, 1965.
132 six-inch-thick line was dropped: “Sealab II Log,” pp. 66, 68, 70, 71, 73, 79; Bond, Papa Topside, p. 106; Bryant Evans, “Aquanauts Eat Hearty, Don’t Gain,” San Diego Union, Sept. 10, 1965.
132 mule-haul the line: Coffman, interview, Sept. 29, 2004; Cliff Smith, “Aquanauts Report on Sealab Life; Vast Future Seen,” San Diego Union, Sept. 15, 1965, p. A1.
132 Robert Sonnenburg: Leo Bowler, “Craft Is Readied for Lowering Task,” (San Diego) Evening Tribune, Aug. 24, 1965, p. A15; “No More the Voiceless Deep,” Roche Medical Image, December 1965, p. 6.
133 outrageous prank: Barth, e-mail to author, June 29, 2004; several others described it, too.
133 leave with Team 1 and come back: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 174; Story of Sealab II.
133 earned the Bronze Star: Coffman, interview, Sept. 29, 2004.
133 Tom Clarke: Tom Clarke, taped interview, April 30, 2004.
133 lanky and bespectacled: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 169; Smith, “Aquanauts Report on Sealab Life,” San Diego Union (with photo).
133 goldfish in the claw-foot: Clarke, e-mail to author, June 8, 2005.
133 average age was thirty-six: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” pp. 167–76.
133 fathers of eight boys: Ibid.
133 Jay Skidmore: Ibid., p. 174.
133 observe the captive aquanauts: Ibid., p. 245; Roland Radloff and Robert Helmreich, Groups Under Stress: Psychological Research in Sealab II (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1968), pp. 31, 51–90.
134 value of decent food: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 412.
134 frying was verboten: Ibid.
134 two thousand cans: Ibid., p. 414.
134 tendency to slide: Diary of Berry Cannon, entry for Aug. 31, 1965; Radloff and Helmreich, Groups Under Stress, pp. 72, 74.
134 Tiltin’ Hilton: Bond, Papa Topside, pp. 93, 94.
134 Cannon listened as: Diary of Berry Cannon, entry for Aug. 28, 1965.
134 in his bathrobe: Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 167; Story of Sealab II.
134 seemed unable to comprehend: Tape recording of Sealab–Gemini communications, dated Aug. 28, 1965 (in author’s possession).
134 eleven-thirty that night: “Sealab II Log,” p. 12.
134 117th orbit: “It Was Smooth Sailing for Pair in Final Orbit,” Washington Post, Aug. 30, 1965, p. A9.
134 link fizzled: Tape recording of Sealab–Gemini; Bryant Evans, “Sealab Man, Astronaut Have a Talk,” San Diego Union, Aug. 29, 1965.
134 filled with stories about Gemini 5: Evert Clark, “2 Astronauts End 8-Day Flight Tired but in ‘Wonderful Shape’; Johnson Hails U.S. Space Gains,” New York Times, Aug. 30, 1965, p. 1.
135 NBC current events program: Audio tape recording of Survey ’65 (in author’s possession); Bond, Papa Topside, pp. 81–83.
135 aired on a Saturday night: Recording of Survey ’65 is labeled Aug. 14, 1965, which fits with dates mentioned during the program.
135 exploded in riots: Valerie Reitman and Mitchell Landsberg, “Watts Riots, 40 Years Later,” Los Angeles Times, Aug. 11, 2005, p. 1.
135 final American shows: San Diego Historical Society, San Diego timeline, online at www.sandiegohistory.org/timeline; see also www.rarebeatles.com/photopg7/photopg7.htm#1965.
135 kinship with the spaceship: “Sealab II Log,” p. 16.
135 pulled out his harmonica: Ibid.; Story of Sealab II.
135 “What a life”: “Sealab II Log,” p. 16.
135 first full working day: Ibid., p. 15.
135 recited the Sealab prayer: Ibid., p. 16; Bond, Papa Topside, p. 93.
CHAPTER 11: LESSONS IN SURVIVAL
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136 dual Arawak umbilical: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 94.
136 a half-hour to free them: Diary of Berry Cannon, entry for Sept. 4, 1965.
137 gave the Arawak a try: Carpenter, interview, April 6, 2004; Carpenter, “200 Feet Down,” p. 103.
137 had seen his team leader: Coffman, interview, Sept. 29, 2004.
137 straightening out their hoses: Ibid.; Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 182.
137 Aquasonic: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 143.
138 Even old-style hardhat: Davis, Deep Diving and Submarine Operations, p. 73; Martin, The Deep-Sea Diver, pp. 5, 141, 149.
138 mask fitted around the mouth: G. F. Bond, “Medical Problems of Multi-Day Saturation Diving in Open Water,” in Underwater Physiology—Proceedings of the Third Symposium, p. 85.
138 helium speech was incomprehensible: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 144.
138 Cannon’s verdict: Diary of Berry Cannon, entry for Sept. 7, 1965.
138 “working with mail-order”: Story of Sealab II.
138 Tending to the “pots”: Diary of Berry Cannon, entry for Aug. 31, 1965; Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 128; Story of Sealab II.
139 “way station”: Commander Thomas Blockwick, “Sealab II (Pictorial),” United States Naval Institute Proceedings, June 1966, p. 108; Bryant Evans, “Trolley to Shift Gear,” San Diego Union, Sept. 11, 1965 (photo), p. A17.
139 tumbled into Scripps: “Sealab II Log,” pp. 45, 121; Leo Bowler, “Aquanauts Try Deep Plunge Below Sealab,” (San Diego) Evening Tribune, Sept.
21, 1965, p. A8; Bryant Evans, “2nd Sealab Unit Aboard Mother Ship,” San Diego Union, Sept. 28, 1965, p. A17.
139 “psychomotor” machines: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” pp. 246–48.
139 was a weather station: Ibid., p. 369.
139 like a teepee frame: Ibid., p. 376.
139 eventually found the contraption: “Sealab II Log,” pp. 46–74.
139 dragged the weather station: Ibid., pp. 62, 72; Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 375.
139 Scripps scientists had decided: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 375.
139 too heavy to swim: Diary of Berry Cannon, entry for Sept. 7, 1965.
139 huffing and puffing: Ibid.
140 Headaches, fatigue, ear infections: “Sealab II Log,” pp. 96, 99, 128; Bond, Papa Topside, p. 143; Leo Bowler, “9 Aquanauts’ Ears Infected, but Activities Not Curtailed,” (San Diego) Evening Tribune, Sept. 8, 1965, p. A2; Radloff and Helmreich, Groups Under Stress, p. 74; “No More the Voiceless Deep,” Roche Medical Image, pp. 7–8.