161 Meeks preferred it: Ibid., p. 390; Meeks, interview, April 29, 2004.
161 prototype rubber pontoon: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 391.
161 bilingual confusion: Bond, “Sealab II Chronicle,” pp. 116–17; “Phone Links Yanks, French ‘Oceanauts,’” (San Diego) Evening Tribune, Oct. 1, 1965, p. 1.
161 blithely summed up the exchange: Bond, “Sealab II Chronicle,” pp. 116–17; an abridged and less capricious version of Bond’s account appears in Papa Topside, p. 139; Leo Bowler, “Sealab’s Eye, Maybe Ear Kept on French,” (San Diego) Evening Tribune, Sept. 9, 1965, p. A3.
161 were stung by scorpion fish: “Sealab II Log, Part 2,” pp. 45, 52; Sheats Daily Log, entry for Oct. 3, 1965; Meeks, interview, April 29, 2004.
161 going to lose someone: Sheats Daily Log, entry for Oct. 7, 1965.
161 elevated carbon monoxide: Sealab II Log, Part 2, pp. 32, 33, 34a, 38; Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” pp. 423–25; Sheats Daily Log, entry for Oct. 1, 1965.
161 responsible for some of the aquanauts’ headaches: Leo Bowler, “Pain in Mornings Puzzles Doctors; Carbon Monoxide Detected in Atmosphere of Sealab,” (San Diego) Evening Tribune, Oct. 1, 1965, p. A17; tape recording of Sealab II press conference for Team 3.
162 doing most of their own cooking: Sheats Daily Log, entry for Sept. 18, 1965.
162 send down a cake: Sheats Daily Log, entry for Sept. 30, 1965; “Raw Fish, Cake Mark a Birthday,” (San Diego) Evening Tribune, Oct. 1, 1965, p. A17.
162 had his team eating sashimi: “Raw Fish, Cake Mark a Birthday,” (San Diego) Evening Tribune; “Navy compilation of Sealab II press coverage,” p. 168.
162 sent some up to Captain Mazzone: Sheats Daily Log, entry for Oct. 3, 1965.
162 netting hordes of plankton: “Two Dive 300 Feet, Sample Plankton,” (San Diego) Evening Tribune, Oct. 6, 1965, p. A17; Judith Morgan, “Plunge to 300 Feet,” San Diego Union, Oct. 6, 1965, p. A17; “Sealab II Log, Part 2,” p. 52.
162 pleasantly nutty: Meeks, interview, April 29, 2004.
162 Not bad with cereal: Sheats Daily Log, entries for Oct. 4 and 6, 1965.
162 have a woodsman’s knack: Bond, “Sealab II Chronicle,” p. 119.
162 precocious little pinniped: Leo Bowler, “Sea Lions Discover Sealab as Fine Spot to Stop and Eat,” (San Diego) Evening Tribune, Sept. 23, 1965, p. A1; “Sam the Sea Lion Shaped for Sealab,” Tribune, Sept. 25, 1965, p. A1. Numerous stories about the sea lions appeared, mainly in the San Diego papers; the two cited here cover the main points.
162 made more excursion dives: “Sealab II Log, Part 2,” pp. 57, 62; Morgan, “Plunge to 300 Feet,” San Diego Union, p. A17.
162 another first for Sealab II: “Sealab II Log, Part 2,” p. 54.
162 around one hundred hours diving: Press release, Sealab II C.I.B. (Command Information Bureau), Oct. 12, 1965 (in author’s possession). The figures in this seven-page release are the only such tallies for dive times found in any of the various source materials. They are: 6,067 min. (Team 1); 5,850 min. (Team 2); 8,678 min. (Team 3). An entry in “Sealab II Log, Part 2,” p. 65, which mentions the differences in the team totals but not the total times themselves, helps to corroborate the press release’s numbers.
162 150 hours in the water: Ibid.
162 almost eight hundred minutes: Situation Report (SitRep) no. 50, Oct. 7, 1965 (in author’s possession); SitReps, written by Bond or other commanders, gave brief official summaries of a day’s activities and were relayed to some two dozen Navy offices. These reports provided further background and also corroboration of other documentation and interviews.
163 how much more efficient: “Sealab II Log, Part 2,” p. 61.
163 essentially breaking camp: Sheats Daily Log, entries for Oct. 7–10, 1965.
163 television circuit on: “Sealab II Log, Part 2,” pp. 68–69.
163 Dodgers won that third game: Baseball Almanac, www.baseball-almanac.com/ws/yr1965ws.shtml.
163 farewell of a sermon: Tape recording of assorted Sealab II communications from the final day (in author’s possession).
163 by eleven o’clock: Sheats Daily Log, entry for Oct. 10, 1965.
163 approximately thirty hours: Press release, Sealab II C.I.B., Oct. 12, 1965; Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 112.
163 beautiful, adventurous, rewarding: Sheats Daily Log, entry for Oct. 6, 1965.
163 enough, even for him: Ibid.
163 he had to force himself: Ibid.
163 disappointed him: Ibid.
163 planned to rate them all: Ibid., entry for Oct. 10, 1965; Sheats’s initial ratings and brief critiques appear here.
163 passed the time reading: Ibid.
163 listened to the Dodgers: Ibid., “Sealab II Log, Part 2,” pp. 67, 68, 69.
163 notice a telltale pain: Pauli and Clapper, “Project Sealab Report,” p. 120.
163 did not want to be the one: Sheats Daily Log, entry for Oct. 11, 1965.
163 nagging knee ache had spread: Ibid.
164 twice in twenty-seven years: Leo Bowler, “Sealab Diver Better After Case of Bends” and “Aquanaut’s Bends Hit in Same Leg as Before,” (San Diego) Evening Tribune, Oct. 12, 1965, in “Navy compilation of Sealab II press coverage,” p. 166.
164 verify his friend’s diagnosis: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 147.
164 have the nine others move: Ibid.
164 trading places with Bond: Ibid.
164 “among the proudest ribbons”: Tape recording of Sealab II press conference for Team 3; for a good print account of the conference, see Morgan, “Achievements of Sealab II,” San Diego Union, Oct. 13, 1965, p. A13, previously cited.
164 “the next frontier”: Tape recording of Sealab II press conference for Team 3.
164 “The deep dive we made”: Ibid.
164 a heartfelt story: Ibid.
165 believed that advice once saved: Ibid.
165 another day for observation: SitRep no. 54, Oct. 12, 1965; Leo Bowler, “Diver Suffers Bends After Sealab Ascent,” (San Diego) Evening Tribune, Oct. 12, 1965, p. A1.
165 New York Times dispatched: Peter Bart, “Success of Sealab Program to Spur Navy Undersea Research,” New York Times, Oct. 13, 1965, p. 16.
165 surfaced the following day: Cousteau, “Working for Weeks on the Sea Floor,” pp. 532, 536; “6 French Aquanauts Finish 3-Week Stint in Diving Bell,” New York Times, Oct. 14, 1965, p. 39; World of Jacques Cousteau.
165 weather and helium leaks: Cousteau, “Working for Weeks on the Sea Floor,” pp. 508, 514, 515.
165 three and a half man-years: Tape recording of Sealab II press conference for Team 3 (total bottom time, as stated here by Bond, could be checked this way: 45 days x 30 aquanauts = 1,350 days/365 days = 3.7 “man-years”).
165 sending twenty-eight men down: Ibid.
165 spontaneous mini-sermon: Ibid.
166 “We have seen a program grow”: Ibid.
CHAPTER 13: THE DAMN HATCH
A day-long, taped interview with Bob Barth in Panama City, Fla., on Dec. 16, 2001, provided significant detail and background on the ill-fated dives to Sealab III, as did an initial interview with Richard Blackburn in San Diego, Calif., on March 16, 2002, followed by telephone interviews, including those on June 6, 2002, Sept. 18, 2002, March 22, 2004, and Sept. 19, 2006. There were also a number of e-mail responses from Blackburn, including those dated Oct. 7, 10, and 28, 2003. John Reaves, the only other surviving aquanaut to have made dives to the lab, could not be located either by Sealab friends or the author during the research for this book. However, Reaves’s testimony about the dives, along with a wealth of other information, is included in the “Record of Proceedings,” a half-foot-tall stack of paperwork obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. Its full title is: “Record of Proceedings of a Formal Board of Investigation Convened at the Deep Submergence Systems Project Technical Office, 139 Sylvester Road, San Diego, California, 92106, by order of the Chief of Navy Material, Department of the Navy; To
inquire into the circumstances of the death of Berry L. Cannon in the vicinity of San Clemente Island, California, on 17 February 1969; Ordered 21 February 1969.” This documentation consists of pages numbered 1–320, with some additional pages identified by both a number and letter, e.g., page 50-C. Included with the main document are exhibits numbered 1 through 86; in the notes that follow they are cited by the abbreviation “Ex.” and the relevant exhibit number, e.g., Ex. 47, plus an exhibit title or description.
The “Record of Proceedings” provided valuable details and a means of corroborating and fleshing out information obtained in interviews with Barth and Blackburn, and also other Sealab III personnel, including, in alphabetical order: Richard Bird, Robert Bornholdt, Robert Bornmann, William J. Bunton, Scott Carpenter, Richard Cooper, Matthew Eggar, Richard Garrahan, David Martin Harrell, Paul G. Linaweaver Jr., Fernando Lugo, Walter Mazzone, Keith Moore, James H. Osborn, Andres Pruna, Terrel W. “Jack” Reedy, Don C. Risk, Donald J. Schmitt, Jackson M. Tomsky, Cyril J. Tuckfield, James Vorosmarti Jr., and William W. Winters; also interviewed were Royal Navy participants Derek J. “Nobby” Clark and Cyril F. Lafferty. Many were interviewed more than once. Some interviews were done in person, some at the Sealab reunions, some by phone, and there were often supplemental exchanges by e-mail. Bunton, a Sealab II aquanaut who was to take part in Sealab III, wrote a short book, Death of an Aquanaut (Flagstaff, Ariz.: Best Publishing, 2000), cited below, which provided a useful perspective and further information.
Additional details were gleaned from an audio tape recording of two press conferences given by Capt. William Nicholson, project manager of the Deep Submergence Systems Project. The first was dated Feb. 12, 1969, and apparently held in Washington, D.C., a few days before Sealab III got started; the second was from Feb. 17, 1969, at San Clemente Island, soon after the accident (in author’s possession; cited below as “Capt. Nicholson press conference,” plus the appropriate date). A valuable visual record, in addition to Navy photographs, came from 100 Fathoms Deep, a short documentary film about Sealab III produced by the U.S. Navy’s Deep Submergence Systems Project. Similar footage can be seen in another Navy film, this one a brief documentary called The Aquanauts (video copies of both in author’s possession, but they are also available in libraries). The two daily San Diego newspapers at the time, the San Diego Union and the Evening Tribune, regularly reported on Sealab III; only the most pertinent articles are cited below, but taken together this collection of stories, obtained from the San Diego Union-Tribune news library, also helped to sharpen the picture of what took place. The notes that follow, mainly for Chapters 13 and 14, cite the “Record of Proceedings” whenever possible, even if the same or similar information may also have been obtained from other published sources or personal interviews, because this is an official, accessible documentary record. But this record, an abridged transcript of the proceedings, was itself corroborated and often given flesh on its bones by other sources, especially the aforementioned interviews. The notation “interviews with Sealab III personnel” indicates that a particular point was frequently echoed in interviews. Interviews with specific sources are cited below, sometimes in tandem with citations from the “Record of Proceedings” because those interviews shed significant additional light on the available written record.
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167 stand-alone organization: Jack Tomsky, taped interview, Escondido, Calif., Dec. 30, 2003; Bond, “Sealab III Chronicle,” pp. 1–3.
167 porpoise and an amiable sea lion: “Press Handbook, Sealab III Experiment, the U.S. Navy’s Man-in-the-Sea Program,” September 1968, p. 10–1, p. 5–2 (in author’s possession; handbook page numbers are grouped by chapter number; a copy in which the brief aquanaut biographies are redacted is included in “Record of Proceedings” as Ex. 21); Capt. Nicholson press conference, Feb. 12, 1969.
167 “operational” use: Tomsky, interviews, Aug. 5, 2002, and Dec. 30, 2003; Capt. Nicholson press conference, Feb. 12, 1969.
167 expanded and remodeled: “Press Handbook,” p. 4–9.
167 Elk River, originally built: “Press Handbook,” p. 10–1; 100 Fathoms Deep.
168 Some $10 million: Capt. Nicholson press conference, Feb. 12, 1969; Bond, Papa Topside, p. 157, puts the cost at “about $15 million,” but Nicholson gives his figure with apparent certainty and, as program manager, was in a good position to know. No cost figure was found in official documentation.
168 island served as a testing range: “Press Handbook,” p. 2-1; 100 Fathoms Deep.
168 half-hour away: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 86.
168 Jackson M. Tomsky: Tomsky, interviews, May 17, 2002, and June 7, 2004.
168 “Black Jack”: Tomsky, interview, May 17, 2002; Bond, “Sealab III Chronicle,” p. 2.
168 had to do some talking: Tomsky, interview, May 17, 2002; John Piña Craven, The Silent War (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), pp. 150–51.
168 de facto leader: Craven, The Silent War, p. 149; Capt. Nicholson press conference, Feb. 12, 1969.
169 “authority, responsibility”: Craven, The Silent War, p. 150; Craven, brief interview during a three-day reunion of Sealab participants, San Diego, Calif., March 15, 2002; Craven was also a featured speaker at the reunion dinner of March 15 at the San Diego Bayside Holiday Inn; he did not attend any of the three subsequent reunions, which the author did; he did not respond to a May 4, 2004, e-mail request for an interview.
169 that of project manager: Tomsky, interviews, May 17, 2002, and Dec. 30, 2003; Craven, The Silent War, p. 150; “Press Handbook,” p. 3-1.
169 By 1966: Tomsky, interview, June 7, 2004.
169 got along well enough: Tomsky, interview, Dec. 30, 2003.
169 principal investigator: Ibid.; “Press Handbook,” p. 3-1; “Record of Proceedings,” p. 98-B.
169 professor emeritus: Tomsky, interview, Dec. 30, 2003.
169 key lieutenants: Ibid.
169 ten of fifty-four aquanauts: “Press Handbook,” pp. 11-1 to 12-1.
169 ultimately decided not to participate: Carl Sheats, the younger of Sheats’s two sons, interview, April 27, 2004; Phil Sheats, the older of Sheats’s two sons, interview, July 8, 2004.
169 despite Bond’s encouragement: Bond to Sheats, Aug. 8, 1967; Bond to Sheats, May 21, 1968; both on Deep Submergence Systems Project letterhead (in author’s possession).
170 cooperated in diving training: “Press Handbook,” p. 12-1; Bornholdt, interview, Feb. 22, 2002.
170 Philippe Cousteau: Bond, “Sealab III Chronicle,” pp. 22, 30; Bond to family, on Deep Submergence Systems Project letterhead, Oct. 26, 1968 (in author’s possession); “Record of Proceedings,” Ex. 72: A training status memo, which includes team rosters showing Cousteau on Team 3; Barth, Sea Dwellers, p. 173 (photo).
170 ideas of his own for opening scenes: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 158.
170 sign of bone necrosis: Ibid., pp. 154, 167; Carpenter, interview, April 6, 2004; David Perlman, “Scott Carpenter and the Great Sealab Adventure,” Look, Jan. 21, 1969, p. 70.
170 became Tomsky’s deputy: Perlman, “Scott Carpenter and the Great Sealab Adventure,” p. 70; “Record of Proceedings,” pp. 122–122-B, 281; Ex. 22: “Sealab On-Scene Organizational and Operations Manual,” May 1968, pp. 13, 16–18; Ex. 73: “Commander Tomsky’s Understanding as of March 10, 1969, of responsibilities”; “Press Handbook,” p. 3-1.
170 number three man was: “Record of Proceedings,” pp. 122–122-B; Ex. 73: “Commander Tomsky’s Understanding as of March 10, 1969, of responsibilities”; “Press Handbook,” p. 3-2.
170 no personal experience with saturation: Tomsky, interview, May 17, 2002; Bond, Papa Topside, p. 153.
170 diving operations officer: Mazzone, interview, Jan. 2, 2002; Tomsky, interview, Aug. 5, 2002; “Record of Proceedings,” Ex. 23: On-Scene Commander to Distribution List, “Organizational Changes for Sealab III,” Feb. 4, 1969; Ex. 22: “Sealab On-Scene Organizational and Operations Manual,” May 1968, pp. 26–27.
170 Deep Subme
rgence Systems Project Technical Office: Mazzone, e-mail to author, June 4, 2003.
170 never seemed to be enough: “Record of Proceedings,” pp. 42, 143, 149–50, 213; Carpenter, interview, Jan. 25, 2002.
170 caused postponements: “Record of Proceedings,” p. 197; Paul Corcoran, Copley News Service, “Delays Plague Sealab Plans but Panic Button Not Hit,” San Diego Union, Jan. 19, 1969, p. B15; Bunton, Death of an Aquanaut, pp. 34–35; Bond, Papa Topside, p. 151; “Sealab III Chronicle,” pp. 15–16; Bond to family, Oct. 26, 1968 (in author’s possession).
170 flood-out of a PTC: Bond, Papa Topside, pp. 162–63; “Record of Proceedings,” pp. 100-I, 200, 279; Corcoran, “Delays Plague Sealab Plans,” San Diego Union.
170 initial target depth: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 152; Bond, “Sealab III: Next Step Toward the Depths,” Astronautics & Aeronautics (a publication of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics), July 1967, p. 83.
170 increase of five atmospheres: Jack Tomsky, taped interview, Escondido, Calif., Aug. 5, 2002.
171 excursion dives were to be made: “Record of Proceedings,” Ex. 84.
171 morale booster: “Record of Proceedings,” pp. 141, 245–46.
171 his team felt the same way: Ibid., p. 217.
171 first of five teams scheduled: Barth, Sea Dwellers, pp. 121, 125; “Press Handbook,” pp. 2-1, 5-1.
171 rain-swept Saturday: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 167.
171 Two symmetrical sections: “Press Handbook,” p. 4-1; 100 Fathoms Deep.
171 novel anchoring system: “Press Handbook,” p. 4-3.
171 pumped in to compensate: Capt. Nicholson press conference, Feb. 17, 1969.
172 deal with the problem in situ: “Record of Proceedings,” pp. 25–26, 284, 287; Ex. 47 (see handwritten notes included with typed procedures); Bond, Papa Topside, p. 168.
172 in his more strictly defined role: “Record of Proceedings,” pp. 98, 122; Ex. 73: “Commander Tomsky’s Understanding as of March 10, 1969, of responsibilities as of Feb. 14–16, 1969”; Bond, Papa Topside, pp. 151–53. While acknowledging his less central role, Bond indicates on p. 153 that he selected Jack Tomsky; he makes a similar claim in his “Sealab III Chronicle,” the unedited journal on which the chapters covering Sealab III in Papa Topside are based. According to Tomsky and others, it was not actually Bond who picked Tomsky, though Bond may have supported Tomsky’s selection.
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