215 improved since World War II: Davis, Deep Diving and Submarine Operations, p. 229.
215 assembly-line style, on pipe-laying barges: Zinkowski, Commercial Oil-Field Diving, p. 198; Oil field diver interviews.
216 welds of equally high quality: Swann, The History of Oilfield Diving, p. 261.
216 crucial underwater pipe connection: Zinkowski, Commercial Oil-Field Diving, pp. 225–32.
216 connected out at sea: Pratt et al., Offshore Pioneers, p. 278; Oil field diver interviews.
216 lining up two ends of pipe: Zinkowski, Commercial Oil-Field Diving, pp. 236–40; Oil field diver interviews.
216 greater risk of leaking: Pratt et al., Offshore Pioneers, p. 148.
216 dominant provider of hyperbaric welding: Swann, The History of Oilfield Diving, p. 566.
217 Submersible Pipe Alignment Rig: Ibid., pp. 268, 270; Pratt et al., Offshore Pioneers, pp. 151–52.
217 the two of them worked together: Oil field diver interviews.
217 first thousand-foot contract: Swann, The History of Oilfield Diving, p. 391.
217 Delauze was dismayed: Ibid., p. 393.
217 Fast-growing Oceaneering: Ibid., p. 360; Handelman, “Where Did the Major Diving Companies of Today Originate?,” p. 72.
217 broke with Ocean Systems after: Handelman, “Where Did the Major Diving Companies of Today Originate?,” p. 72.
217 get a saturation diving system built: Swann, The History of Oilfield Diving, p. 392; “Oceaneering’s 1000-ft. Saturation Diving Complex,” UnderSea Technology, April 1973.
217 never exceeded about seven hundred feet: Swann, The History of Oilfield Diving, p. 393.
217 hired by BP Canada: Ibid.
218 several dives and spent four hours: Ibid., p. 394; Les plongeurs du froid, a Comex film by Alain Tocco (DVD copy in author’s possession); Delauze, e-mail to author, May 14, 2009.
218 deepest offshore platform ever built: Ben C. Gerwick, Construction of Offshore Structures (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1986), p. 228; Swann, The History of Oilfield Diving, p. 541.
218 called Cognac: A. O. P. Casbarian and G. E. Cundiff, “Cognac: Unique Diving Skills Aid Project,” Offshore, August 1979, p. 51.
218 backup brigade for system failures: Ibid., p. 52.
218 major competitor in marine construction: Pratt et al., Offshore Pioneers, p. 71.
218 an unusual alliance: “‘Project Cognac’ Involves Taylor in World’s Deepest Offshore Diving Job,” Taylor Diver 3, no. 2 (1977): 8–10; Ken Wallace, interview, May 21, 2007.
218 designed in three sections: Pratt et al., Offshore Pioneers, p. 81.
218 industrial version of the Eiffel Tower: Gerwick, Construction of Offshore Structures, pp. 230–31; Eiffel Tower information online at www.tour-eiffel.fr.
219 largest saturation spread ever assembled: Brownbuilder, Spring 1978, special issue of Brown & Root’s bimonthly company magazine, p. 38 (in author’s possession).
219 process worthy of NASA: Casbarian and Cundiff, “Diving Skills Aid Project,” p. 61; Helvey, interviews.
219 seriously considered quitting: Helvey, interviews.
219 job might just be too risky: Ibid.
219 a thousand dollars a day: Ibid.
219 more like a mission: Ibid.
219 medic for his six-man Cognac team: Ibid.
220 best way to avoid HPNS: Bennett, “The High Pressure Nervous Syndrome: Man,” in The Physiology and Medicine of Diving and Compressed Air Work, 2nd ed., pp. 249, 255.
220 over the course of a full day: Helvey, interviews.
220 Schwary, an old friend: Ibid.
220 sank to his knees: Ibid.
221 “bailout bottle”: Ibid.
221 like a starry night sky: Ibid.
221 sheer size of the grouper: Ibid.
221 five feet deeper than anticipated: Ibid.
221 rest of the Cognac Six: “World’s Deepest Offshore Diving Job,” p. 9; Helvey, e-mail to author, Feb. 18, 2009.
222 industrial dress rehearsal: Helvey, interviews; Swann, The History of Oilfield Diving, pp. 542, 544.
222 bouts of dyspnea: Ibid.
222 massive square base: Veldman and Lagers, 50 Years Offshore, p. 172.
222 nearly twenty stories tall: “World’s Deepest Offshore Diving Job,” p. 8, gives the base height as 175 feet.
222 two dozen steel piles: Casbarian and Cundiff, “Diving Skills Aid Project,” pp. 52, 55.
222 six hundred feet long: Gerwick, Construction of Offshore Structures, p. 230.
222 hook up the steel lines: Helvey, interviews.
222 “flying eyeball”: Ibid., R. J. Steckel, Cognac project manager for Taylor, interview, March 22, 2007.
222 disk like a manhole cover: Helvey, interviews.
223 could see his bell partner: Ibid.
223 During their off-hours: Ibid.
223 for thirty-one days: Ibid.
223 120 days: Ibid.; Casbarian and Cundiff, “Diving Skills Aid Project,” p. 62.
223 won $147: Helvey, interviews.
223 beginning in the spring of 1978: Ibid.
224 docking two spacecraft: “Construction Completed, Production Begins on Shell Oil’s ‘Project Cognac,’” Taylor Diver 4, no. 2 (1978): 9.
224 Apollo-Soyuz test: NASA History Division online, history.nasa.gov/30thastp/.
224 more plumbing and grouting: Helvey, interviews.
224 ahead of schedule: Ibid.; Swann, The History of Oilfield Diving, p. 546.
224 sixty planned wells: “Cognac Drilling Begins; Gulf Gas Project Start,” Oil & Gas Journal, Nov. 6, 1978, p. 110; “Construction Completed, Production Begins on Shell Oil’s ‘Project Cognac,’” Taylor Diver, p. 8.
224 2,700 offshore wells drilled: Harry Whitehead, An A to Z of Offshore Oil and Gas, 2nd ed. (Houston, Tex.: Gulf Publishing, 1983), p. 321.
225 industry interest in ROVs: Eric Bender, “Remotely Operated Vehicles Continue Rapid Growth Offshore,” Sea Technology, December 1979, p. 14; Swann, The History of Oilfield Diving, p. 721.
225 added an ROV test tank: Swann, The History of Oilfield Diving, p. 686.
225 global slump in oil prices: Yergin, The Prize, p. 750; U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Oil Production: The Effect of Low Oil Prices—Special Report, OTA-E-348 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, September 1987), pp. 1, 25, 95–100.
225 gone looking for other frontiers: Swann, The History of Oilfield Diving, pp. 666, 681.
225 going out of business or merging: Ibid., pp. 666, 668; Michael Mulcahy, “Times Hard for Diving Companies, but Not All Signs Are Bad,” Sea Technology, December 1979, p. 20.
225 sold off and disbanded: Wallace, interview, March 12, 2007; Swann, The History of Oilfield Diving, pp. 560–61.
225 swallowed by Oceaneering International: Swann, The History of Oilfield Diving, pp. 598, 668.
225 because of its ROV business: Ibid., p. 613.
CHAPTER 16: THE RIVALS PRESS ON
Page
226 fifteen members produced: Larry L. Booda, “New Ocean Agency Proposed,” UnderSea Technology, February 1969, p. 37.
226 Dr. Julius Stratton: “President Emeritus Julius Adams Stratton dies at 93,” MIT Tech Talk 38, no. 37 (June 29, 1994), web.mit.edu/newsoffice/1994/stratton-0629.html.
226 report’s key recommendations: Booda, “New Ocean Agency Proposed,” pp. 36–38, 43.
226 an independent civilian agency: “Our Nation and the Sea; a Plan for National Action,” Report of the Commission on Marine Science, Engineering and Resources (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, January 1969), pp. 4, 233, www.lib.noaa.gov/noaainfo/heritage/stratton/title.html.
226 a “wet NASA”: Interviews, including James W. Miller, deputy director of the NOAA Manned Undersea Science and Technology Office—from its inception in 1971 and through 1980—and coauthor of Living and Working in the Sea, Aug. 24, 2007.
226 “This project is based”: “Our Nation and the Sea,” p. 1
62.
227 goal of two thousand feet: Ibid., p. 164; Booda, “New Ocean Agency Proposed,” p. 38.
227 millions be spent on research: “Our Nation and the Sea,” p. 166.
227 formed from a smorgasbord: “A History of NOAA,” compiled by Eileen L. Shea, NOAA representative to the Department of Commerce Historical Council; edited by Skip Theberge, NOAA Central Library, 1999, www.history.noaa.gov/legacy/noaahistory_1.html, pp. 3, 11.
227 umbrella of the Department of Commerce: “A History of NOAA,” p. 3; Miller, interview, Aug. 2, 2007.
227 fresh outlook and clout: “Our Nation and the Sea,” p. 233; Miller, interview, Aug. 2, 2007.
228 diving clubs in Czechoslovakia: Miller and Koblick, Living and Working in the Sea, pp. 315, 350–52, 379.
228 Soviet Union produced quite a few: Ibid., pp. 98, 327, 332, 354.
228 he would call Argyronète: André Laban, a core member of the Cousteau team from 1952 until the early 1970s, interviews, Juan-les-Pins, France, Oct. 27 and 31, 2004; Dessemond and Wesly, Les hommes de Cousteau, pp. 234–37.
228 prime sponsors backed out: Swann, The History of Oilfield Diving, p. 535.
228 called Deep Diver: M. C. Link, Windows in the Sea, pp. 90–92.
228 research sub Alvin: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=8422.
229 Link’s mini-sub at seven hundred feet: M. C. Link, Windows in the Sea, pp. 174–79.
229 used for some contract work: Clark and Eichelberger, “Edwin A. Link,” p. 13; Van Hoek with M. C. Link, From Sky to Sea, pp. 300, 304.
229 marine enthusiast J. Seward Johnson: Walter H. Waggoner, “J. Seward Johnson, a Longtime Director of Family Company,” New York Times, May 24, 1983, p. D24; as founder of Harbor Branch, www.fau.edu/hboi/AboutHarborBranch.php; place in Johnson & Johnson history, www.jnj.com/our_company/history/history_section_1.htm.
229 set up its headquarters for: Clark and Eichelberger, “Edwin A. Link,” p. 13; Van Hoek with M. C. Link, From Sky to Sea, pp. 305–6, 309.
229 helicopter without rotors: M. C. Link, Windows in the Sea, pp. 187–90; Van Hoek with M. C. Link, From Sky to Sea, p. 309.
229 entire craft improved over time: Van Hoek with M. C. Link, From Sky to Sea, p. 307.
229 reach depths of three thousand feet: M. C. Link, Windows in the Sea, p. 188.
229 under half a million dollars: Van Hoek with M. C. Link, From Sky to Sea, p. 307.
230 commissioned to the Smithsonian: M. C. Link, Windows in the Sea, pp. 189–90.
230 dozens of successful undersea projects: “Marine Casualty Report, Submersible Johnson Sea Link, Entanglement off Key West, Florida, June 17, 1973,” National Transportation Safety Board and U.S. Coast Guard, Report No. USCG/NTSB-MAR-75-2, Jan. 15, 1975, p. 22.
230 disturb Ed Link’s peace of mind: Van Hoek with M. C. Link, From Sky to Sea, pp. 312, 314.
230 fifteen miles out at sea: Ibid.
230 trying to recover a small fish trap: Ibid.
230 At the controls: Ibid.; “Marine Casualty Report,” pp. 20, 22.
230 veteran submersible pilot: Van Hoek with M. C. Link, From Sky to Sea, p. 315.
230 Clayton Link: Ibid., pp. 310–11, 316.
230 With walkie-talkie in hand: Ibid., p. 314; Jon Nordheimer, “Submarine Lifted, 2 Trapped Inside 30 Hours Rescued,” New York Times, June 19, 1973, pp. 1, 78.
230 The sea was calm: “Marine Casualty Report,” p. 20.
230 Ed Link was calm: Van Hoek with M. C. Link, From Sky to Sea, p. 314.
230 calculated that the atmosphere: “Marine Casualty Report,” pp. 6, 25.
231 Link was confident: Van Hoek with M. C. Link, From Sky to Sea, p. 312.
231 Tringa was delayed: Ibid., pp. 312–13.
231 Floodlights illuminated: Ibid., p. 314.
231 They had to turn back: “Marine Casualty Report,” p. 26.
231 twice considered locking out: Ibid., pp. 24–27.
231 wore only shorts and T-shirts: Ibid., p. 22.
231 escape to the surface: Van Hoek with M. C. Link, From Sky to Sea, p. 313.
231 crew, and the trapped divers all agreed: Ibid., “Marine Casualty Report,” pp. 24–25.
231 mid-forties Fahrenheit: “Marine Casualty Report,” p. 26.
231 better insulated from the chill: Van Hoek with M. C. Link, From Sky to Sea, p. 313.
231 Menzies kept telling rescuers: Stuart Auerbach, “Top Rescue Man Trapped in Sub,” Washington Post, June 19, 1973, p. A9.
231 faulty carbon dioxide scrubbers: “Marine Casualty Report,” pp. 25–26.
231 took off his shirt: Ibid., p. 25.
232 Stover and Link increased: “Marine Casualty Report,” pp. 26–27; Jon Nordheimer, “2 Crewmen Dead; Bodies Removed from Submarine,” New York Times, June 20, 1973, pp. 1, 26.
232 another dive from the Tringa: “Marine Casualty Report,” p. 27.
232 Five hours later: Ibid.
232 two-man Perry Cubmarine: Ibid., p. 28; see also www.sfsm.org/submarine.html.
232 salvage ship, the A.B. Wood II: Ibid.
232 they were going to be all right: Ibid., pp. 28–29; Nordheimer, “2 Crewmen Dead; Bodies Removed from Submarine,” p. 26.
232 Through the portholes: “Marine Casualty Report,” p. 28.
232 flushed the sealed compartment: Ibid.; Nordheimer, “2 Crewmen Dead; Bodies Removed from Submarine,” p. 26.
232 doctors on board Sea Diver concluded: “Marine Casualty Report,” p. 29.
232 holding tightly to one another: Van Hoek with M. C. Link, From Sky to Sea, p. 315.
232 Link left behind a young son: Ibid., p. 310.
232 Stover had seven sons: Ibid.
232 he might have done differently: Ibid., p. 314.
233 borrow Link’s first submersible: Ibid., p. 303.
233 investigators blamed pilot error and: “Marine Casualty Report,” pp. 2, 31.
233 “displayed an incredible casualness”: Ibid.
233 “feeble attempts to rescue”: F. R. Haselton, “After the Sea Link Tragedy: Some Questions About Rescue Equipment,” Washington Post, June 27, 1973, p. A31.
233 submersible he called CORD: Van Hoek with M. C. Link, From Sky to Sea, pp. 315, 317.
233 called Scientist in the Sea: Bond, Papa Topside, pp. 180–81, 184, 189; Advertisement in UnderSea Technology, December 1972, p. 26.
233 watched over a dozen graduate students: Bond, Papa Topside, pp. 194–95.
233 Hydrolab, one of a handful made: Miller and Koblick, Living and Working in the Sea, pp. 76–84.
234 most used habitat in the world: Ibid., p. 84.
234 featured on Primus: Brooks and Marsh, Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, p. 838; “Shades of Cousteau, James Bond and Jules Verne,” New York Times, Oct. 24, 1971, p. S16.
234 the way Sea Hunt had: Brooks and Marsh, Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, p. 910.
234 later refurbished, renamed Tektite II: Miller and Koblick, Living and Working in the Sea, pp. 92–98.
234 none other than Ed Link: Ibid., p. 77.
234 American entrepreneur even took a shot: Ibid., pp. 119–23.
234 member of the Stratton commission: “Our Nation and the Sea,” p. iii.
234 built and tested a habitat: Jon Pegg, “Five Hundred Sixteen Ft. Five-Day Ocean Saturation Dive Using a Mobile Habitat,” Aerospace Medicine 42, no. 12 (December 1971): 1257–61.
234 old friend Charlie Aquadro: Aquadro, interview, May 16–18, 2003.
234 $3 billion Skylab: Roger D. Launius, Frontiers of Space Exploration (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1998), p. 48.
234 moving the historic Experimental: Lt. Cmdr. Marc Tranchemontagne, “NEDU Celebrates 75 Years,” Faceplate, April 2003, p. 4.
235 a “pet” alligator: Bond, Papa Topside, pp. 178, 185; George Bond Jr., interview, Oct. 10, 2003.
235 Ocean Simulation Facility: Bond, Papa Topside, pp. 184, 187; author visits in December 2001 and M
arch 2003; Navy Experimental Diving Unit pamphlet, Aug. 21, 2001, p. 3 (in author’s possession).
235 Pidgeon and the Ortolan: Mark V. Lonsdale, United States Navy Diver: Performance Under Pressure (Flagstaff, Ariz.: Best Publishing, 2005), p. 295.
235 But Bond still believed: Bond, Papa Topside, pp. 179–80.
235 saturation diving school: Lonsdale, United States Navy Diver, pp. 298, 311.
235 in danger of being scrapped: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 186.
235 a multinational project: Ibid., pp. 196, 198, 201.
236 called Helgoland: Miller and Koblick, Living and Working in the Sea, pp. 110–19.
236 on a Polish factory ship: Ibid., p. 116.
236 several dozen topside participants: Ibid.
236 former Sealab aquanauts: Bond, Papa Topside, pp. 200, 205, 220 (Larry Bussey, Dick Cooper, Morgan Wells).
236 Helgoland’s deepest trial: Miller and Koblick, Living and Working in the Sea, p. 116.
236 rough weather and equipment failures: Ibid., p. 118; Bond, Papa Topside, pp. 198, 202–04, 230.
236 herring were spawning too far: Miller and Koblick, Living and Working in the Sea, p. 118.
236 decompress on the bottom: Ibid., p. 113; Bond, Papa Topside, p. 210.
236 Bond later theorized: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 213.
237 Wendler died: Ibid., pp. 208, 212; Miller and Koblick, Living and Working in the Sea, p. 264.
237 as many close calls: Capt. George F. Bond, MC, USN, “FISSHH Chronicles,” Sept. 17, 1975, to Nov. 21, 1975 (unpublished manuscript on which material in Papa Topside is based), p. 99 (copy in author’s possession).
237 his habitual writings: Ibid.
237 joint salvage venture: M. J. Lagies, “Treasure Divers Seek Record $5 Billion,” (San Diego) Evening Tribune, Nov. 19, 1976, p. 1; W. Joe Innis, “Bill Bunton’s Team: In Pursuit of the Awa Maru,” The Republican 14, no. 5, Southern California edition (Nov./Dec. 1976); this issue is largely devoted to Bunton’s plans, and includes interviews with George Bond, Scott Carpenter, and Jon Lindbergh; Bunton, interview, San Diego, Calif., Aug. 4, 2002.
237 often returned to Bat Cave: Bond, Papa Topside, p. 193.
237 on an old Army cot: George Foote Bond Jr. and William A. Burch, longtime friend of Bond Sr., interviews at the cabin, Bat Cave, N.C., Oct. 11, 2003.
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