Capn_Tucker,
As you have posted Chris Swann's Chapter 8 from his book "The History of Oil Field Diving" I thought you would be interested in this article is printed with kind permission of the author
from Diver, December 2002: 85–87
Popeye
From South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society (SPUMS) Journal Volume 33 No. 4 December 2003
Last November [2001], John Bennett dived to 1000 ft – the
deepest open-circuit scuba dive ever undertaken. This
remarkable achievement, though appropriately heralded in
diving circles, attracted comparatively little media attention.
But it was a different story 40 years ago. Then, on 3
December 1962, another Englishman became one of the
first two divers to reach a depth of 1000 ft in the open
ocean. This scientific triumph, which was to end in tragedy,
was attended by the world’s Press, the navies of Britain
and the USA, and numerous top-ranking scientific
establishments.
One of the men was Selby-born Peter Small, 35, a freelance
science journalist of national repute, with whom I shared
an office. Small was co-founder of the British Sub-Aqua
Club, founder-chairman of the Underwater Equipment
Research Society and principal organiser of the 2nd World
Congress of Underwater Activities. He was a visionary who
had uncompromisingly campaigned for more ‘inner space’
research.
The other was a previously little-known 28-year-old Swiss
mathematician, Hannes Keller. The historic but fateful
mission was his brainchild.
For though Keller survived the dive, Peter Small did not.
Nor did a 19-year-old Lancastrian called Christopher
Whittaker, who was one of two safety divers during the
attempt.
The events of that tragic day off Catalina Island in the
Pacific had their roots in 1958, when the young Hannes
Keller became interested in diving. He quickly learned about
all the physiological limitations and their effects – including
nitrogen narcosis and decompression sickness.
Using his mathematical know-how, he came up with the
theory that a diver should breathe a combination of gases
different from those which make up ordinary air. Keller
took his theory to Dr Albert Buehlmann, a specialist in
lung function and blood circulation at the University of
Zurich, who suggested which gases he should use.
Breathing Buehlmann’s mixture, which was kept secret,
Keller was lowered 400 ft to the bottom of Lake Zurich in
a 40 gallon oil-drum and suffered no ill effects. Keller
thereafter systematically fed 250,000 statistics into a
computer and worked out the safety factors for dives down
to 1000 ft. In 1960 he successfully dived to 500 ft in Lake
Maggiore, and in 1961 he reached the record depth of 728
ft and returned safely after 45 minutes.
By then the US Navy was extremely interested in Keller’s
work and gave him a contract to continue his research. As
a result, and in preparation for a 1000 ft dive, he designed
and built a diving chamber called the Atlantis, 7 ft high
and 4.5 ft in diameter, with a bottom hatch through which
divers could leave and re-enter.
Early in 1962, Keller met Peter Small. He knew of Keller’s
project and asked to join it. Keller tested him by taking
him on a simulated dive to 1000 ft in a decompression
chamber, which he successfully completed. Peter was to
write about the dive for a British national newspaper.
That November, Keller and his team arrived in Los Angeles
to carry out preliminary tests. Peter Small arrived with his
23-year-old wife Mary, daughter of aircraft designer F G
Miles, whom he had married three months previously.
Two local divers joined the party, American Richard
Anderson and Christopher Whittaker, who was studying
in UCLA. They were signed on as safety divers, their role
to check the Atlantis in shallower depths if anything went
wrong.
In one test, two days before the 1000 ft dive, Small and
Keller descended to 300 ft in the Atlantis, remained for an
hour and swam outside the chamber checking the
equipment. This was probably the first time that any diver
had stayed at that depth for so long. Small later complained
of muscle pain but seemed all right after spending 4.5 hours
in a decompression chamber.
On the morning of 3 December, the expedition’s two ships
set out from Avalon, which is on Catalina Island. Observers
included experts from the US Navy’s experimental diving
programme and people from the Shell Oil Company, which
supplied the support ship Eureka and the decompression
chamber. Keller’s surface crew, which included Dr
Buehlmann, controlled the operation.
The Atlantis affair
Bernard Eaton
Forty years ago this month [Ed. note: December 1962], two divers made history by reaching 1000 ft in open ocean in a
diving chamber called Atlantis. If only they hadn’t opened the hatch. Bernard Eaton, a close friend of one of the divers,
Peter Small, recalls what happened.
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216 South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society (SPUMS) Journal Volume 33 No. 4 December 2003
The historic dive began with a six-minute stop at 16 ft to
check equipment. Then the descent began, with Eureka
quickly paying out the cable. The two divers had water up
to their knees and kept the hatch partly closed to prevent
them falling out.
At 250 ft, Keller and Small stopped for two minutes to
switch to the gas mixtures and the final descent began. The
cable touched bottom at 1020 ft and Keller was later to say
that when they opened the hatch there was about 5 ft of
water between the hatch and the seabed.
Keller dropped out feet first, his aim being to place a Swiss
and US flag on the bottom and return immediately. But as
he left the chamber, the flag became entangled in the
breathing tubes of his face mask and he couldn’t see.
It took him two minutes to untangle himself from the flags
and get back in the chamber. The two men then tried to
close the hatch.
What happened then was related by Hannes Keller a few
weeks later at the offices of Diver (then Triton) at a meeting
that included BSAC Chairman Colin McLeod and Vice-
President Oscar Gugen; Sgn-Capt Stanley Miles, Director
of the Royal Naval Medical School; Sgn-Lt Tony Jarrett,
RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine; Cdr R Harland, ex-
Supt of Diving RN; Mary Small and myself.
Keller explained that four tanks supplied mixtures to the
Atlantis. Tank 1 had been intended to take the two from
250–1000 ft, then back to 500 ft; Tank 2 from 500–300 ft,
and Tank 3 from 300–130 ft. Tank 4 was a reserve.
During the early stages of the dive, Keller noticed that Tank
1 was showing only 80 bar instead of 150. The two were
using semi-closed-circuit breathing sets with 3 litre tanks,
and their reserve at 1000 ft would therefore be reduced to
four minutes instead of 10 or 12.
Their dilemma, therefore, was whether to continue the dive
and keep refilling their tanks, or to abort. They decided to
keep on refilling, but instead of staying at 1000 ft for five
minutes, as originally planned, to cut their bottom time to
three.
Small (left) and Keller are suited up ready for the dive The Atlantis chamber is lowered into the water
In Keller’s opinion, this decision was one of two which
probably caused Peter Small’s death. The second mistake
was to exit to drop the flags on the ocean floor at 1020 ft. In
the circumstances, this should never have been attempted.
Keller said he was exhausted and dizzy when he climbed
back into the chamber, and also felt some fear. In retrospect,
he wondered if he should have promptly refilled the
apparatus, but decided to close the hatch first instead. He
tried to do this but a fin got caught in the hatch, so it
wouldn’t close properly.
All he could then do was to open the air-pressure valves to
blow the water out of the chamber to prevent them drowning
while unconscious. He then opened his face-mask and took
his mouthpiece away to breathe ordinary air so that he
wouldn’t die from lack of oxygen. Peter Small tried to help
him and also removed his mouthpiece, but failed to refill
his own apparatus and, apparently, remove his face mask.
Within 30 seconds of re-entering the chamber, Keller lost
consciousness and remained that way for half an hour,
suffering from oxygen hallucinations. Small’s pulse rate
was low and his breathing shallow. He lost consciousness
for 90 minutes, after which he began to speak and appeared
reasonably normal.
However, he was exhausted and couldn’t stand. He was
given a drink and was suffering from heat, so Keller cut
away his suit and underwear. He was in touch with Dr
Buehlmann and finally reported that everything seemed
OK.
Decompression continued for six hours and Small began
to sleep. He kept changing positions and was very
uncomfortable and nervous. When the bell was lifted onto
the pier and laid down, Keller changed Small’s position
and noticed that he was not breathing. He failed to respond
to mouth-to-mouth respiration. The chamber was opened
and Small was rushed to the Navy’s hospital ship, where
he was pronounced dead on arrival.
A post mortem was to follow, with a high-level inquiry in
the USA. This concluded that, with the exception of a
serious gas embolism, Peter Small’s condition was
physically sound, with no evidence of cardiac diseases.
The committee agreed with Dr Buehlmann’s conclusion
that Small’s circulation was seriously impaired through
possible prolonged anoxia with loss of consciousness. He
was therefore not able adequately to eliminate the nitrogen
from his body, and so developed the symptoms of
decompression illness.
One conclusion was that the whole experiment was fraught
with potential hazard, caused by the complexity of pressure
groups: magazine commitments; public announcements;
navy contracts; borrowed items, including ship and closedcircuit
TV; timetables; weather factors; limited individual
time and expectant creditors.
Nevertheless, the committee concluded that the dive had
produced a significant scientific achievement, if one that
had saddened the worldwide diving fraternity.
Peter Small’s death was not, of course, the only tragedy.
What must not be forgotten was the courage and heroism
of his friend and fellow-diver Christopher Whittaker.
Whittaker was one of the two safety divers who went to the
aid of Peter and Hannes Keller when they were lying
unconscious in the diving chamber. It was impossible to
raise them to safety until the leak in the chamber, caused
by the trapped fin, had been sealed.
No one will know just how exhausted Chris Whittaker felt,
or what his thoughts were, after the unsuccessful first dive
to 200 ft to close the hatch. But one thing we know is that,
against advice and with an unselfish disregard for his own
safety, he turned his back on those aboard the Eureka and
plunged 200 ft down again to the leaking bell. He was never
seen again.
There was to be a deeply sad and distressing ending to this
saga. The young and beautiful Mary Small had been married
to Peter for only 12 weeks before his untimely death. She
found life without him unbearable, and nine weeks later
ended her life in a gas-filled room at home, surrounded by
photographs of her husband strewn on the floor.