a strange death
We were working off the deck of an ocean going workboat about 200 ft long in water that was about 175 ft deep. I was a well seasoned tender, maybe 19 at the time. We were diving around the clock and the work for the divers was strenuous and cold. They were digging an underwater trench in the mud to bury a pipeline near an oil production platform in the Gulf of Mexico a few hundred miles offshore. Using firehoses pressurized with salt water fed thru a nozzle to blast out the mud on the sea floor under the pipe, as they dug along under pipeline it would slowly lay into the underwater ditch. The pipes always had to be buried so they couldn’t be snagged by anchors and cause a major oil spill.
I was assigned to a diver named John, it was my first job with him, a really nice guy. The word on him though was that he was too old to be doing that type of work. He was 48 and the scuttlebutt among the crew was that he may have been having heart problems. Most of the divers felt he shouldn’t be there because of the nature of the job. Many divers seem to retire at about age 40 to 45 anyway because of the extreme working conditions you might encounter on the job. I wasn’t really prepared for what was going to happen to him the next day and It was quite disturbing.
It was about 10PM and he was in the water trenching and he was having a very difficult time. I was on the edge of the deck tending his hoses and lifelines and listening to him on the helmet radio. The radio conversation between him and the dive controller was piped over a loudspeaker on deck so we could hear everything that went on while he was working. This saved time as far as relaying all information to the deck crew when he needed surface assistance and it kept us aware of unusual conditions. The man was breathing very heavily, obviously out of shape and struggling with the forces of the firehose. Usually you see 2 maybe 3 men handling the back-pressure of a firehose on land, imagine one man trying to do it alone underwater with poor footing and weighted down with full diving gear!
He started complaining about chest pains over the radio and huffing and puffing so badly the dive controller ended the dive so I pulled him up slowly for decompression. He made his “stops” at regular intervals in the water and we finally got him on deck and got his gear off. He still needed further decompression though and he had to go inside a hyperbaric chamber to be recompressed and then further decompressed to insure there were no air bubbles in his blood to cause the bends. As I was his tender that meant that I would be at the controls of the chamber to ventilate it to remove CO2 and to keep his oxygen fresh and change the pressures of the chamber to do the decompression necessary. I could also talk to him on a radio and see him through a porthole.
a hyperbaric chamber with an airlock
Once inside the chamber he was ok for a few minutes then suddenly started breathing fast and very loudly and yelling “ventilate the chamber” over and over again. I started doing as he requested, letting huge amounts of air in while exhausting huge amounts of air out to circulate the air inside with fresh air. Not an easy task to do while trying to hold the pressure inside at a constant level, but I adjusted the valves as quickly as I could while watching the depth gauge closely. Meanwhile I yelled at someone to go get the dive controller to come over and assist me and see why John kept requesting a total ventilation. I was now using so much air I it was taking down the reserves for the entire shipboard operation, including air for the next diver that was already in the water to replace John on the firehose detail.
It fell silent inside as I was ventilating, only the very loud rush of air going in and out could be heard, almost deafening. I tried to raise John on the radio but he was now silent and I could no longer see him inside the porthole, he had moved in such a way that he was no longer visible. Finally the dive controller arrived and asked me a few questions and then he tried to raise John on the radio and I stopped ventilating for a few minutes so we could hear. No answer, no nothing. The chamber had an airlock and the dive controller climbed in the outer lock and I compressed him in to the same depth as John until he could open the inner door. Once inside he too started to yell ventilate the chamber. I cranked the valves wide open and after a few minutes he yelled over the radio to have someone come help me and to have a dive Doctor on a nearby vessel brought over to help. He would not tell us though what was going on inside. i could barely see inside the porthole because there was so much condensation inside the glass was constantly fogged up.
Finally, the doctor arrived after he was rushed over from a few miles away on a small crew boat and I locked him into the chamber as well after he asked a few questions. Once inside they continued to request plenty of ventilation and I could barely hear what was going inside, and, by now we had a small crowd watching the entire operation and wondering what was going on.
Eventually the dive controller was air-locked out and he said he thought that John was dead and that they had no idea what had happened to him. He left to make a call to inshore operations on what to do next and I was told to stay at it. I stayed on duty for about 17 hours straight manning the controls of that chamber and I was getting quite exhausted by now. There was no one to relieve me on deck because the other diving operations were continued and everyone else was needed on that front. After he made the call he came back out and had us stop venting the chamber and to get the dive doctor out and leave the chamber sealed at depth.
After several hours the Coast Guard showed up along side and they shut down all the operations onboard and sealed all the equipment and took statements from everyone involved, including me. I had to write down every detail of what happened as I recalled it and I was so exhausted I’m sure that I was recalling things in a blur. I was going to regret not recalling certain things 2 yrs later on, but I had no idea at the time. We were ordered to remain on board and to have the vessel put to port while the Coast Guard investigated the situation. We found out that our so called dive doctor was not an actual licensed MD and could not fill out a death certificate or even legally declare the man dead. It would not be till we reached port the next day that an actual doctor would come on and do the declaration. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard decided to impound every single piece of diving equipment in use on board while they completed their investigation which included doing tests on everything that we had used.
The MD that came onboard declared death by natural causes of a heart attack, pending the results of the Coast Guard testing and investigation to insure that he wasn’t carbon dioxide poisoned or death by other unnatural means. I was finally allowed to leave the scene and I went home that day.
Next up, the lawsuit…
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That is scary shit to witness someone dying. Especially in this circumstance! Why the hell would they be calling that other guy Doctor, if he really wasn’t one?
Oh wow!
Sharron= apparently it was a nickname he had because he had been a medic in the US Navy that was trained in diving medicine and operations, everyone called him Doc. He was experienced in that field but just not a licensed MD.
Kristin= hiya dawlin’!! hehe smooches!! and Oh wow, is right!! not fun at all…
Thank dog you’re back. I was starting to get the shakes.
I’d be in an insane asylum if I’d been there. Too creepy and icky for my tastes.
What was it that you would’ve remembered?
Day-aaammnnn – I was getting the bends just reading that. That must’ve been pretty strong witnessing that!
ahem…glad your back!
Gack!! How awful…
Daaaamn…..
I’m guessing the things you didn’t recall right away factor into the lawsuit?
That must’ve been horrible…….
Wow… that is some really powerful story telling! Jesus, what a nightmare that must have been.
And you’re a bastard for leaving us hanging by the way!
Bright red and white gstring… no bra.
Good morning!
All of us very happy you ain’t on a oil platform anymore, even though you did promise to get us cheap gas.
Good greif man!
Good morning love, I was missing my *Seven* fill….*hugs*
Good gravy man. That’s some intense stuff going on. I’ll be back to read more. I hope reliving that day wasn’t too difficult for you. Thanks for sharing your story with us. Seriously.
Lois Lane
That is some serious drama job! I’ll bet there were very few, if any, women doing those crazy jobs! ;o)
Real glad you’re back….missed you madly!
So glad I didn’t know Dearest when he was working offshore. Stories like this freak me the fuck out!
OMG Sev, that is a horrific story! Like your worst nightmare come true. I just saw the movie, THE ABYSS. We rented it because a good friend of ours is one of the leads, and we had never seen it. Anytime I think of being under the water and in a tight space i get the heebie jeebies! Sorry that you had to go through that. But you are a tease for laving us hanging.
Haven’t seen you lately. Missing you! Will have to go back and catch up. xo
yipes! What a scary & disturbing thing to witness. Better not leave that “to be continued” hanging too long there, or you’ll have mutiny!
Becka= hehe, we can’t have ya goin’ around with the shakes!! tale 2 chill pills and call me in the morning!!
tCj= hey grrrl!! all will be revealed in part 2 hehe
Seamus= hey guy!! thanks! it was interesting to say the least!!
Heather= hiya hun, and yes it was, I felt really bad for his family, dying so far from home =(
Angel= hiya dawlin’~!! hehe yes you could say the end result sorta hinged on me as a star witness in court.
Tricia= wow gstring whoa!! and yes i am a bastard hope ya like that!!
Boo= g’morning to you too hon ~!!!
Char= morning sweetheart!! *hugz* to you too~!!
Lois= the gravy was actually quite bad, lumpy and overcooked, blech… It was years ago, no longer bugs me
Nori= hi hi! uhmm do I know you? you left no home page url and I don’t recall the name
so if you would tell me more about you that would be nice! =)
Kristin= hi sweetheart~!!! smooches!!
Last Girl= I been slackin’ lately on my bloggin’ but i’ll be around and catch up!! I’m finally getting a few things settled around here that needed a lot of attention and I’ll be here!!
Celti= hi schweetheart~!!! nooo no mutinies!!
unless we can have nekkid ones hahaha!! and then all would be invited to join in of course hehe
That’s OK, Sev. I’ve been pretty slack, too. xox
I still have no idea what to say to this post.
I thought I’d tell ya to try your hand at the new word up. I’ve given the last clue and the girls are going to get it the next time they stop by. Come try it!
That was about the wildest thing I’ve read in a long time. I can’t wait to read the rest. I hope it all turned out okay for you. That must have been awful to go through.
BTW: you’ve been [url=http://harmonysc.blogspot.com/]meme’d[/url]
You know the saying, “A man has to know his limitations”, well he ignored them from the sound of it.
Nice new HS look you’ve got here
Wow…new stuff! How’d you do that to haloscan?
Virtual smooches?! *raises eyebrow*
Nori is my friend, you just chill Sev!
Nori does not have a blog and is a lurker, who was kind enough to come out of the shadows to say hello to you.
Hi Nori!
Lois Lane
Geez that is some scary shit to have to witness. Sorry I haven’t been around lately. I was in a rollover accident last week, I was driving, my husband and friend were with me as well as my two young boys. We were hit by some man who shouldn;t have been driving the cops said, anyway we flipped 3 times and pretty much walked away. Don’t want to take up space here but the story is on my blog plus a link to a newspaper, where my son was being carried by a fireman. I have my new vehicle but am scared shitless to drive…….Anyway just checking in wanted to say hey, have a great weekend!
I can’t comment here until Miss Tricia says you have pleased her well, and you must have pleased her very well because here I am!
I did Jenn… he has been sitting there staring at me with that stupid grin on his face for the last half hour!
~snaps fingers in front of se7en’s eyes~
Damn… nothing!
Well girlie… here are my kneepads -he REALLY likes that a lot! And if you lick his face all over while you are riding him he will curl his toes…
And if you scream ‘Do me you bitch/bastard’ at the top of your lungs while he has you bent over the kitchen counter his eyes will roll back in his head and he will make the funniest gurgling noise!
Other than that you’re on your own…
unless of course you want me to stay here and prop him up for you.
Meanie! I hope you finish the story soon!
TAG! Your it!
Indulge a depressed and pissed off woman.
Damn, you and Jack, telling these intense stories and then giving cliffhanger endings! So why did they keep asking for ventillation? Or am I just dense?
Last Girl= thanks hon! you’re the bestest! hehe
Micki= hehe it’s ok!! really!!
HSC= i’ll try not to disappoint!
Blue= yeah, by a long shot huh?
it was almost like it was predicted to happen
Angel= mornin’ my sweet Angel!! thanks!!
Micki= i would tell you but I know you’ll have more fun figuring it out on you own!! here’s a hint: right click in here and View Source!! hehe
Lois= hi love!! and i’m chilled!! just being nosy!! hehe
Leslie= hey grrrrl!! wow thats insane, i’m so glad you’re ok!! jeez that sounds bad!!!
Jenn= hi there!!! hmmmmm
Tricia= !!! knee pads!!! hehe you are too much!!! hehe not really
Crazy Girl= sorry but it was just too long for one post!!
tCj= hi sweetie!! and thanks for tagging me again!!
Julie= hi hi!! apparently he thought he was having trouble breathing because there is always the possibilty of tainted air getting into the system. The huge air compressors that are used on a diving job like that are powered by diesel engines. Caution had to be used to ensure that the exhaust from one engine didn’t get into the air intake of the compressor next to it. A shift in the wind direction can cause all kinds of havoc on the deck at sea. It’s common for the divers to be able to smell diesel fumes in their air supply, the question for them is how much are they getting…ventilation would help ensure fresher air.
zzzzzzzzzzzzz *snort* huh? wha?
Oh…
blow shit up! LOL
Sorry, Se7en! I did not realize that I had not introduced myself. I am just *ahem* coming out of the lurker closet. I am a total, dedicated fan of yours (fell head over toes when you wacked the weinie of the putz dissing kristen while Brighton was away-you da man!)
I have only been lurking for a few months, and again, luv your work dahling!! Alas, I am a mere reader, not a writer so I have no blog but feel free to email me!
I have to admit the oil platform stories make me a mite skarit! But I still gooble them up.
Hugs, dahling!
PS I LOVE The Big Easy-been twice!!!
Oh and thanks for watching my back Lois!!
Celti= LOL you crack me up !!
Nori= wow thanks!! glad you dropped in! and any friend of Lois is kick ass in my book!! shhh, don’t tell Lois that she’s my fave, she gets a swelled head! hehe
You need ta start your own blog hon!!
hugs~!!
Can’t wait to read about the lawsuit. No, really. I love that sh*t.
Love the skull decorations. Reminds me of Magzy and Jades’ dear friend “Bones.”
As for your tale, this had to be tough on you. A good friend of ours hubby who was really an MD, in gr8 shape, and thoroughly trained in diving, died on their vacation a few yrs ago while diving w/ his buddy and shortly before their wedding anniversary. So sad. (He was also in his 40′s like John, but as I said, totally fit, dived regularly, etc. In his case, I think it’s thought there was defective equipment. Such a shock and such a waste.
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