HMS Hussar

traveller777 said:
The diving is not hard. Now coming back up a different story.
Click to expand...
and not becoming a statistic when the shit hits the fan and everything goes wrong at once, you have to be able to control the fear and panic that wells up when you realize the situation has just become life and death. you have to bring the fear under control and take control of the current situation

i have had that happen many many times, a few just stick out more than others

On the Doria back in 91, i was in the 2nd class china hallway making a run with my buddy, i was in the lead with him following (200ft ish and 90 degrees on its side), i grabbing everything that looked like a plate or artifact, got to the end of the hallway (the broken chair pile)and turned around, my buddy chris bumped into me, he turned around and led back out, i was grabbing everything my hand touched and stuffing it in my goodies bag since i couldnt see since we muddied it out on the way in, all of a sudden, i was yanked to a stop instantly (my enclosed wreck reel had jammed and the line wrapped around a pipe when i slacked it turning around) i had to feel my way back to the snag by feel. (meanwhile every minute of my bottom time is adding multiple minutes to my deco ) i tried to unsnag it (now a total blackout, couldnt even see a hint of light from my light on my helmet anymore) but couldnt free it, so i had to get my forearm knife (i have 1 on each harness strap and one on my left forearm) cut the line and put my knife back, then stuffed my reel into my goodies bag and turned around ( i knew i could find the line down the hallway where the silt wasnt as badly sturred up) i got about 20ft down the hallway and then i could start seeing the my light again, just then i see another light coming my way right before i collided with chris hard enough to knock my mask hard enough to get a shot of water in it. i made hand contact with him on his mask ( we cant see now with the stirred up mud) and he reached up with his hand, i put my thumbs up hand in his hand so he knew i was ok, he burped a OK thru his mouth and turned around to head out. i still hadnt found my wreck reel line yet, but knew he was following it out, so went after him. a few seconds later, the silt eased up enough to see my line, so i grabbed it. i checked my air gauge and you could literally see the gauge needle twitch when i inhaled, im sure some of that was because my heart rate was like a racing horse in the kentucky derby , pulled the loose slack from behind me and started wrapping it around my left hand since i didnt have a reel to wind it on, we got back thru the hallways and made it to outside of the wreck, where the anchor was tied in, i stuffed my reel line into the goodies bag and we both grabbed our deco bottles, hooked my johnline up and started up the anchor line, i had 26 minutes of bottom time with a max of 215ft and my stops started somewhere around 90ft, i think it was about 2 1/2hrs deco time total. somewhere when the deco stops got long, i opened my small side bag and got out my magnetic checkers set we played when on deco. he clipped his 3ft snap line to my harness d rings so we didnt have to hang on anymore and could play. we played checkers till we got tired . i started digging thru my goodies bag, had a bunch of wood crap pieces and junk but did get a wine bottle, a intact 8 inch saucer, a couple partials of saucers, and a pristine intact wine glass and a partial of the other glass stacked with it including the packing straw still in the intact one. so not a complete bust . it was forever before we got to the surface and bowline, grabbed the chicken line and swam back to the stern and platform and got out. the waves were noticibaly higher (abt 6ft) than when we went in. Me and chris did a quick mission debrief and i told him what happened and then it really started to hit me, that i was "that "close to becomeing a darwin awardee ( i never used another enclosed dive reel again). while on surface interval, cap told us, there was a hurricane heading our way, so we had to pull anchor and run for block island to hide. it was the longest 8hrs i think i have ever spend on a boat, the waves were getting higher. i tried a while to lay in the bunks below, but the through of the wave would toss you in the air for a split second and then slam you into the bunk, so that didnt last long

another one was on the stolt degali,(its just the stern of a tanker that was cut in half by another ship) . i was in the upper engine room swimming along ( wreck is upright but still at a decent angle) next to one of the engines looking in the nooks and crannys for some bugs to take home. i failed to notice a pipe hanging down from the wall where it had broken apart (spoiler alert, my doubles have cave cages on them), the pipe went between the front and back cross brace and i was jerked to a stop ( i was literally a shishkabob) i had swam about 5ft down this pipe before it stopped me . i tried to turn around and couldnt, then started feeling around with my hands, felt the pipe and that it was thru the cave cage, so i started backing off the pipe. i had to arch my back and get my body and the tanks to go up and slack off the pressure of the pipe wedged into my cage. i managed to back off the pipe and lived to tell the tale. never did find any legal size bugs but got a full mess back of mussels from the upper works and pryed a couple black and white tiles off the wheelhouse bathroom on the way back to the anchorline
 

njcommercialdiver said:
and not becoming a statistic when the shit hits the fan and everything goes wrong at once, you have to be able to control the fear and panic that wells up when you realize the situation has just become life and death. you have to bring the fear under control and take control of the current situation

i have had that happen many many times, a few just stick out more than others

On the Doria back in 91, i was in the 2nd class china hallway making a run with my buddy, i was in the lead with him following (200ft ish and 90 degrees on its side), i grabbing everything that looked like a plate or artifact, got to the end of the hallway (the broken chair pile)and turned around, my buddy chris bumped into me, he turned around and led back out, i was grabbing everything my hand touched and stuffing it in my goodies bag since i couldnt see since we muddied it out on the way in, all of a sudden, i was yanked to a stop instantly (my enclosed wreck reel had jammed and the line wrapped around a pipe when i slacked it turning around) i had to feel my way back to the snag by feel. (meanwhile every minute of my bottom time is adding multiple minutes to my deco) i tried to unsnag it (now a total blackout, couldnt even see a hint of light from my light on my helmet anymore) but couldnt free it, so i had to get my forearm knife (i have 1 on each harness strap and one on my left forearm) cut the line and put my knife back, then stuffed my reel into my goodies bag and turned around ( i knew i could find the line down the hallway where the silt wasnt as badly sturred up) i got about 20ft down the hallway and then i could start seeing the my light again, just then i see another light coming my way right before i collided with chris hard enough to knock my mask hard enough to get a shot of water in it. i made hand contact with him on his mask ( we cant see now with the stirred up mud) and he reached up with his hand, i put my thumbs up hand in his hand so he knew i was ok, he burped a OK thru his mouth and turned around to head out. i still hadnt found my wreck reel line yet, but knew he was following it out, so went after him. a few seconds later, the silt eased up enough to see my line, so i grabbed it , pulled the loose slack from behind me and started wrapping it around my left hand since i didnt have a reel to wind it on, we got back thru the hallways and made it to outside of the wreck, where the anchor was tied in, i stuffed my reel line into the goodies bag and we both grabbed our deco bottles, hooked my johnline up and started up the anchor line, i had 26 minutes of bottom time with a max of 215ft and my stops started somewhere around 90ft, i think it was about 2 1/2hrs deco time total. somewhere when the deco stops got long, i opened my small side bag and got out my magnetic checkers set we played when on deco. he clipped his 3ft snap line to my harness d rings so we didnt have to hang on anymore and could play. we played checkers till we got tired . i started digging thru my goodies bag, had a bunch of wood crap pieces and junk but did get a wine bottle, a intact 8 inch saucer, a couple partials of saucers, and a pristine intact wine glass and a partial of the other glass stacked with it including the packing straw still in the intact one. so not a complete bust . it was forever before we got to the surface and bowline, grabbed the chicken line and swam back to the stern and platform and got out. the waves were noticibaly higher (abt 6ft) than when we went in. Me and chris did a quick mission debrief and i told him what happened and then it really started to hit me, that i was "that "close to becomeing a darwin awardee ( i never used another enclosed dive reel again). while on surface interval, cap told us, there was a hurricane heading our way, so we had to pull anchor and run for block island to hide. it was the longest 8hrs i think i have ever spend on a boat, the waves were getting higher. i tried a while to lay in the bunks below, but the through of the wave would toss you in the air for a split second and then slam you into the bunk, so that didnt last long

another one was on the stolt degali,(its just the stern of a tanker that was cut in half by another ship) . i was in the upper engine room swimming along ( wreck is upright but still at a decent angle) next to one of the engines looking in the nooks and crannys for some bugs to take home. i failed to notice a pipe hanging down from the wall where it had broken apart (spoiler alert, my doubles have cave cages on them), the pipe went between the front and back cross brace and i was jerked to a stop ( i was literally a shishkabob) i had swam about 5ft down this pipe before it stopped me . i tried to turn around and couldnt, then started feeling around with my hands, felt the pipe and that it was thru the cave cage, so i started backing off the pipe. i had to arch my back and get my body and the tanks to go up and slack off the pressure of the pipe wedged into my cage. i managed to back off the pipe and lived to tell the tale. never did find any legal size bugs but got a full mess back of mussels from the upper works and pryed a couple black and white tiles off the wheelhouse bathroom on the way back to the anchorline
Click to expand...
Man, those are some experiences. You have led an interesting life.
 

traveller777 said:
Man, those are some experiences. You have led an interesting life.
Click to expand...
ha, if you knew the half of it. ive been diving since 1986 and commercial diving from 1998 to 2014 I wont go into some of the stuff we did. have you ever been to dutch springs? we ruled that place and Me and Chris were like the jessie james gang there
 

njcommercialdiver said:
ha, if you knew the half of it. ive been diving since 1986 and commercial diving from 1998 to 2014 I wont go into some of the stuff we did. have you ever been to dutch springs? we ruled that place and Me and Chris were like the jessie james gang there
Click to expand...
Write a book.
 

njcommercialdiver said:
and not becoming a statistic when the shit hits the fan and everything goes wrong at once, you have to be able to control the fear and panic that wells up when you realize the situation has just become life and death. you have to bring the fear under control and take control of the current situation

i have had that happen many many times, a few just stick out more than others

On the Doria back in 91, i was in the 2nd class china hallway making a run with my buddy, i was in the lead with him following (200ft ish and 90 degrees on its side), i grabbing everything that looked like a plate or artifact, got to the end of the hallway (the broken chair pile)and turned around, my buddy chris bumped into me, he turned around and led back out, i was grabbing everything my hand touched and stuffing it in my goodies bag since i couldnt see since we muddied it out on the way in, all of a sudden, i was yanked to a stop instantly (my enclosed wreck reel had jammed and the line wrapped around a pipe when i slacked it turning around) i had to feel my way back to the snag by feel. (meanwhile every minute of my bottom time is adding multiple minutes to my deco ) i tried to unsnag it (now a total blackout, couldnt even see a hint of light from my light on my helmet anymore) but couldnt free it, so i had to get my forearm knife (i have 1 on each harness strap and one on my left forearm) cut the line and put my knife back, then stuffed my reel into my goodies bag and turned around ( i knew i could find the line down the hallway where the silt wasnt as badly sturred up) i got about 20ft down the hallway and then i could start seeing the my light again, just then i see another light coming my way right before i collided with chris hard enough to knock my mask hard enough to get a shot of water in it. i made hand contact with him on his mask ( we cant see now with the stirred up mud) and he reached up with his hand, i put my thumbs up hand in his hand so he knew i was ok, he burped a OK thru his mouth and turned around to head out. i still hadnt found my wreck reel line yet, but knew he was following it out, so went after him. a few seconds later, the silt eased up enough to see my line, so i grabbed it. i checked my air gauge and you could literally see the gauge needle twitch when i inhaled, im sure some of that was because my heart rate was like a racing horse in the kentucky derby , pulled the loose slack from behind me and started wrapping it around my left hand since i didnt have a reel to wind it on, we got back thru the hallways and made it to outside of the wreck, where the anchor was tied in, i stuffed my reel line into the goodies bag and we both grabbed our deco bottles, hooked my johnline up and started up the anchor line, i had 26 minutes of bottom time with a max of 215ft and my stops started somewhere around 90ft, i think it was about 2 1/2hrs deco time total. somewhere when the deco stops got long, i opened my small side bag and got out my magnetic checkers set we played when on deco. he clipped his 3ft snap line to my harness d rings so we didnt have to hang on anymore and could play. we played checkers till we got tired . i started digging thru my goodies bag, had a bunch of wood crap pieces and junk but did get a wine bottle, a intact 8 inch saucer, a couple partials of saucers, and a pristine intact wine glass and a partial of the other glass stacked with it including the packing straw still in the intact one. so not a complete bust . it was forever before we got to the surface and bowline, grabbed the chicken line and swam back to the stern and platform and got out. the waves were noticibaly higher (abt 6ft) than when we went in. Me and chris did a quick mission debrief and i told him what happened and then it really started to hit me, that i was "that "close to becomeing a darwin awardee ( i never used another enclosed dive reel again). while on surface interval, cap told us, there was a hurricane heading our way, so we had to pull anchor and run for block island to hide. it was the longest 8hrs i think i have ever spend on a boat, the waves were getting higher. i tried a while to lay in the bunks below, but the through of the wave would toss you in the air for a split second and then slam you into the bunk, so that didnt last long

another one was on the stolt degali,(its just the stern of a tanker that was cut in half by another ship) . i was in the upper engine room swimming along ( wreck is upright but still at a decent angle) next to one of the engines looking in the nooks and crannys for some bugs to take home. i failed to notice a pipe hanging down from the wall where it had broken apart (spoiler alert, my doubles have cave cages on them), the pipe went between the front and back cross brace and i was jerked to a stop ( i was literally a shishkabob) i had swam about 5ft down this pipe before it stopped me . i tried to turn around and couldnt, then started feeling around with my hands, felt the pipe and that it was thru the cave cage, so i started backing off the pipe. i had to arch my back and get my body and the tanks to go up and slack off the pressure of the pipe wedged into my cage. i managed to back off the pipe and lived to tell the tale. never did find any legal size bugs but got a full mess back of mussels from the upper works and pryed a couple black and white tiles off the wheelhouse bathroom on the way back to the anchorline
Click to expand...
Damn. Great stories. I was in Vegas and almost bought some rotted cash that was brought up from the Andrea Doria. Bought a colonial note instead.
 

BennyV said:
Damn. Great stories. I was in Vegas and almost bought some rotted cash that was brought up from the Andrea Doria. Bought a colonial note instead.
Click to expand...
i watched them open the safe live, stayed up way past my bed time to see it and those half rotted away bills floating out of the safe as they reached in it
 

nah, im not good or patient enough to write a book. Chris's dad was the regional safety officer, so in summer 1991 he told us to try and act like new divers at dutch springs and see what we could get in trouble with, so they could fix it and prevent it.

we did a side mount dive with scooters, we went over around the point where there was some type of gravel hopper we had been eyeing up (big square box that tapered down at top and bottom). i dropped my scooter and one of the bottles, chris did the same. i took my second bottle (right side) off and pushed it thru the hole at the bottom of the gravel silo and wormed my way in behind it and i fit, so chris wormed his way in too, son of a bitch, we did it. we floated to the surface and looked out thru the top hole. Stu (the owner) saw one of us looking out and flipped out, went over to chris sr since the number of possible suspects there was almost nil, and started giving him hell about it, we heard about it when we got back to shore . that week, those holes got grating across it to prevent it happening again, so i guess that mission was a sucess
 

20220202_211711.jpg

this is me in a Mk5 rig somewhere around 2004, my son got certified in 2005 at 10
 

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20220202_211655.jpg

this is me in 2004 (according to the date stamp on pic) doing a backflip off the bulkhead at chevron refinery in perth amboy . you can see the outer bridge in the background
 

20220202_211718.jpg


Note to self (dont do this) and be 1000% sure where your rig is when you are using a hydraulic saw to remove piles at the mud line in 25ft of water. the dolphin cluster (piles wide spaced at mudline and tied tight at top to keep barges from banging into the sensitive pipelines and such) we were removing , i tried cutting it, the saw pinched, i moved to the right a little and told topside to pull my slack, felt the tug and said thats good, started cutting again, it pinched again, moved a little more to my side and started cutting again ( i moved closer to the barge and caused my rig to slack) there was a huge burst of bubbles in my faceport and i couldnt breath( well i could get a little). yelled topside i cut my air hose and started up, only to find my rig was wrapped around the back of the cluster (opposite direction of the barge). i had to collect myself and follow my rig around the cluster and then climb up onto the dive float and pulled my helmet off. thank god for large volume tanks, LOL
 

njcommercialdiver said:
View attachment 2007546

Note to self (dont do this) and be 1000% sure where your rig is when you are using a hydraulic saw to remove piles at the mud line in 25ft of water. the dolphin cluster (piles wide spaced at mudline and tied tight at top to keep barges from banging into the sensitive pipelines and such) we were removing , i tried cutting it, the saw pinched, i moved to the right a little and told topside to pull my slack, felt the tug and said thats good, started cutting again, it pinched again, moved a little more to my side and started cutting again ( i moved closer to the barge and caused my rig to slack) there was a huge burst of bubbles in my faceport and i couldnt breath( well i could get a little). yelled topside i cut my air hose and started up, only to find my rig was wrapped around the back of the cluster (opposite direction of the barge). i had to collect myself and follow my rig around the cluster and then climb up onto the dive float and pulled my helmet off. thank god for large volume tanks, LOL
Click to expand...
You are a character.
 

traveller777 said:
You are a character.
Click to expand...
and i im dumb enough to never give up against overwhelming odds

we were doing a pile wrap job at Hess in Bayonne (right in middle of cross channel) we had a metal base that we bolted around the pile below the bad parts (at water line), then the surface tender would wrap the fiberglass jacket (a piece of fiberglass about 7ft high and when its touched together at end groove about 36 in in diameter and we would wrap a couple ratchet straps around it back to itself and tighten it to hold it closed, so its a big piece when layed out flat ,remember that in a second). these jackets were special ordered and took over 2 months to get and off course the boss didnt order any extras (you can see where this is going). the tender standing on the float stage started the jacket around the pile and slid it down to me, i let it drop down to the lower bracket to seat the bottom in the lip of the base, the current was at pretty good flow, (cue the circus music)the jacket didnt drop into the lipand the jacket started to open up at the top, the tender couldnt grab it in time as it opened up into its full main sail from a spanish galleon glory, i grabbed onto it refusing to lose it, the current took the jacket and me off the pile . i had my arms outstretched as far as i could to just hold onto the outer edges. i hit the sand in abt 20ft of water and we started tumbling end over end (the dive rigs were hanging over the side of the barge about 30ft away along the opposite end of the pier so the tenders couldnt get ahold of them to stop me) i dont know how many times i tumbled end over end but it was at least half a dozen, i slammed into a solid upright pile and it stopped me . i jumped onto the jacket and it laid down onto the bottom. i looked up (vis was great on incoming tide, 20 ft plus, we could see the next pile of the pier) i saw the bottom of our barge about 15ft up. the thing i had hit was the 12 inch front spud pole of the barge. i turned around while holding the jacket down and crab walked the jacket over to the spud pole and stood it up and quickly wrapped it around the spud before the current could take it away and I climber the spud and shimmied up it to the surface and the dive compressor tender heard me yell into the comms i was at the barge, he got down onto the float next to the barge and i told him to grab it, i handed it off and the tender on the other float pulled himself over to the barge and got the jacket again. needless to say, i was beat. i took my helmet off while i let the tender pull us back over to the pile we started out at. we all had a good laugh and got back to work. luckily i was swept toward shore and shallower water by the current and not into the 50ft plus deep water of the channel less than 50ft away
 

njcommercialdiver said:
and i im dumb enough to never give up against overwhelming odds

we were doing a pile wrap job at Hess in Bayonne (right in middle of cross channel) we had a metal base that we bolted around the pile below the bad parts (at water line), then the surface tender would wrap the fiberglass jacket (a piece of fiberglass about 7ft high and when its touched together at end groove about 36 in in diameter and we would wrap a couple ratchet straps around it back to itself and tighten it to hold it closed, so its a big piece when layed out flat ,remember that in a second). these jackets were special ordered and took over 2 months to get and off course the boss didnt order any extras (you can see where this is going). the tender standing on the float stage started the jacket around the pile and slid it down to me, i let it drop down to the lower bracket to seat the bottom in the lip of the base, the current was at pretty good flow, (cue the circus music)the jacket didnt drop into the lipand the jacket started to open up at the top, the tender couldnt grab it in time as it opened up into its full main sail from a spanish galleon glory, i grabbed onto it refusing to lose it, the current took the jacket and me off the pile . i had my arms outstretched as far as i could to just hold onto the outer edges. i hit the sand in abt 20ft of water and we started tumbling end over end (the dive rigs were hanging over the side of the barge about 30ft away along the opposite end of the pier so the tenders couldnt get ahold of them to stop me) i dont know how many times i tumbled end over end but it was at least half a dozen, i slammed into a solid upright pile and it stopped me . i jumped onto the jacket and it laid down onto the bottom. i looked up (vis was great on incoming tide, 20 ft plus, we could see the next pile of the pier) i saw the bottom of our barge about 15ft up. the thing i had hit was the 12 inch front spud pole of the barge. i turned around while holding the jacket down and crab walked the jacket over to the spud pole and stood it up and quickly wrapped it around the spud before the current could take it away and I climber the spud and shimmied up it to the surface and the dive compressor tender heard me yell into the comms i was at the barge, he got down onto the float next to the barge and i told him to grab it, i handed it off and the tender on the other float pulled himself over to the barge and got the jacket again. needless to say, i was beat. i took my helmet off while i let the tender pull us back over to the pile we started out at. we all had a good laugh and got back to work. luckily i was swept toward shore and shallower water by the current and not into the 50ft plus deep water of the channel less than 50ft away
Click to expand...
Bedtime. I am going to read through your posts more tomorrow. Thanks for sharing.
 

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