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Incidents List

  1. Year Month Day Surname Forenames Location Contractor Client Depth Type of Diving Details
  2. 1975 3 12 Rene Pierre Canada 50 Aged 32 from Montreal, "Four specialists in underwater medicine tried unsuccessfully to save the life of a diver who became ill while working in the Port of Quebec. Police said that he became ill while inspecting the outlet of a sewage conduit in the middle of the St Lawrence River". Edmonton Journal
  3. 1975 3 1 Wilson Kevin UK CUE 43 SCUBA British, aged 20. Southern North Sea installation 49/27B, Leman field, pulmonary oedema caused by cardiac myopathy, heart failure, natural causes (Reported by JW as the last 1974 fatality, TC)
  4. 1975 3 0 Horst UK Londive Inland British, civil engineering work on Anglesey, got into difficulties in the water, was picked up by crane but then dropped a considerable height onto the deck
  5. 1975 3 0 Rig 'Zapata Topper III' USA Jack Up, Blow out, sank off Loisiana
  6. 1975 2 6 Martin John Douglas Norway Ocean Systems 41 S/S Air British, aged 30. Stavanger Fjord, Condeep platform, reported as 'Lost/ditched helmet, insufficient training' No explanation', body never recovered, but he had 15 years experience.
  7. 1975 2 6 Not Recorded Netherlands 14 Recorded on HSE database, but not in Dutch records
  8. 1975 1 9 Imaizumi USA Reported as 'Diver dies as air line snaps'. Possible that 'another diver, Ta-Kashi Osaka, aged 26, who was sharing the single hose' tried to free him from entanglement in kelp but was too late to rescue him. Reported in the Los Angeles Times
  9. 1975 0 0 Higgins Phil Asia Oceaneering Topsides Australian supervisor on the Fredericksburg Drilling Barge (Attwood Oceanics). Pressure/leak test of the bell and chamber to 600' + while on tow (En route to Burma). Due to rig movement the TUP clamps gave way and the bell blew off pulling the umbilical with it. The umbilical parted and the bell went into sea (was never located). Phil Higgins was standing near the bell, blown through the 'A' Frame onto the lower deck. Killed instantly. OK Dude/Longstreath.
  10. 1975 0 0 Higgins? Ocean Systems 82 S/S Mixed Gas Australian. On completion of dive started doing water stops. For some unknown reason abandoned decompression routine and came to surface, refused to go back down. Surface decompression was intitiated 'from last stop' as opposed to full working depth. Died. Cannabis was reported as being found in his personal belongings but details not confirmed. OK Dude/Longstreath.
  11. 1975 0 0 Moore Glen USA Taylor Diving and Salvage Dive hose pinched/lost air. Bailed out but came up under barge. Drowned. No bailout bottle
  12. 1975 0 0 Not Recorded New Zealand Oceaneering?? 168 ADS Observation dive (Bell at atmospheric pressure) off the semi-sub Penrod 74 off Southern New Zealand. Top ceiling port started leaking, divers tried to compensate by pressurising the bell but it flooded such that when they got it to the surface, it was too heavy to lift out of the water. Bell eventually recovered and divers put into the chamber for decompression. Diver 1 went for a shower, collapsed unconscious in the shower but was revived and pulled back into the main chamber. Diver 2 (who displayed no sypmptoms of DCI) then also went for a shower and was subsequently found dead. Dive site had no spare gas for chamber treatment and extra helium was sent overnight by high speed road convoy with police escort from Nelson to Invercargill (Bottom of South Island). That gas was only available because Ocean Systems had just come to New Zealand and had set up a base at Nelson (North end of South Island) to support diving operations off the drillship 'Glomar Tasman'. New Zealand Navy did an investigation and discovered the bell had only a single (inboard) viewport (as opposed to double ports with one external for accepting external differential pressure) and the 'O' ring had blown in. OK Dude/Longstreath
  13. 1975 0 0 Not Recorded Canada Killed during construction of a deep water oil terminal outside St John Harbour, New Brunswick. PC
  14. 1975 0 0 Not Recorded Asia Ocean Systems? 82 S/S Mixed Gas New Zealand diver 'died in suspicious circumstances' diving off the "Fredericksburg". Rumours of a cover up. The diver was the son of a doctor in Nelson, New Zealand. No other details. OK Dude/Longstreath. (NB, Not included in the 'count' pending confirmation/details. TC)
  15. 1975 0 0 Rig 'Topper III' Crestwave Jack Up, sank.
  16. 1975 0 0 USN USA USN 350 Deep Diving System Mk I sets in-water diving record to over 1,100 feet'
  17. 1974 12 17 Howard-Phillips Jeremy L UK Comex 10 S/S Air British, from Hintlesham in Norfolk, aged 30. McDermott Jet Barge 4, Scapa Flow, Valve knocked off 48" the Occidental pipeline by jet sledge, differential pressure (100' to atmosphere) sucked him into 20cm/8" valve opening, died instantly Standby diver could not release body until pressure equalised.
  18. 1974 12 2 Keane David Ireland 81 British, aged 17. Umbilical severed by bell movement, did not use his bale out, asphyxia/drowning
  19. 1974 11 1 Lim Guan Choon Singapore SCUBA Aged 29, diver on the fishing vessel SMF 271. Returning to Singapore, the boat's nets got caught in it's propellers, he went in to free them but surfaced after 10 minutes complaining of giddiness, died an hour later. No other details. Straits Tims
  20. 1974 11 0 Rig 'Liberacion' South America Jack Up, caugt in a storm, grounded, sank
  21. 1974 10 21 Talbot Kim USA Aged 24 from Seattle, working on a sunken barge near Blaine, surface crew noticed his bubbles had ceased, pulled him to surface, resuscitation by fire crew from Blaine was unsuccessful. Spokane daily Chronicle
  22. 1974 10 15 Shields Gary Norway 72 Saturation British, aged 21. DSV "Oregis", Ekofisk pipeline, changed gas topsides, possibly lost/bad gas, entangled, did not use bale out, attempted to cut umbilical, asphyxia.
  23. 1974 10 14 Clark John UK Comex 0 SCUBA British, aged 31, married, two children. Drill rig "Waage I", Acting as surface tender during attachment of a towing line. Swept under cowcatcher or cross member by swell, broken rib, vomited, drowned
  24. 1974 10 9 Rig 'Gemini' Jack Up, punch through, collapsed
  25. 1974 10 0 Marlin J. C. USA S/S Mixed Gas American, pipeline pull-in into a J-tube, pipeline jammed, diver investigating, it moved and caught his hand, broken thumb and forefinger, he either climbed directly to the surface himself or was pulled up by the crew, into the DDC but died, decompression incident
  26. 1974 8 27 Kelly Peter Norway Northern Divers 91 Saturation British, aged 27. Got a slug of pure Helium on descent, wearing a full face mask, collapsed and died, bell partner (Danny Stockes) wearing a half mask which dislodged, survived.
  27. 1974 8 27 Stockes Danny Norway Northern Divers 91 Saturation Ex Royal Marine Commando, got a slug of pure Helium on descent, knocked off half mask as he collapsed and survived, bell partner Peter Kelly, wearing a full face mask, died.
  28. 1974 8 23 Tay Chwee Kiat Singapore Diver on a fishing vessel dived to retrieve the vessel's anchor at about 3 pm. Having freed it and surfaced he complained of stomach pains and at about 8 pm on the same day, died. Straits Times
  29. 1974 8 18 Gumblowski Ray USA 40 Aged 42, (Shell) oil survey dive from the boat 'Robert R ' 48 miles offshore out of Bayboro Harbour, surfaced, but collapsed on deck, put in DDC but stopped breathing. Alternative report says entered DDC normally to undergo surface decompression but after 10 minutes had breathing difficulties. A second diver (Charles Hinson) was locked in to assist, but was unable to restart his breathing. Body was removed from chamber after diving specialist doctor flown out from panama city pronounced him dead. Autopsy results not reported at the time. The Evening Independent.
  30. 1974 7 19 Brening Fred USA 15 SCUBA US Navy dry dock at Brooklyn Navy Yard. Civilian commercial diver entered pump well to repair pump, "a 5 minute job", trapped by differential pressure for 17 hours, body recovered the day after. Reported in the Virgin Islands Daily News.
  31. 1974 7 5 Dimmer John UK KD Marine 150 Saturation British, aged 27. Drill rig "Sedco 135F", suffered a pneumothorax. Was distressed during decompression and after treated with a therapeutic re-compression but died in the chamber. Diving supervisor initially suspected pneumothorax but was over-ridden by the doctor who diagnosed the symptoms as pneumonia (The doctor involved was inexperienced in hyperbaric medicine).
  32. 1974 6 12 Doigne Colin Australia Yarra Harbour Trust 9 S/S Air Aged 37, former Royal Navy Diver, One of a team of three divers undertaking routine maintenance to beacon marking the entrance to the mouth of the Yarra River, choppy water, his air hose got entangled with his support vessel propeller. Reported as dead before he could be recovered to the surface. Survived by his wife and two daughters aged 12 years and 4 months. The Age.
  33. 1974 6 0 Not Recorded USA Military “Southbury man dies after Navy Diving accident�, The Hartford Courant� paper, Conn. USA
  34. 1974 5 23 Auestad B UK 61 Norwegian, aged 24. Died of natural causes in the DDC, Delay in getting him into DDC - obese – plus post mortem revealed history of heart problems, not medically fit to dive.
  35. 1974 4 17 Perry Dennis USA Military 6 SCUBA Aged 27, married with two children. Oil tanker 'Imperial Sarnia' en route to Montreal with 45,000 bbls of crude ran ashore on Whaleback Shoal, estimate 2,000 bbls spill, pollution along several miles of the coastline. Diver was one of three coastguard divers installing lines around the hull in 20' of water, sank to the bottom and disappeared. Ottawa citizen.
  36. 1974 4 11 Barthelemy Marc G G UK Comex 93 Saturation French, aged 24. Drill ship "Havdrill". Needed rescue, drowned in bell trunking, exhaustion. Alternative report that diver had lost/restricted gas, returned to bell with umbilical around guide wire, Swedish bellman pulled in umbilical which pulled diver away from bell, British support crew, reverted to native languages, in ensuing panic, bellman cut umbilical and shut bell door, told dive control to recover bell. Body of diver draped over bell weights.
  37. 1974 3 30 Norris William UK 61 British, pipe-lay barge? Medically unfit to dive (no medical), died in DDC following a dive, reported as decompression illness
  38. 1974 1 116 Skipnes Per Norway Ocean Systems 77 Saturation Norwegian, aged 37. "Drill Master", bell drop weights released, bell to surface with doors open, double fatality (Smythe).
  39. 1974 1 16 Smythe Robert John Norway Ocean Systems 77 Saturation British, aged 38, Aged 38. "Drill Master", bell drop weights released, bell to surface with doors open, double fatality (Skipness)
  40. 1974 1 1 Rig 'Transocean III' UK Mobil, Transocean Built in Hamburg, Germany in 1973 as a 'self-elevating semi-submersible design'. Storms prevented the new rig from being moved to its first drilling location and the rig was anchored in 342 feet of water about 100 miles east of Shetland. Between 29 Dec 1973 and 01 Jan 1974, the rig suffered progressive structural damage resulting from the storm conditions leading to the evacuation by helicopter of 38 of the 56 crew at around 1800 hours on 01 Jan 1974. The remaining 18 crew were then evacuated by 2300 hours on 01 Jan 1974. The crew were transferred to the nearby Transworld 61 and Transworld 58 rigs. Four tugs were on stand-by to tow the Transocean 3 to Norway for repairs, but continued bad weather sank the rig in the early hours of 02 Jan 1974 before this could be performed. HSE documents state that a jackable leg broke away from the machinery house, leading to the subsequent capsize and later sinking of the vessel. Weather conditions at the time were winds of 21m/s with waves of 6m. Reported in the Times
  41. 1974 0 0 Not Recorded Japan 10 Saturation Two Japanese divers divers died in a bell fire caused by an electrical short circuit in the internal wiring, deaths due to a combination of O2 depletion and toxic fumes. The system designer committed suicide, Sheffield and Desautels “Hyperbaric and hypobaric Chamber fires, a 73 year analysis�, Undersea Hyperbaric Medicine, 1997, 24 (3): 153-164
  42. 1974 0 0 Not Recorded USA SCUBA Diving alone in a river recovering fish lures, an activity he had been pursuing for three years. The victim would overweight himself with 24 pounds of lead on his waist and a two pound weight on each ankle. The dive site was below a dam where the water was quite swift. |The victim was very fatigued, and witnesses say that he moved closer to the dam than normal, and apparently got drawn against the rocks and lost control. He was seen floating downstream turning over three times as he went. The regulator was out of his mouth the last time he turned over. The victim was recovered with the outside portion of a minnow bucket attached to his chest and a rope from his waist tied to an inner tube and diving flag. The rope was tangled around his body. Reported in the statistics of the University of Michigan, Michigan Sea Grant Program, 1979. (Not sure whether this is a true professional fatality so it is excluded from the count TC)
  43. 1974 0 0 Smith Roy Inmam USA Underwater Services Serious and permanent injuries on board a B & R barge “H S Lindsay�, court case 1965
  44. 1974 0 0 Trautman Richard Wayne Egypt Buck Steber American, salvage diver, injured during suez canal clearance operations. Law suit in 1982. No details
  45. 1973 12 1 House Timothy UK Strongwork 21 British, aged 24. Semi sub drill rig "Blue Water III", possible diving on SCUBA with a comms/lifeline or might have been S/S Air (Not clear), stand-by diver found surface line cut, body never recovered. Jackie Warner later concluded that the diver had cut his own lifeline, an illogical action brought on by hypothermia, other sources infer umbilical possibly severed by anchor wire/sheave.
  46. 1973 10 29 Not Recorded USA Military Submarine "Navy craft hits minisub, kills sailor. A frogman was killed and a second injured Tuesday when their submerged…returning to base after training off Silver Strand (San Diego) when the accident occurred". Los Angeles Times Pay per view
  47. 1973 10 10 Coelo Dominique Congo Comex 70 SCUBA Oilfield dive. Drowned. PC
  48. 1973 9 0 Not Recorded Congo 70 Chamber Trimix bounce dive to 70 metres, three divers (Triple fatality, but names unknown). During chamber decompression stops on 40/60 nitrox at 9 metres a fire started in the DDC. Divers transferred to the lock but could not close the door because of hoses. Hoses caught fire. The divers died of asphyxia (No skin burns). Fire probably started by a book being used internally to shade an externally mounted light that was known to get very hot. PC
  49. 1973 8 28 Havlena Paul J UK Taylor Diving 98 Saturation American, aged 29. Barge "LB Meaders", "Push pull" gas system, Supply closed off while suction open, embolism, pulmonary haemorrhage
  50. 1973 6 18 Link Clayton USA Johnson-Sea Link 107 Submarine Aged 31, son of the mini submarine's inventor, Edwin Link. Trapped on the wreck of a sunken destroyer, the two men in the rear compartment (Link and Stover) died (asphyxiation), two in the forward compartment survived
  51. 1973 6 18 Stover Albert USA Johnson-Sea Link 107 Submarine Aged 51, mini sub pilot. Trapped on the wreck of a sunken destroyer, the two men in the rear compartment (Link and Stover) died (asphyxiation), two in the forward compartment survived
  52. 1973 6 7 Fraid Gary W USA Military Surface swimmer American police officer, Kenosha Police Department, WI, drowned during a surface swim training exercise with the department team. Milwaukee Sentinel
  53. 1973 4 16 Jain Atan bin Singapore Selco Salvage Private limited 3 Injured in the same accident that killed Mohamed Mohamed and injured Kenneth Morrison when a hatch on the Italian vessel Igara (Ex Japan en route to Brazil with Iron ore which had sunk following striking a rock near Horsburgh lighthouse on March 19th) they were opening exploded open under pressure. Straits Times
  54. 1973 4 16 Mohamed Mohamed lasen Bin Singapore Selco Salvage Private limited 3 Aged 42, killed, 2 other dives (Kenneth Morrison and Atan bin Jain) injured when a hatch on the Italian vessel Igara (Ex Japan en route to Brazil with Iron ore which had sunk following striking a rock near Horsburgh lighthouse on March 19th) they were opening exploded open under pressure. Straits Times
  55. 1973 4 16 Morrison Kenneth Singapore Selco Salvage Private limited 3 Injured in the same accident that killed Mohamed Mohamed and injured Atan bin Jain when a hatch on the Italian vessel Igara (Ex Japan en route to Brazil with Iron ore which had sunk following striking a rock near Horsburgh lighthouse on March 19th) they were opening exploded open under pressure. Straits Times
  56. 1973 0 0 Cwick Edward USA Empire Marine Diving America, drowned on a sewage pipe under Lake Ontario, $950,000 out of court settlement (Jones Act) finally agreed in September of 1991
  57. 1973 0 0 Not Recorded USA SCUBA The diver was working alone, under ice, installing a bubbler system in a marina. The area between and outside the three docks was ice covered with open water in the boat wells (due to the bubbler system). The victim, stating that he wanted to finish the job that day, entered the water wearing double tanks and a variable volume dry suit. He left a friend on the dock as observer and used no safety line as he feared getting tangled under the docks. The victim surfaced in one of the wells on the center dock and stated that he was going to one of the other docks to do some work. He was not seen again. His body was recovered from under a large ice sheet near the shore of the marina. His back pack and weight belt were still on, but the tanks, which had been wired to the backpack were found 20 feet away. The regulator mouthpiece was floating above the empty tanks. Reported in the statistics of the University of Michigan, Michigan Sea Grant Program, 1979.
  58. 1973 0 0 Not Recorded New Zealand Napier, Jetting Sledge rolled onto the diver.
  59. 1972 10 25 Collett Clive New Zealand Divers fron Proctor Reclaim, NZ on contract to United Salvage Company of Melbourne Killed during diving operations cutting up the wreck of the ferry “Wahine� (Sank at the entrance to Wellington Harboure April 10 1968 by Cyclone 'Giselle' with the loss of 53 people), in an underwater explosion. � The Wahine was lying in the middle of Wellington Harbour and the Harbour Board ordered her removal. The original idea was that she would be pumped full of polyutherane foam and refloated intact. However during another storm on May 8th, 1969, the hull was broken into three pieces. The Salvage company decided then to break the wreck into 30-80 ton segments, which would then be lifted and carried ashore by the floating crane Hikitia. Most of the metal was sent to scrap mills in Auckland to be melted down in steel reinforcing for buildings. All the timber, plastic, fittings and furniture were disposed of at the Wellington rubbish dump. During the salvage, Mr Clive Collett was killed in an explosion while diving� PC
  60. 1972 10 10 Ney Jean Pierre Gabon Comex Oilfield dive. Switched to breathing pure oxygen with full face mask/comms on decompression stops, no basket, strong current. Shouted and pulled off mask, taken under barge by current. PC
  61. 1972 8 25 Fleming James P USA 85 Aged 25, working to salvage a 40' cement commercial fishing vessel - the 'Ferro Queen '- that sank on May 27th in 280' of water off Newburyport, reported as 'bends', unconscious in the water, brought to the surface by a fellow diver, taken ashore to Seabrook Beach in New Hampshire and transferred by ambulance to a recompression chamber at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, pronounced dead by a doctor 30 minutes after he entered the chamber. The Nashua Telegraph.
  62. 1972 8 10 Holland Robert USA Healy Tibbitts 11 Described as a “professional hard hat diver�, was one of a three man team working off a barge in Hilo Harbour. On Hawaii at the time of his death in a diving accident. Subject of a court case Holland v. Healy Tibbitts Const. Co., 379 F.Supp. 192 (D. Hawaii, Jul 24, 1974). No details. Loislaw.com
  63. 1972 7 21 Tan Han Siew Singapore 23 S/S air Aged 36, crewmember on a fishing vessel out of Singapore. Anchor stuck on seabed, diver sent down to invesigate and came back up to say it was jammed in rocks, he went down to free it and after 15 minutes was signalled to come up. No response, so was pulled up. Expert witness (bomb disposal unit diver described the effects of losing gas at depth (collapsed lungs, 'died of pulmnary suffocation'). Coroner recorded an open verdict. No real details. Straits Times
  64. 1972 5 8 Stein Wendel Edward 'Del' British Virgin Islands 27 Rebreather Aged 24, diving from the oceanographic research vessel 'Neap Tide' off Peter Island. Reported as 'surfaced around 5 o'clock after apparently having trouble with the rebreather pack he was wearing' USCG flew in a doctor by helicopter from the air and sea rescue base on Puerto Rico but he was pronounced dead two hours after surfacing. No details. Reported in the Virgin Islands Daily News
  65. 1972 5 1 Taylor Robert UK Strongwork 13 SCUBA British, aged 25. Drillship "Britannia", big meal, vomited underwater, found entangled in a rope 11 hours later, drowned. Possibly no training
  66. 1972 3 7 Not Recorded UK "A diver died trying to plug an underwater sluice yesterday in Portsmouth Dockyard. He was trapped in the narrow sluice for 30 minutes", Reported in the Glasgow Herald
  67. 1972 0 0 AODC UK International Association of Diving Contractors founded
  68. 1972 0 0 Babbington James Australia 49 S/S Air From Eden, NSW, double fatality, diving with 'Megsy' for abalone off Black Head. No bailouts or secondary supply, no one on the surface, compressor cut out. Made it to the surface and got ashore to the Mallacoota Abalone divers co-op hyperbaric unit. Decompression was taken over by Australian Navy but died from decompression illness (Was overweight and had a history of DCIs - for which reason he had left the industry - but returned to diving following a price rise). Bubblesblower/Longstreath
  69. 1972 0 0 Bale Trevor Togo/West Africa Ocean Systems? S/S Mixed Gas Diving off the 'Shiloh', using surface supplied air swiching to mixed gas. No details, can anybody help? PC
  70. 1972 0 0 Conover Harold Trinidad Possibly worked for Packer Diving and Salvage (Morgan city), described as being killed off the coast of Trinidad in 1972, no other details. Old Divers Notice Board
  71. 1972 0 0 Megsy Australia 49 S/S Air From Eden, NSW, double fatality, diving with Jim Babbington for abalone off Black Head. No bailouts or secondary supply, no one on the surface, compressor cut out. Made it to the surface and got ashore to the Mallacoota Abalone divers co-op hyperbaric unit. Decompression was taken over by Australian Navy but Jim Babbington died from decompression illness (Was overweight and had a history of DCIs - for which reason he had left the industry - but returned to diving following a price rise). Megsy was asked to move the body to the entry lock but he became jammed in the door (rigor mortis/big man) so nobody could then lock in or out. Megsy then became ill and, assuming it was DCI, the Navy kept blowing him back down. Eventually, he lost comsciousness and died. Reported that actual cause of death was oxygen poisoning. Bubblesbloer/Longstreath
  72. 1972 0 0 Not Recorded USA 37 S/S Air “The victim was diving from a salvage ship and removing steel from a sunken ship at 120 feet. He wore a variable volume dry suit and lightweight helmet. The victim had been down 26 minutes on his first dive of the day when he told the surface personnel that he could not get any air and that a piece of steel had fallen onto his air hose. According to the accident reports, the standby diver was in the water within 3 minutes and two SCUBA divers were in within 10 minutes. The victim was brought to the surface, re compressed and CPR administered to no avail� Reported in the statistics of the University of Michigan, Michigan Sea Grant Program, 1979.
  73. 1972 0 0 Not Recorded Tunisia Cocean 57 SCUBA Ashtart field, installation of a shackle on an anchoring pipe. Diving SCUBA/Trimix from SBM Installer I. Descent along the chain - High swell, chain moving in chain direction in upper zone, vertically up and down (4 to 5 meters) below 60 m where it was almost horizontal in reduced visibility water. Chain hits Scuba tanks braking the attachment between tanks. Diver catches the chain to prevent further hit, movement of water removes mask and one fin. After releasing the chain, diver could replace mask and locate the fin and come up, the buddy diver was watching above in a zone with visibility (bubbles still coming up), both returned safely at surface.....
  74. 1972 0 0 Savard Robert USA Marine Contracting S/S Air Bridge construction Naragansett Bay, high currents, wearing borrowed heavy gear, apparently lost/turned off air, unconscious, but also botched rescue, body not recovered for several hours, Jones case reported October 1972.
  75. 1972 0 0 USN USA Military 308 Deep Diving System Mk II sets in-water diving record to over a thousand feet
  76. 1971 11 1 Minn Hnutt UK Divcon Oceaneering 84 S/S Mixed Gas British, aged 31. Drill ship "Glomar III", "Standard gear", no bell, tangled in lines, overan dive, surfaced rapidly (suit malfunction), embolism, recompressed on air in DDC, died
  77. 1971 8 18 Koh John Kay Lim Singapore Straits Diving Singaporean aged 33, diving to clean a water suction tube at the Jurong power station. Dive team "found Koh stuck to the wire netted entrance of the tube limp and lifeless". Verdict was drowning by misadventure. Straits Times
  78. 1971 3 26 Pasquier Jean Pierre Italy Comex SCUBA Oilfield dive. Breathing 50/50 during decompression stops, hyperoxia, drowned. PC
  79. 1971 3 0 Brushneen Michael George Norway Comex 61 S/S Mixed Gas British, aged 33. "Ocean Viking", Bell bounce dive in a new design (possibly untested and subsequently discontinued) constant volume suit, blew up from seabed, pulmonary barotrauma resulting in pneumothorax
  80. 1971 2 1 Lally Thomas "Mick" Norway Comex 71 SCUBA British (Not, as widely reported, American), aged 32. Noted as the first of 55 North Sea fatalities between 1971 and 1984 by Jackie Warner, “Requiem for a diver� (He had no knowledge of RJ Lyons death in the Norwegian sector in 1967 or the double explosion fatality in 1970 off Great Yarmouth), "Ocean Viking", surface jump in a wetsuit (SCUBA with heliox), no bell, at end of dive partner Bjorn Lilleand shivering violently surfaced 5 minutes early from 3 metre stop, put in single person cage and recovered, Lally died, drowned on surface, reported 20 minute delay in recovering him from the sea, probable hypothermia
  81. 1971 1 17 Not Recorded Australia Deep Sea Divers “Diver dies� PERTH, Sunday. — “A diver from NSW working underwater on an abandoned oil exploration rig off the WA coast, died at Royal Perth Hospital yesterday. The man, aged about 35, was found with severe cuts to his head and other parts of his body. Perth CIB has been called in to investigate the circumstances. He was working for a Melbourne-based company, Deep Sea Divers, at the abandoned Charlotte No 1 well, 25 miles north-west of Fremantle. The company is removing an underwater guiding system used to position oil drills. The diver was brought to the surface by a tug and flown by helicopter to Perth. He was dead on arrival�. Reported in the Canberra Times
  82. 1971 0 0 Hamblin Steve USA Taylor Diving and Salvage A tug was brought alongside unannounced on the opposite side of the barge from the dive station while the diver was unhooking davits. Heavy seas, barge was dragging anchors. 20' of dive hose was recovered from the tug's propeller, the diver's body was never found or recovered. PC
  83. 1970 12 30 Strano John Australia Tweed Heads Porpoise Pool “Diver better� SYDNEY. Thursday. “Mr John Strano, 30, of Palm Beach, Queensland, a diver from the Tweed Heads porpoise pool, was recovering today from an injury he received when he was attacked by a 300 lb groper (Newpaper typo, I think….?) in the pool yesterday at feeding time�. The Canberra Times
  84. 1970 10 0 USN USA Military 259 Deep Diving System Mk I sets in-water diving record to 850'
  85. 1970 9 19 Bielanski John USA Aged 32, professional diver from Oak Forest drowned while repairing a broken water main at the bottom of a man made lake (Lake Camelot?) No other details. Chicago Tribune.
  86. 1970 8 16 Sims W. D. USA Aged 44, Rescue diver looking for the body of 16 year old sports diver Fred Schmitz (Apparently blacked out and then disapeared into the depths) who was diving with 31 year old Hal Watts (Who suffered a DCI and was treated in a DDC for 5 hours at Cape Kennedy during the SAR operation), both were members of the Orlando Otters SCUBA Club diving in a 400' deep sinkhole looking for equipment lost on earlier dives. Speculated that the rescue diver, Sims, suffered from nitrogen narcosis, got entangled in safety ropes, ran out of air and drowned. Rescue operations were then called off pending the use of deep diving equipment. Unclear if this was a 'professional' or amateur rescue attempt. St. Petersberg Times
  87. 1970 6 21 Wojcik, RAN CD Bogdan Kazimierz Vietnam Military In May 1966 Clearance Diving Team 1 spent a short period in Vietnam working with US Navy Divers. Clearance Diving Team 3 was deployed from February 1967 until May 1971 for clearing rivers and shipping channels of mines and booby traps. The team also carried out salvage work and trawler searches to protect and secure South Vietnamese ports from sabotage. Over this period there were 7573 ship searches, 153 major diving tasks, 78 explosive devices removed from ships, 352 tons heavy ordnance destroyed, 42,000 items of unsafe ammunition destroyed, 68 special operations including canal barricades, search and destroy missions plus reconnaissance and ambush missions in three fire zones. Casualties were one clearance diver killed and one clearance diver wounded on active service.
  88. 1970 5 15 Not Recorded Israel Military Elath, salvage operations on a Naval Axillary Vessel sank three months earlier in an attack 'by underwater raiders' One diver killed, three others injured in an explosion reported as being due to a mine planted by Egyptian frogman on the worksite. No other details. St. Petersburg Times
  89. 1970 5 2 Chorinsky Australia Ocean Systems 61 S/S Air Reported as dying on offshore operations in the Bass Strait after being employed less than two weeks. Allegedly no medical and previously sacked by another diving contractors after panicking in deep water. Working on a pipeline at 200' with only one dive to 120' the previous week, rapid ascent. 'Weight belt attached to air line, no bail out, no first stage regulator, died 25 minutes after entering the decompression chamber'
  90. 1970 4 19 Not Recorded UK 11 S/S Air "..diver died the other day whilst six fathoms deep in the water at Southampton where some new apparatus taken from the womb...No other details (Pay for access archive) Reported in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph/The British Newspaper Archive
  91. 1970 3 25 McKee RAN Able Seaman Quatermaster Gunner David Australia Navy “Diver dies. Able Seaman Quarter master Gunner David McKee, aged 20, of Mentone, Victoria, a diver in the crew of the RAN destroyer escort, HMAS ‘Derwent’, died during a standard diving exercise in Manila Bay on Wednesday. An inquiry has been ordered. Reported in the Canberra Times.
  92. 1970 2 19 Palmer David USA Need a Diver Marine Services 3 SCUBA Aged 26, Florida Power Corporation dock on Weedon Island, patching the hull of the tanker “Delian Apollo� (Which had run aground in the bay and caused a pollution incident in Tampa Bay), 40 minutes into the dive, stand-by diver got no response on lifeline, went in and found the diver against the hull of the tanker and brought him to the surface. Regulator and cylinders had been ditched (later recovered from the bed of the dock in 33' of water, reported as “in good working order but low on air supply�), reported as drowned. No real explanation. Reported in the St Petersburg Times
  93. 1970 1 29 Othman Cpl bin Shafie Singapore Marine diver SCUBA Marine corporal, aged 34, one of a three man team aiding investigators into a double murder (mutilated bodies dumped in a car into the pool) in an 80' deep 4 acre pool on Bidor-Tiluk Anson Road. Colleagues noticed that his bubbles had stopped and went in to recover him but he was already dead. Wife and three young children. Straits Times
  94. 1970 0 0 Cleary G USA “The findings in this report illustrate a pattern of fatal incidents associated with inadequately trained divers; only one diver with commercial dive training has died in Alaska since the 1960s (G. Cleary, Alaska Divers and Pile Drivers Union, personal communication, 1998).� Quoted in a NIOSH into occupational diver fatalities in Alaska
  95. 1970 0 0 Kinderman Gunther Australia Dive Con Topsides Boss of Dive Con Australia, bell run in heavy weather (may have been trying to impress a new client on the rig) bell snatched and a sheave wheel pin parted, the sheave wheel struck him on the head killing him instantly. Bubblesblower/Longstreath
  96. 1970 0 0 Mumford Paul Saudi Arabia Algosaibi Drowned in shallow water when his suit over-inflated leaving him 'feet up, head down' in the water. PC
  97. 1970 0 0 Not Recorded Japan Chamber Diver died in a fire caused by a 300W elecric light lamp inside the chamber igniting matress and blanket. Sheffield and Desautels “Hyperbaric and hypobaric Chamber fires, a 73 year analysis�, Undersea Hyperbaric Medicine, 1997, 24 (3): 153-164.
  98. 1970 0 0 Not Recorded UK Humber Divers Diver killed in an explosion during salvage operations. Undated newspaper article
  99. 1970 0 0 Not Recorded UK Topsides Two divers killed (bodies never recovered) when their zodiac full of explosives exploded during the first phase of diving operations to disperse the wreck of the platform supply vessel 'Tropic Shore' (Sank after colliding with the Britannia Gas Platform) off Great Yarmouth. Contract was awarded by Trinity House. Diving contractor may have been based in Newcastle. No other details. PC
  100. 1969 11 25 Rig 'Constellation' UK Jack Up, sank during rig move/towing (caught in a storm).
  101. 1969 11 22 Rig 'Zapata Scorpion' Spain Jack Up, sank during rig move/towing off the Canary Islands
  102. 1969 6 15 Guagenti Nicholas L USA SCUBA Aged 25, diving for golf balls, Hawrthorne Hills Country Club, died in the water, no details
  103. 1969 3 1 Rig 'Estrellita' USA Jack Up, caught in a storm, grounded, sank
  104. 1969 2 17 Cannon Berry L USA Military 186 Saturation American Navy diver aged 33. Sealab III, CO2 poisoning, Mark IX semi closed rebreather, soda sorb cannister was empty, human error?
  105. 1969 2 0 Sealab III USA Military 186 Saturation Sealab III diving to over 600 feet, programme aborted after the death of a diver (Barry Cannon) in February
  106. 1969 0 0 Not Recorded USA Chamber Diver died in a fire caused by a shirt draped over a 150W elecric light bulb inside the chamber. Sheffield and Desautels “Hyperbaric and hypobaric Chamber fires, a 73 year analysis�, Undersea Hyperbaric Medicine, 1997, 24 (3): 153-164.
  107. 1969 0 0 Rig 'Elefante' Venezuela Jack Up, Lake Maracaibo, caught fire.
  108. 1968 12 19 McClung Roger L USA Military SCUBA American police officer aged 32, Virginia Beach, Virginia, drowned in a diving accident
  109. 1968 12 19 Monette Robert R USA Military SCUBA American police officer aged 25, Virginia Beach, Virginia, drowned in a diving accident
  110. 1968 11 9 Joost Berend H. USA University of Miami Marine Sciences 50 SCUBA Two divers, Berend Joost, aged 34 of the University of Miami, and John McGinnis, aged 51 of Ocean-Engineering, were installing acoustic recording equipment at the edge of the Gulf stream off Miami when McGinnis noticed that Joost had dropped to the seabed, he went down to help but Joost had a strong grasp on the rope. Joost's mouthpiece dropped out, McGinnis replaced it but had to surface as had run out of air and suffered from decompression illness (treated, believed OK). A third diver, Jim Nangle, aged 23 and also an Ocean-Engineering technician recovered Joost's body to the surface. Reported in the Toledo Blade
  111. 1968 11 9 McGinnis John USA Ocean Engineering 50 SCUBA Two divers, Berend Joost, aged 34 of the University of Miami, and John McGinnis, aged 51 of Ocean-Engineering, were installing acoustic recording equipment at the edge of the Gulf stream off Miami when McGinnis noticed that Joost had dropped to the seabed, he went down to help but Joost had a strong grasp on the rope. Joost's mouthpiece dropped out, McGinnis replaced it but had to surface as had run out of air and suffered from decompression illness (treated, believed OK). A third diver, Jim Nangle, aged 23 and also an Ocean-Engineering technician recovered Joost's body to the surface. Reported in the Toledo Blade
  112. 1968 8 0 Rig 'Little Bob' USA Coral Drilling Rig Disaster Jack Up, drilling off Louisiana, fire.
  113. 1968 6 18 Cooper Derek UK Topsides Aged about 30, married with one son, one of a team of divers working on the demolition of Blackpool's North Pier for the previous 6 weeks, had already detonated over 40 charges, set a gelignite charge 30' above water, called for every one to get clear and take cover and then set the charge off. He was standing 20 yards away, was hit by a piece of flying metal and fell 30' into the sea. The Glasgow Herald.
  114. 1968 4 28 Rig 'Dresser 2' USA Jack Up, Overturned and sank (Seabed soil failure)
  115. 1968 3 13 Rig 'Dixilyn Julie Ann' USA Jack Up, sank during rig move/towing (caught in a storm).
  116. 1968 3 7 Hill Paul Australia 24 SCUBA “JOINT EFFORT SAVES DIVER� MELBOURNE, Thursday. – ‘A 300 mile dash by car, aeroplane and helicopter saved the life today of an abalone diver who got the bends in 80ft of water. The diver, Mr. Paul Hill, about 25, was diving in Bridgewater Bay, near Portland, 225 miles west of Melbourne, yesterday when he surfaced too quickly and became paralysed with the bends. He was taken by speedboat to Portland Hospital, but the hospital had no decompression equipment to treat him. A light aircraft operated by Esso Standard Oil (Aust) Ltd flew the diver to Apollo Bay today with an Esso diver, and both divers were then flown by helicopter to Esso's Ocean Digger oil rig, 42 miles south of Cape Otway. Decompression equipment was taken by car from Melbourne to Apollo Bay, and flown by helicopter to the rig. The Esso diver put Mr. hill into a decompression chamber on the rig at 10.30 am, and kept him there until after 5 pm. An Esso spokesman at Portland said tonight the diver had improved considerably�. Reported in The Canberra Times.
  117. 1968 3 6 Rig 'Ocean Prince' UKCS Burmah/Odeco First Semi Submersible in the North Sea, GOM design (Ocean Queen type) built 1965 by Smiths (Middlesborough, UK), drilling in the dogger bank area resting on the seabed against the advice of the barge engineer who was concerned that high currents caused scouring at the bow and stern leaving only the centre supported. Crew had also reported cracks in the structure. Pressure to reduce rig downtime In the early hours of 06 March there were gale-force conditions with 50-foot waves and winds in excess of 80 knots. The rig was receiving an extreme battering by the elements and was being lifted up and dropped back onto the sea floor. The 45 crew on board could see cracks opening in the main deck and structural beams and notified shore personnel that the rig was in danger of breaking up. Of the various authorities contacted, only Capt. Robert Balls of Bristows, the rig's regular chopper pilot, set out immediately to rescue the crew. By 0710 hours, the portside pontoon broke in half and a main deck support split, allowing the whole port-aft area containing the drillfloor, derrick and radio room to collapse into the sea. Flying conditions were in excess of recommended helicopter limits but, shortly thereafter, the Bristow's chopper made its first landing on the rig and airlifted 18 of the crew to the neighbouring Constellation rig. Two more journeys were made to extract the remainder of the rig's crew. Less than an hour after the last pick-up, the entire rig broke up and sank into the stormy seas. Captain Balls was later made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his courage and skill as a helicopter pilot. Reported in the Times
  118. 1968 0 0 Asbury Steve USA Taylor Diving? Tender, drowned off the BAR 282 after a night dive stinger check'. OD
  119. 1968 0 0 Edwards John USA Taylor Diving and Salvage Underwater Oxy Arc Explosion, seriously injured but recovered after a year in hospital, never dived again. Second diver burning on a damaged conductor, improper vent. PC
  120. 1968 0 0 NEDU USA Military 312 Saturation Excursion dive to 1025' from saturation holding depth of 825' made at NEDU
  121. 1968 0 0 Mathieson Edward (Ted) Australia International Oilfield Divers 230ft S/S Mixed Gas? Incident probably mid 1968, Bass Strait, Australia. Diving heavy gear air dive off Coring Vessel Neuhavns Rose recovering riser from seabed ,water depth 230 ft. Divers Umbilical parted when fouled in riser, Standby diver unable to reach diver. Body recovered next day. The dive team comprised trainee divers from the Dive school in Bairnsdale, Victoria with the exception of Ted<br />who was hired from the States.<br />longstreath.com
  122. 1967 12 4 Clark James USA Aged 35, president of the Ark-La-Tex divers association, fishing competition in lake Caddo, Marshall, Texas. Spear fishing, he surfaced near a tree stump and was then shot by a hunter with a shotgun who mistook the diver in a black wetsuit for an alligator
  123. 1967 11 13 Greig John N F UK S/S Air Described as a senior diver at Aberdeen harbour, died after being trapped underwater whilst inspecting damage to the gates and bridge at the entrance to the port's deepwater basin (Damaged by the 800 ton Slite registered (Sweden) tanker 'Rauken' which collided with the gates and the St Clement's bridge). The gates swung in the tide and trapped his air lines. "His son, Brian, a diver's labourer who was working nearby, was summoned and watched as rescuers fought to save his father's life". The gates were pulled open and he floated to the surface and was lifted unconscious onto the dive boat, CPR and O2 administered, taken to hospital, but pronounced ead. The Glasgow Herald
  124. 1967 10 2 Lyons RJ Norway Sanford Brothers 67 S/S Air British, aged 23. Surface supplied dive to 67 metres from the Ocean Viking (NB Sandford brothers had the diving contract from July 1967 to january 1968 after which Comex took over). During water stops uncontrolled ascent to surface, pulmonary Barotrama leading to pneumothorax. JW, JL and PC
  125. 1967 9 23 Billis George USA S/S Air Newspaper Headline “Air line cut, diver drowns� Tarpon Springs, Florida, “Aged 72, retired Greek (Town of Calymnos) sponge diver drowned during an exhibition dive before a boatload of tourists when the boat 'Plastisras' turned in the wind and the propellers cut his air hos and life line. He was demonstrating sponge diving techniques in the Anclote River. The Spokesman Review
  126. 1967 8 18 Not Recorded USA Military Two experienced divers died of bends on Naval mission during a deep sea diving operation. The divers died after being put into a decompressiuon chamber onboard the 'Skylark" (ASR-20, a Penguin class submarine rescue vessel, launched 1946, decommissioned and sold to Brazil in 1973). The precise location of the vessel was not revealed by the Navy. New York Times
  127. 1967 8 10 Hales Jeffrey Thomas Australia Military Clearance diver, night training exercise off Jervis Bay. Both he and his dive partner (Kenneth Hislop) died. Controversy at the inquest over autopsy report of alcohol in their bodies (Could have formed naturally), but no details of the accident. Reported in 'The Age'.
  128. 1967 8 10 Hislop Kenneth John Australia Military Clearance diver, night training exercise off Jervis Bay. Both he and his dive partner (Jeffrey Hales) died. Controversy at the inquest over autopsy report of alcohol in their bodies (Could have formed naturally), but no details of the accident. Reported in 'The Age'.
  129. 1967 0 0 Miller USA Military Serving on the USN "Skylark" (ASR 20, submarine Rescue vessel) that may have been operating in the Meditterrranean or UK waters at the time, killed in a divng accident along with fellow Navy Diver Sprinkle. No details. Reported in navydivers.net
  130. 1967 0 0 Not Recorded Japan Chamber Clinical chamber (Hospital) fire, first of 4 (the others were in 1989, 1993 and 1996) in Japan caused by patients taking butane or chemical hand warmers into the hyperbaric O2 rich environment. The patient was 20 minutes into his third HBO2 treatment at 1,7 bara (25 fsw equivalent) with about 50% O2 in the chamber. The nurse saw a flame start at the abdomen before it engulfed the entire chamber. The fire was initiated by the patient igniting a butane hand warmer. Sheffield and Desautels “Hyperbaric and hypobaric Chamber fires, a 73 year analysis�, Undersea Hyperbaric Medicine, 1997, 24 (3): 153-164.
  131. 1967 0 0 Not Recorded China Chamber Clinical chamber (Hospital) fire, The fire was initiated by the patient lighting a cigarette. Sheffield and Desautels “Hyperbaric and hypobaric Chamber fires, a 73 year analysis�, Undersea Hyperbaric Medicine, 1997, 24 (3): 153-164.
  132. 1967 0 0 Sprinkle USA Military Serving on the USN "Skylark" (ASR 20, submarine Rescue vessel) that may have been operating in the Meditterrranean or UK waters at the time, killed in a divng accident along with fellow Navy Diver Miller. No details. Reported in navydivers.net
  133. 1967 0 0 Maclean Edward (Ted) Australia Divcon 130ft S/S Air Ashmore Reef, NW Australia, Water depth 130ft Died in Deco Chamber , Combination of Missed Deco and heat exhaustion. Incident happened late 1967. Drill Barge Investigator owned and operated by Zapata. <br />longstreath.com
  134. 1966 11 18 Robbie, RN PO George Uganda Military British naval diver, died at Jinja in eastern Uganda working on a new train ferry terminal when a crane lifting rock toppled over. No other details. Straits Times
  135. 1966 10 7 Tan Ah Ban Singapore Reported as 'drowned'. Clearing seaweed from the seawater inlet of the Pasir Panjang power station, ran into difficulties and dragged out of the water by fellow diver Patrick Chia, 'but was already dead when the ambulance arrived'. Straits Times
  136. 1966 6 11 Davidson Russell UKCS North Sea Diving Services SCUBA Aged 28, diving from the vessel 'North Shore" at the site of the "Sea Gem" (BP West Sole, capsised and sank 27th December 1965 with the loss of 13 lives), diving with a partner. Both called to the surface but he failed to come up, his partner went back down and found him unresponsive on the seabed and brought him up. No other details. The Glasgow Herald
  137. 1966 4 27 Binney John L USA Military 40 SCUBA Aged 28, university of Oregon research assistant, hired by the US Army Corps of Engineers to inspect a 130' shaft containing a concrete bulkhead at the Hills Creek water reservoir near Oakridge, with partner (Lavey) descended to 90', partner left basket and went to 130', returned to basket and both divers recovered to 10', Lavey then swam to the top of the dam, left the water and began removing his gear. At this point Binney's lifeline went slack. Lavey went back into the water with a fresh tank plus spare. After about 5 minutes, workers on the surface saw a sudden increase in bubbles after which they stopped. Work basket was recovered, but he was dead when brought to the surface. Binney's body was recovered from 130 by divers from Portland Commercial divers (Who also completed the inspection work). Neither dead diver had air in their tanks when recovered though cause of death was not clear (twin hose regulators, could have vented) Double fatality. Reported in the Eugene register-Guard
  138. 1966 4 27 Lavey Kenneth USA Military 27 SCUBA Aged 22, owner of a Eugene SCUBA shop, hired by the US Army Corps of Engineers to inspect a 130' shaft containing a concrete bulkhead at the Hills Creek water reservoir near Oakridge, with partner (Binney) descended to 90', left partner in basket and went to 130', returned to basket and both divers recovered to 10', he then swam to the top of the dam, left the water and began removing his gear. At this point Binney's lifeline went slack. He went back into the water with a fresh tank plus spare. After about 5 minutes, workers on the surface saw a sudden increase in bubbles after which they stopped. Work basket was recovered, but he was dead when brought to the surface. Partner's body was recovered from 130 by divers from Portland Commercial divers (Who also completed the inspection work). Neither dead diver had air in their tanks when recovered though cause of death was not clear (twin hose regulators, could have vented) Double fatality. Reported in the Eugene register-Guard
  139. 1966 4 1 Millikin George USA Military SCUBA American police officer, Anapolis, Maryland, died during a dive on duty, heart attack
  140. 1966 3 23 Brashear, USN Carl Maxie Spain Military Topsides First coloured US Navy ship's diver, (Oct 1954) lost left leg from knee down in a deck accident off Spain during search for lost Atomic bomb, returned to diving, retired 1979, died 25/07/2006
  141. 1966 0 0 Not Recorded Australia 58 Bass Straits, Port Philip maintenance diver, following a strike by Australian divers (Paid much less than the expat American divers), companies cut costs by using non divers who had attended a two week training/induction course as LSTs. This led to a spate of incidents where divers were switched onto empty quads. In this incident the diver had twice been switched onto empty quads on the same dive, lost his temper and surfaced shouting abuse, dead at surface of explosive decompression. Reported that the company withheld 75% of his 20,000 A$ life insurance from his widow "for training expenses". Bubblesblower/Longstreath
  142. 1965 12 27 Rig 'Sea Gem' UK BP Converted barge with 10 legs, drilling on block 48, the West Sole field. At around 1345 hours on 27 December 1965, the crew were preparing to move the rig to a new location and commenced jacking down the main deck. A short time later, the passing freighter Baltrover witnessed the main deck lurch then fall towards port. The boat radioed for assistance at 1409 hours before coming to the aid of the Sea Gem's crew. Two of the rig's ten legs had apparently failed, causing the rig to fall sideways. Survivors stated that after about thirty minutes, the rig subsequently capsized and sank with one leg remaining above the sea. Some of the crew were able to launch a liferaft, which 14 of the crew managed to board. The rest of the crew were thrown or jumped into the freezing winter sea. Fortunately, the Baltrover was on scene quickly to pick up survivors. Other men were rescued by passing boats with an RAF and a civilian helicopter assisting. Of the 32 men on board, 19 were rescued, 13 died.
  143. 1965 9 21 Not Recorded Vietnam Japanese diver killed and 11 other persons injured in an explosion during salvage operations on the Saigon River. No details. Reported in the Chicago Tribune.
  144. 1965 9 9 Rig 'Petrel 52' USA Jack Up, punch through and capsised in Hurricane Betsy
  145. 1965 9 9 Rig 'Saipem Paguro' Italy Saipem Jack Up, Drilling off Ravena, blowout, destroyed by fire
  146. 1965 9 1 Cline Robert Herrick USA Military 8 SCUBA Newspaper employee, part time volunteer diving with Sherrif of Coconino rescue unit. Hired via police contact to recover two chemical tanks from a reservoir at the Navajo Army Depot, Coconino. Arizona. No training, st/by or supervisor, third dive surfaced in distress, swimmers tried to help but he sank, plume of bubbles (twin hose) but drowned.
  147. 1965 4 5 Thomas Lyle E USA Military SCUBA American, aged 38, Navy Deep Sea Diving School, With National Capital Cave Rescue team rescued 4 cavers trapped by rising water from Rowland cave, Ozark mountains, Arkansas, collapsed at end of dive, natural causes, heart attack.
  148. 1965 3 30 Hunt Roy USA Military SCUBA “A SCUBA diver disappeared Sunday while trying to help police recover a car from an abandoned lead and zinc mine. Roy Hunt, aged 23, was presumed drowned. Police believe the car was the one that killed a 13 year old boy in front of his house in Webb city in a hit and run accident last November 18. Divers found the car on a ledge under about 70 feet of water� Reported in the Tuscaloosa News. Not a professional diver, but clearly a diver at work, TC
  149. 1965 2 16 Jackson Frederick 'Fred' USA Military 72 Chamber One of two enlisted divers (the other was John Youmans) killed in a flash fire in a chamber during a physiological experiment (250' for two hours) at the 'old' experimental diving unit at the Washington Navy yard (It was relocated to Panama City in 1975). Two other divers (not named) acting as tenders were treated for smoke inhalation. navydivers.net. An alternate report states that the research recompression chamber contained 28% O2, 36% He, 36% N2 at 3.8 bara (91fsw) with the most probable cause of the fire being an overheated electrical motor in the CO2 scrubber. Downstream of the motor was a filter element of the type normally used for filtering jet fuel. Following manufacture, it had beem tested with kerosene, leaving residual kerosene as the probable primatry fuel in the fire. A chamber occupant called "We have fire in here!", the two outside observers noted a flame coming from the CO2 scrubber followed immediately by a flash fire in the compartment and smoke obscuring their vision. The occupants did not have time to use the bucket of water provided as a fire extinguishant. The internal temperature rose to about 800 F, the pressure went up to 8.9 bara (260 fsw). Sheffield and Desautels “Hyperbaric and hypobaric Chamber fires, a 73 year analysis�, Undersea Hyperbaric Medicine, 1997, 24 (3): 153-164.
  150. 1965 2 16 Youmans John USA Military 72 Chamber One of two enlisted divers (the other was Frederick Jackson) killed in a flash fire in a chamber during physiological experiment (250' for two hours) at the 'old' experimental diving unit at the Washington Navy yard (It was relocated to Panama City in 1975). Two other divers (not named) acting as tenders were treated for smoke inhalation. navydivers.net. An alternate report states that the research recompression chamber contained 28% O2, 36% He, 36% N2 at 3.8 bara (91fsw) with the most probable cause of the fire being an overheated electrical motor in the CO2 scrubber. Downstream of the motor was a filter element of the type normally used for filtering jet fuel. Following manufacture, it had beem tested with kerosene, leaving residual kerosene as the probable primatry fuel in the fire. A chamber occupant called "We have fire in here!", the two outside observers noted a flame coming from the CO2 scrubber followed immediately by a flash fire in the compartment and smoke obscuring their vision. The occupants did not have time to use the bucket of water provided as a fire extinguishant. The internal temperature rose to about 800 F, the pressure went up to 8.9 bara (260 fsw). Sheffield and Desautels “Hyperbaric and hypobaric Chamber fires, a 73 year analysis�, Undersea Hyperbaric Medicine, 1997, 24 (3): 153-164
  151. 1965 1 20 Mihulec Robert W USA Fountain Hill Emergency Diving Team SCUBA Aged 20, volunteered to search under ice for the body of a 9 year old boy who had fallen through the ice into the Lehigh River, entered the water roped together with a 19 year old companion, companion survived (treated for hypothermia), diver drowned. Gettysburg Times
  152. 1965 0 0 Burgill Chris Middle East Taylor Diving? Died in the Persian Gulf when his umbilical snagged on the ladder as he jumped off the barge' OD
  153. 1965 0 0 Rig 'Roger Buttin III' West Africa Jack Up, fast leg penetration, capsised (Structural failure caused by brittle fracture) and sank
  154. 1965 0 0 Rig 'Zapata Lexington' USA Jack Up, punch through, capsised, hurricane Betsy
  155. 1965 0 0 Sealab II USA 63 Saturation Three teams of 10 men dived to 205' for 15 days, one man (Astronaut Scott Carpenter) stayed at depth for 30 days.
  156. 1964 9 25 Harrison Gerald P USA Military Topsides Maryport naval station, repair operations to flooded pontoons damaged by hurricane 'Dora'. Harrison and another diver from the destroyer tender 'Yellowstone' were killed by the 90' boom of the crane barge they were rigging to lift out damaged pontoons when it collapse onto the small boat they were diving from. Two other navy personnel were seriously injured.
  157. 1964 6 30 Rig 'C. P. Baker' USA Catarmaran Drillship built I 1962 from two world war II (1945) US Navy hulls, drilling block 273 in the Eugene Island area, hit shallow gas, blowout, 22 fatalities
  158. 1964 2 17 Not Recorded USA Military Chamber “A flash fire inside a decompression chamber killed two Navy deep-sea divers and injured two others today during an experiment at the Washington Navy Yard� No other details. New York Times
  159. 1964 0 0 Geiger Leroy USA Military Rebreather US Navy, UDT 21 (Underwater Demolition Team, precursor to SEALs). Died when his Emerson O2 rebreather rig malfunctioned. Body recovered. PC
  160. 1964 0 0 Sealab 1 USA 59 Saturation Four man team under pressure for 11 days.
  161. 1963 10 0 Egner Alfred Austria SCUBA Aged 19 from Munich, drowned on a night dive in lake Toplitz. Three German businessmen were charged with his manslaughter in Munich in 1965 – he died during a secret treasure hunt for reputed Nazi treasure dumped in the lake and they failed to try to rescue him, also reported that his downline had been cut (at the surface). A search weeks later by Austrian authorities recovered the diver's body, printing presses and batches of forged British banknotes the Nazis intended to use to cause financial panic in the UK. The Sydney Morning Herald
  162. 1963 9 12 Jensen Aksel Denmark Diver hit by an anchor COPENHAGEN, Wed. A ship dropped anchor at Vejle, Denmark, today on to the head of diver, Aksel Jensen, who was working underwater, port officials reported. He was taken to hospital with suspected concussion. Reuter
  163. 1963 7 10 Foulks Layne USA Donjon Marine American, civil engineering job, New Jersey, off crane barge 256, crushed between jetty and crane bucket, right shoulder, multiple fractures, collapsed lung
  164. 1963 5 0 Rig 'Mr Louie' Germany Jack Up, Blowout.
  165. 1962 12 3 Small Peter USA 305 Saturation British, professional journalist, aged 35, record deep dive with Hans Keller, experimental dive to test new breathing mixture, Peter Small died in the bell (reported as 'bends' which he had suffered from in a previous dive, two days earlier), safety diver, Christopher Whittaker, disappeared whilst checking the bell externally at depth and was never found. Keller survived after a safety diver removed a fin jammed in the bell hatch allowing it to seal. Reported by multiple sources. His 21 year old wife, Mary, was found dead in her gas filled apartment two months later.
  166. 1962 12 3 Whittaker Christopher USA 305 Saturation Aged 19, safety diver, record deep dive with Hans Keller, experimental dive to test new breathing mixture, Peter Small died in the bell (reported as 'bends' which he had suffered from in a previous dive, two days earlier),, Christopher Whittaker disappeared whilst checking the bell externally at depth and was never found. Keller survived after a safety diver removed a fin jammed in the bell hatch allowing it to seal. Reported by multiple sources.
  167. 1962 11 19 Hayes Darrell USA Columbia River Divers 27 SCUBA Aged 33, Undertaking repairs to the bulkhead gate guides on the Priest Rapids dam. Surfacing after the dive with partner and apparently fell out of the dive basket when changing tanks. Recovered by partner from bed of dam at 110' after 8 minutes. Pronounced dead. It was his first commercial dive.
  168. 1962 4 17 Ingram Petty Officer John Australia Military 9 SCUBA Aged 24, experienced diver, died on a moorings inspection dive in Sydney harbour, failed to respond to signals, was found by searching divers, brought to the surface unconscious, did not respond to treatment, no details. He was one of the team who made a 300' dive to clear a tunnel in the incompleted Eucumbene dam in 1961. Reported in The Age
  169. 1962 0 0 Link Edward USA 61 Man in the Sea programme' used heliox to dive to 200'.
  170. 1961 12 0 Matel Andrew Corsica Topsides Frequenting local bars boasting that he had discovered the fabled sunken treasure of General Erwin Rommel. After a couple of nights of such behaviour his bullet riddled body was found in a field near Propriano. Whispered that it was 'the Mafia'. (See 1951, Peter Fleig, another diver who disappeared in strange circumstances)
  171. 1961 10 11 Barron, RN Lt. Julian UK Military Aged 27, drowned at Rosyth Dockyard whilst trying to rescue a trainee diver. Trainee diver's lifeline 'appeared to be fouled and broke', Lt Barron was the standby and was sent into assist, gave a thumbs up and submerged. There was a terrific jerk on his lifeline and then his line broke too. It was later found that both men had been sucked through an open penstock (equalisation pipe between two docks). Diving instructor admitted no diving flag was being flown, civilian dockyard foreman in charge of the sluices stated that he was not aware of diving operations being conducted in the main basin and would have considered the dive site as hazardous because of the penstock (Diving in that area had been stopped two years earlier because of the penstock). No formal communcation link between divers and dock personnel. Following the incident Admiralty orders were put in place covering operation of diving in the docks and civilians in the dockyard also had definite instructions
  172. 1961 7 28 Beghtol Robert G USA Military SCUBA American police officer, Arvada, Colorado, aged 26, died during a training exercise
  173. 1961 6 15 Missa Roy Australia 62 S/S Air Aged 36, Torres Strait Islander, diving in the Darnley Deeps, 150 miles off the island, got into difficulties at depth, apparently ditched his helmet, surfaced, paralysed from the waist down, died in hospital. “He also received damage to the brain from water pressure after removing his diving helmet to help himself surface� Reported in The Age.
  174. 1961 6 2 Ward James UK Kirkaldy Corporation 6 S/S Air Diving from a tug near the dock gates in Kirkaldy Harbour, alarm raised when tugman could not get response on lifeline. A team of divers from HMS Safeguard, Rosyth, raced to the harbour and located the diver trapped by his left arm under the sluice gates and by water pressure. In addition to his lifeline, a further two ropes were tied to him and the sluice gates lifted until he could be pulled clear. On deck, he was cut out of his suit and a doctor attepted CPR, but he failed to respond. Evening Times. His widow was awarded £3,487 and 10 shillings. The jury assessed the damages at £4,650 but held that the deceased was 25% to blame for the accident that led to his death. Unknown to the diver the sluice gates had been left partially open. As soon as he approached the bottom of the gate he was caught in the current of water passing through thr sluice and asphyxiatyed. The Corporation denied responsibilty and claimed Ward stumbled and fell. The Glasgow Herald
  175. 1961 2 28 Not Recorded Papua New Guinea Military SCUBA At the preliminary inquest into the death of Leading Able Seaman Allan Smith (Died during a training exercise alongside HMAS anti-submarine frigate 'Quiberon' berthed off Rushcutter Bay at Garden island. (Had been underwater about 15 minutes when he floated to the surface unconscious' Reported as “air embolism� , but no details) it became apparent that another Navy diver, a member of the Papua new Guinea Naval Division, had died under very similar conditions a day later at the Manus Naval Base. No details were given. Reported in the Sydney Morning Herald.
  176. 1961 2 27 Smith Leading Seaman Allan Leslie Australia Military 10 SCUBA Aged 24, Diving 'fairly shallow routine dive' alongside HMAS anti-submarine frigate 'Quiberon' berthed off Rushcutter Bay at Garden island. 'Had been underwater about 15 minutes when he floated to the surface unconscious' Reported as “air embolism� but no details. At the preliminary inquest his father asked if the Navy were aware that another Navy diver had died under very similar conditions a day later in New Guinea They were, but no details were given. Reported in the Sydney Morning Herald.
  177. 1960 7 15 Burris Sgt. Kiefer C USA Military SCUBA American police officer, Kansas, Missouri, died during a training dive
  178. 1960 7 15 Bybee Herbert E USA Military SCUBA American police officer, Kansas, Missouri, died during a training dive
  179. 1960 5 1 Arakawa Hirochi? Australia 66 S/S Air Singapore Free Press "An Okinawan pearl diver died of divers paralysis near Thursday Island". "The first pearl diving fatality of the season ocurred at the weekend in the Darnley deeps, 55 miles off Thursday Island. Aged 26, Okinawan, diving in 36 fathoms at 2pm from the lugger 'Sedney'. He was brought to the surface in easy stages but was dead when he reached the surface. The Sydney Morning Herald
  180. 1960 1 9 Shaw Clarence USA Merritt Chapman and Scott S/S Air Aged 53, working on the downstream side of the Priest Rapids dam construction site on the Columbia River. Confused reports, but appears to have been trapped underwater for two hours by a falling object. When pulled to the surface by two rescue SCUBA divers his helmet was off, drowned. Falling object may have severed or blocked his air line. Reported in the Freelance Star
  181. 1960 0 0 Cartright Denis Trinidad Cartright or Carnright? Came out of saturation with "symptoms of pneumonia", died in a hospital in Trinidad.
  182. 1959 12 22 Mielke Donald USA 1 SCUBA Aged 17, diving under ice on the Wolf River at New London with Steven Austen, aged 15, as part of an ongoing search for the body of a three year old boy who apparrently fell into the river a month earlier. Suffocated under the ice when his regulator apparently froze. He was shared regulators with his dive partner, who also nearly sufficated but was rescued by other divers. The Milwaukee Sentinel
  183. 1959 11 30 Not Recorded USA Comment is the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in an article referring to a state weekend death toll of 20, “Florida traffic accidents killed 13, a professional diver drowned and two men were fatally shot in hunting accidents�. No other details or reports.
  184. 1959 11 21 Gavenman Harold B USA SCUBA “Skin Diver, Hit by Boat, Falls From Copter, Dies�. Skin diving off Santa Barbara Island. one of several diving from a barge (the Villaron) in an island cove. He surfaced in front of an oncoming lobster boat and “was sucked into the propeller.� The lobster boat operator jumped in and pulled him onboard, radioed for help, and took him by boat to the barge. An Air Force helicopter made 30 attempts to secure a line to him. Once they were successful, when he was raised about 100 feet in the liter basket, the cable broke and he was dropped onto the barge and rolled off the side. Those on the barge were able to recover him, then took him by a fast power boat cruiser to Santa Catalina Island, he was then life flighted from to Newport Beach and pronounced dead on arrival at Hoag Memorial Hospital. Los Angeles Times
  185. 1959 10 25 Hayashi Sanza Australia Fujita Salvage Company 18 S/S Air Japanese salvage diver, aged 48, inquest held in Darwin on 3rd November where it was reported that he drowned in his helmet after being knocked unconscious by falling pieces of metal in Darwin harbour. May have had his air line dislodged/knocked off. Straits Times/Canberra Times
  186. 1959 9 21 Hart James F USA Commercial Abalone diver off the vessel 'Ray Rock' off Point Loma, treated for DCI aboard the Submarine tender USS 'Nereus' after recovering the body of partner Raymond Mathews from the seabed. Lodi News Sentinel
  187. 1959 8 21 Mathews Raymond USA Commercial Abalone diver off the vessel 'Ray Rock' off Point Loma, presumed drowned after being found on the seabed with his mask off. Second diver (Hart) treated for DCI aboard the Submarine tender USS 'Nereus'. Lodi News sentinel
  188. 1959 4 25 Gause George USA 25 S/S Air American, aged 56 (or 57), professional sponge diver (Most sponge divers at this time were of Greek descent) with 23 years experience, diving some 30 miles North of Big Bank off the St. Nicholas V, air hoses severed by support vessel propeller (Guard basket had been damaged earlier in the trip “but repaired to the skipper's satisfaction�. Recovered to surface dead. Ruled as 'accidental death'. Reported in the St Petersburg Times.
  189. 1959 2 5 Curray Franklyn Dwight USA Florida Power and Light Aged 26, reported as swept away by the current. Witnesses reported 'He bobbed to the surface, tore off his breathing gear and fought off three other swimmers who attempted to rescue him'. He had been working on a submerged cable. The search for him continued the day after. Unclear from the reports whether his body was ever recovered. Miami News
  190. 1959 0 0 Rig 'Transgulf 10' Jack Up, punch through, capsised
  191. 1958 8 23 Sambo Kallu Australia S/S Air Torres Strait Islander, diving off the Native Affairs Department lugger 'Macoy' died on 'death Reef, off Darnley Island. 120 miles north-west of Thursday Island. Described as the fifth diver fatality off Darnley Island that year, all fatalities put down to 'diver's paralysis'. Reported in The Age
  192. 1958 7 0 Oppey John UK "Extraordinary Death of a Diver. An inquest was held at Dover on Friday (14th July 1958) on the body of John Oppy, a diver employed at the Admiralty Pier works...." No other details (Pay for access archive) Reported in the Birmigham Daily Post/The British Newspaper Archive
  193. 1958 6 24 Mott Leonard K Canada Seaboard Marine Divers SCUBA Aged 26. Following the collapse of the new Second Narrows bridge being constructed over Burrard inlet with a loss of 18 lives on the 17th, a commercial diver died two days later during body recovery operations. He had come to the surface to change cylinders, wearing a heavy weight belt, slipped and went down, drowned. Reported in the press on the occasion of the 50 anniversary ceremony in 2008 (CTV.ca). "Mott, formerly of Nelson, BC., worked as a stand-in for actor Peter Lorre in the movie 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. Wife and two children. Calgary Herald
  194. 1958 3 11 Not Recorded USA Boston Naval Base 4 A civilian diver employed by :contractor working for the Navy at the South Boston Naval Shipyard became wedged at the bottom of piling, twelve feet below the surface within inches of rescue, but drowned. No details. New York Times
  195. 1957 10 11 Williamson Stephen I USA Daspit Bros Marine Divers American, court case quote "engaged in the clearing of a pipe line of debris in navigable waters,and that an employee of Daspit was lifted too rapidly, causing a release of his diving mask and belt, that the vessel and its appurtenances were defective and unseaworthy and that these circumstances were the cause of decedent's death"
  196. 1957 7 14 Not Recorded UK Military Royal Marine taking part in a combined operations exercise in Portland Harbour, failed to surface after three and a half hours, found dead at the bottom of the harbour. "It was in no way associated with any explosion". "Naval authorities are satisfied that the man's death was an accident". The Bulletin
  197. 1957 6 25 Iwanoto Satehel Australia Japanese, diving off the pearling lugger 'Hakucho Maru' out of Darwin. Reported as dying of diver's paralysis. Buried at Piper's Head on Melville Island alongside the bodies of two other diver who died in 1955 and 1953. “Modern equipment and methods now used prevent the fearful loss of life experienced off Broome and in territory waters before the war�. Reported in The Age.
  198. 1957 4 5 Smith Eldon W USA 62 S/S Air American, aged 31 or 51 (Reports are conflicting) from Wilmington, diving off Southern California from the Oil Exploration Vessel "Submarex", end of dive, ascending, suffered apparent in-water decompression illness, brought to surface and transferred to US Navy DDC at naval base (inference is no DDC on the vessel), died 8 hours into 165' therapeutic treatment, Diver Bill Biller who went into the DDC as assistant had to share the chamber with the body for another 30 hours of decompression. Reported in the Herald Tribune
  199. 1957 3 31 Rig 'Mr Gus 1' USA Jack Up, punch through, listed, collapsed, 1 fatality
  200. 1957 3 12 Not Recorded Mexico Saturation Acapulco, a diver, described as an ex-Olympic diver and trainer of navy frogmen, died on a dive into Acapulco bay in a search for the bodies of two wealthy American tourist thought to have been murdered on a glass bottomed boat. No other details. Reported in the Los Angeles Times.
  201. 1957 0 0 Rig 'Deepwater II' USA, GOM Jack Up, caught in a hurricane, sank
  202. 1956 12 1 Rig 'Qatar 1' Arabian Gulf Jack Up, collapsed and sank during towing. 20 fatalities
  203. 1956 10 2 Jacob Bull Hassan Bin Australia 27 S/S Air Malay, aged 26, pearl diving out of Broome, surfaced with paralysis on Saturday, still ill Sunday, lugger made 80 mile dash to Port but he died. 'Third pearl diver dive that year to be killed on the luggers working out of Broome (Konjtoviannis, in May, the other? Unknown, TC)'
  204. 1956 8 23 Yanase Masumi Australia Topsides “Japanese Diver Found Dead� BROOME (WA), Wednesday. — A young Japanese pearl diver, Masumi Yanase. 23, was found dead in the water alongside his boat today. He had noosed a rope around his neck which was made fast to the lugger's diving platform. It is thought Masumi Yanase jumped overboard and accidentally strangled himself. He had been in Broome for the past year and was considered an efficient diver�. Reported in The Canberra Times.
  205. 1956 8 13 Lund Captain Ove Norway Military Aged 32, Norwegian Navy diver, died in Horten harbour, Oslo. 'in the line of duty' though the authorities branded reports that he died diving under the hulls of visiting soviet fleet vessels as "Sheer madness". His death was announced shortly after the departure of a Russian cruiser and two destroyers. The announcement co-incided with reports that an unidentified submarine was follwing the Russian flotilla. Pittsburgh Press
  206. 1956 8 10 Sedco No 8 / Rig 22 USA Jack Up, sank during cnstruction, 4 fatalities
  207. 1956 8 1 Edgerton Wiliam USA 4 Rebreather Aged 23, part of a 20 man, privately funded, team that had chartered the 60' diving tender 'Capt Samuel Jameson' engaged to take photographs of the sunken liner 'Andrea Doria' which lies about 45 miles south. He was undertaking a training dive in Nantucket harbour. Dr Christian Lambertson, the team physician who had developed a type of mixed gas diving kit for the US Navy, and who was diving with Edgerton at the time of his death ("diving in about 12 feet of water tp familiarise Edgerton with the type of 'mixed gas' cylinders that Lambertson had developed for Navy divers"), said that a valve on his diving equipment had somehow become partially closed ("Edgerton may have accidently struck the valve against the side of the boat or become confused and closed it himself"). Died from "Lack of oxygen in the blood". Daytona Beach Morning Journal.
  208. 1956 5 0 Kontoyannis Kristos Australia S/S Air 45 year old Greek sponge diver from post war depressed Mediterranean island of Kalymnos, chief diver in one of two teams of Greek divers transported to Australia at government expense to replace the Japanese divers working off Australian pearl luggers out of Darwin and Broome. Air line was cut by the propeller of the lugger 'Postboy' and he died ("Asphyxia, due to sudden damage to the lungs when the propeller cut the airline. The accident was caused when the lugger, proceeding at very pace, was forced backwards by 3 heavy and unexpected waves, thus fouling the airline which was in its position protruding from the stern"). His death highlighted the bad feeling between the lugger operators (who resented losing their cheap Japanese divers) and Greek divers. There were rumours that the death may not have been accidental. Rubicon Research Repository
  209. 1956 4 19 Commander Crabb, RN, GC, OBE Lionel "Buster" UK Military Rebreather British Royal Naval diver, aged 46, disappeared in Portsmouth Harbour, rumoured to be spying on the visiting Russian navy cruiser "Ordzhonikidze" that had brought Khrushchev to the UK for cold war talks. Headless body washed up on Chichester beach 14 months later assumed to be Crabb. In 2007, Eduard Koltsov, retired Russian diver claimed to have killed him and cut his head off after he caught Crabb placing a mine on the hull. MOD admitted previous underwater surveys by RN divers on visiting Russian vessels. Other memos released in 2007 indicate that MI6 recruited Crabb for a separate mission and that he was not alone.
  210. 1956 3 23 Joost Russell USA Military US Navy diver training, taking a test one month into his course, died, no details. Chicago Tribune
  211. 1956 0 0 RN, NEDU UK Military 183 Saturation RN diver reaches 600' in open sea on heliox, the same year the US Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU) publish the USN Standard ecompression Tables
  212. 1955 8 11 Not Recorded Germany “Wilhelmshaven. An Underwater explosion today killed a diver working on the wreck of the submerged German cruiser Koln in the harbour here� Reuters
  213. 1955 7 30 Byrnes Michael USA SCUBA Aged 15, SCUBA training in a YMCA swimming pool in San Bernardino drowned when his arm got sucked into an outlet pipe. “The boy's parents watched while three doctors and fire department resuscitator crew worked over the body for an hour after he was pulled from the water�. Reported in the Spokane Daily Chronicle.
  214. 1955 0 0 Not Recorded Australia Japanese. Reported as dying of diver's paralysis. Buried at Piper's Head on Melville Island alongside the bodies of two other diver one who died in 1953, the other Satihel Iwanoto who died in June 1957. Reported in The Age.
  215. 1954 10 11 Reed Jerry B USA 4 S/S Air Aged 32, Captain of the Ohio River boat 'Martha Green',working at an underwater sluice on a backwater at the Indiana-Kentucky Electric Company plant at Evansville. He had hired a man to handle the surface equipment - who knew nothing about diving equipment - whilst he was diving, the equipment broke down, his air was cut off and he drowned. The News-Sentinel
  216. 1954 9 24 Motlop Fred Australia Haritos Brothers 34 S/S Air Aged 32, diving off the pearl lugger “Fram� off the Arhem coast (Off Maroonga Island between Millingimbi and Elcho Island missions). Some reports are more complete than others. One just says :- “A deck-hand lost his balance in heavy seas and in an attempt to save himself dragged the tender operator overboard with him. The tender lost Motlop's air and life lines and the diver sank to the 'bottom. Before he could be raised again he tore off his helmet and rocketed to the surface. The crew did not realise his lungs had burst. They fitted another helmet on him and lowered him to the bottom to "stage' him. (Staging is a treatment to prevent "bends," a form of paralysis, caused by bringing a diver to the surface too quickly.) The crew 'staged" Motlop for about an hour, (but they found he was dead when they raised him to the deck)�. As reported in the Canberra Times. A second report says:- "His air line became entangled in the propeller and Motlop was dragged towards the surface (from 17 fathoms). He was pulled up to 6 fathoms before the crew could stop the lugger and free his line. The diver's tender was holding Motlop's line keeping him steady at 6 fathoms when the lugger pitched badly in a heavy sea. A native crewman slipped and grabbed the tender and both fell overborad. Motlop plummeted to 17 fathoms before the crew could gab the lines. Before they could bring the diver up slowly he hsad thrown off his helmet, apparently in panic, and shot to the surface. The crew fiitted him with another helmet and sent him down for an hour or so in an effort top avoid bends." He was dead when brought up, a post mortem completed by a visiting Docor Langsford from Darwin concluded the divers lungs were ruptured. Sydney Morning Herald
  217. 1954 9 17 Pepper Frank USA Merritt Chapman and Scott 45 Aged 46, working on installing one of six support piers for the Mackinac Straits Bridge, died in the decompression chamber. No details. Windsor Daily Star.
  218. 1954 7 29 Perkins RN PO John Singapore 5 Aged 35. Reported as drowned at the Seletar Naval Base (HMS Cossack?), Singapore, during diving exercises the day after seaman Charles Larkin died in a shark attack during a contraband search in Singapore harbour. The exercise was to remove mines from ship's hulls, his lifeline got entangled in the propeller shaft. Stand-by diver found him with his mask off, not breathing when recovered to deck, did not respond to treatment. Coroner recorded a verdict of misadventure. Straits Times
  219. 1954 7 28 Larkin RN Leading Seaman Charles Brian Singapore Aged 20, serving on HMS 'Terror', one of two divers searching for contraband suspected of being dropped overboard from ships at the inner roads of Singapore harbour. Surfaced suddenly waving his arms, water around him stained with blood. Gashed from hip to thigh, died from loss of blood and shock. Reported as shark attack. Coroner recorded a verdict of misadventure. Straits Times
  220. 1954 5 31 Barker Paul S USA Rebreather Aged 38, Brown Mills, Mirror Lake, “A member of the volunteer first-aid squad died here today during an underwater dive to test a new oxygen rescue device� No details
  221. 1954 5 8 Sutrick Gabriel Australia 17 S/S Air Aged 28, single, from Yam, pearl diving from the Hosking Brothers lugger 'Panton' on Warrior Reef, 86 miles from Thursday Island in the Torres straight, died after the vessel's propellor cut his airline. Adelaide Advertiser
  222. 1953 9 15 Nellman Tom Jack Australia Duffield Brothers 37 S/S Air “PEARL DIVER DISAPPEARS. THURSDAY ISLAND, Fri. “A Torres Strait Islander, Tom Jack Nellman (30) disappeared last Tuesday while diving for pearlshell in about 20 fathoms off Bobo, near Daru Island, from the launch ‘Laura’, owned by Duffield Brothers of Thursday Island. The ‘Laura’ returned here late last night. The police are investigating�. Reported in the Northern Miner, Charters towers, Qld
  223. 1953 8 22 Jacob Abou Australia S/S Air “Whale Snaps Diver's Line�. PERTH, Monday. – “A whale became tangled in the lifeline of a Malay diver as he was working off 90 Mile Beach on Saturday. The line was broken and carried away by the whale but the diver, Abou Jacob, was brought to the surface on his airpipe. He was taken to Broome Hospital suffering from shock and some injuries but was later discharged, it is expected that he will resume work in about a week. Jacob is employed by Mr. L. Placanica, of Broome�. Reported in The Mercury, Hobart
  224. 1953 7 10 Not Recorded Malta RN Chamber Four Naval ratings, 3 British and 1 Indian, killed in a explosion in the decompression chamber of the 1440 ton RFA Salvage vessel 'Sea Salvor' during diver training whilst in Valetta harbour. A fifth Naval rating died a day later. No Details, but believed to be the same incident reported by Sheffield and Desautels in which 5 people died . The Glasgow Herald
  225. 1953 7 10 Not Recorded Malta RN 52 Chamber Paraphrased from paper:- “Within 2 minutes of commencing pressurisation an unprotected 100 Watt bulb imploded at between 5 and 6 bara (!34-170 fsw) and incandescent ignited the canvas floor. The five occupants unsuccessfully trued to stamp out several small fires which rapidly spread to the wooden floor and benches. Within 1 minute flames engulfed the chamber and the pressure rose to 9.2 bara (265 fsw). The chamber was surfaced 5 minutes into the dive and when opened flames came out of the open doorway requitring extingushing by fire hose. Within 6 hours all 5 occupants had expired from their 90-100% total body surface area burns�. Sheffield and Desautels “Hyperbaric and hypobaric Chamber fires, a 73 year analysis�, Undersea Hyperbaric Medicine, 1997, 24 (3): 153-164.
  226. 1953 6 19 Not Recorded Australia S/S Air Report of a Japanese diver who died at sea being cremated. No details
  227. 1953 4 4 Not Recorded France Le Havre, Three divers were killed and two missing, presumed dead, after dynamite exploded in the port of Le Havre. The men were preparing to blast a channel leading to the docks.
  228. 1952 11 1 Albert Bernard Australia M & W Scott 24 S/S Air “NATIVE DIES OF DIVER'S PARALYSIS�. BROOME, Thursday. Bernard Albert (26), a native employed by Messrs. M. and W. Scott, pearlers, of Broome, as a second diver, died of paralysis late yesterday afternoon. On Tuesday he and the first diver, an Indonesian named Bernardus Senge, were diving for pearlshell from the lugger ‘Bin Tang Putteh’ off Bard Creek in 13 fathoms of water. Albert had previously worked in only five to six fathoms. At the conclusion of the day he came up, apparently suffering no ill effects, but after midnight it was found that he had diver's paralysis. He was dressed in a diving suit and lowered into the water to the depth he had been working, where he went through the treatment of staging. When raised Albert appeared to have recovered, but later his left leg was paralysed. The lugger at once returned to Broome, where Albert died in hospital. Reported in the West Australian, Perth, WA.
  229. 1952 10 15 Motlop Harry Australia Dept of Native Affairs S/S Air “THURSDAY ISLAND�. October 15— Harry Motlop, a half-caste island diver, attached to the lugger ‘Ella’, owned by the Department of Native Affairs, was brought in the early hours of this morning, and died in hospital. The lugger was working in the vicinity of Mabulag Island. Reported in the Townsville Daily Bulletin, Qld
  230. 1952 9 10 Not Recorded USA S/S Air Surfaced at end of dive, either unscrewed face plate or took off helmet, sat on gunnel of small dive support tender boat, it capsised. Diver drowned. No details. Reported in the Chicago Tribune.
  231. 1952 8 1 Malone Hilary Australia DIVER FREES ‘MALOJA'S’ PROPELLER. The services of a diver were required at Fremantle yesterday before the liner ‘Maloja’ could sail for the Eastern States. Her port propeller blade was fouled by a steel towline from the tug ‘Uco’ when she berthed from London in the morning. The ‘Uco’ was immobilised to prevent further tangling, and the ‘Maloja’ - which had more than 1,000 passengers on board - berthed with the aid of two other tugs. Summoned from Garden Island, a Fremantle diver, Mr. Hilary Malone, went down from the vessel ‘Agnes’ at about 5.15 p.m., and using a special underwater oxy-acetylene torch had the blade cleared by about 6 o'clock. The liner sailed at 7.45 p.m. two hours late. Reported in The West Australian, Perth
  232. 1952 7 28 David Jack Australia R & H Hocking 31 S/S Air Diver's Death. THURSDAY ISLAND, July 31.— “On Monday afternoon the pearling ketch ‘Trixen’, owned by Messrs. R. and H. Hockings, arrived in port flying the flag half-mast, indicating a dead diver. The dead man was Jack David, married, and aged about 27 years, of Yam Island. The boat was working in about 17 fathoms of water around Darnley Island, when the air and life lines apparently became fouled. It would appear that the deceased shed his helmet with the object of coming to the surface, but on reaching the surface he was beyond human aid. His body was taken to Yam Island for burial�. Reported in the Townsville Bulletin, Qld.
  233. 1952 6 11 Borradaile Lt-Cmmdr Edward L Canada Military Explosion Aged 42, Royal Canadian Navy diver and mine disposal officer working on a wartime mine reported by fishermen on the beach of Boilla Island, 70 miles from Prince Rupert, BC. He was killed by the explosion, his assistant, PO D Ross, aged 30, suffered a serious leg injury. Ottawa Citizen
  234. 1952 4 5 Sailor Fred Australia Gregson and Lindley S/S Air “Death Of Dive�. THURSDAY ISLAND. April 7. “Fred Sailor, of Cairns, aged about 24, employed as a diver on the pearling ketch ‘Saratoga’, owned by Messrs. Gregson and Lindley was brought in from work on Saturday night dead. About 5.30 on Saturday afternoon deceased was down wearing his helmet and corselet, working in five fathoms at the Barrier Reef, when he gave the signal to be pulled up. The tender commenced hauling in the lifeline, when deceased shot to the surface, with out his helmet. Two men dived overboard and caught him and a third man went over with a line. He was brought on deck, but was apparently then dead�. Reported in the Townsville Daily Bulletin, Qld.
  235. 1952 2 23 Foord PO R Australia Military “Diver's escape�. SYDNEY. Sat. — “Petty Officer R. Foord, 24, a Navy diver, was swept from his feet to-day in a Bunnerong water tunnel 72ft. underground while trying to clear an obstruction. After half an hour he was hauled to the surface by a mobile crane�. Reported in The Sunday Mail, Brisbane.
  236. 1952 0 0 Owen, RN, DSM Norman Warden UK British Rail S/S Air Holyhead, pier demolition using a hundred ton crane, sent in to unsnag wire, trapped two fingers of his right hand between pile and crane wire. "Unable to reach his exhaust valve to adjust the pressure in his suit or speak to the surface. With no chance of cutting the heavy wire, Owen reached for his diver's knife with his left hand and began to saw off his fingers, but as the blood billowed up past him he could not cut through the bone. In desperation Owen signalled to be pulled to the surface and two of his fingers "came away like pegs from a cribbage boar". He collected his tools and surfaced, where the men in the tender complained about his late arrival at the surface. Owen was rowed ashore and walked to the hospital 500 yards away: He remembered being told not to drip blood on the floor".
  237. 1951 8 24 Saunders John Alfred India Aged 25, Described as "Born in Bombay, a deep sea diver who died in an accident whilst working for the Bombay Port Trust. No details.
  238. 1951 5 7 Clark Roy T USA Military S/S Air Lake Michigan, small salvage boat (LCVP – Landing Craft, Vehicles, Personnel) working on a salvage operation to recover a jet fighter that had crashed into the lake a few days earlier. The boat overturned drowning 1 crewman and the Navy diver trapped underneath who “was just emerging from the water in full regalia� . Two other crewmen missing. Chicago Tribune.
  239. 1951 0 0 Fleig Peter Corsica Topsides Czech professional diver, last known survivor of the party that was actually on site when Erwin Rommel's treasure was hidden underwater off Bastia in 1943. Frequenting local bars boasting that he had discovered the treasure. Disappeared in strange circumstances, whispered to have been 'The Mafia'. See 1961, Andre Mattel
  240. 1950 8 31 Not Recorded France "Diver Blown up in Launch Explosion. A diver was blown to pieces at St. Nazaire yesterda when the …" Report dated 1st September 1950. No other details (Pay for access archive) Reported in the Western Morning News/The British Newspaper Archive
  241. 1950 7 1 del Cargo Marcisco Italy Chamber "Two deep sea divers were burned to death in a decompression chamber at Bari, Italy. The two divers had just entered the chamber when the fire broke out. By the time attendant had got the doors open, the two men were dead" The Milwaukee Journal
  242. 1950 7 1 Palazzi Angelo Italy Chamber "Two deep sea divers were burned to death in a decompression chamber at Bari, Italy. The two divers had just entered the chamber when the fire broke out. By the time attendant had got the doors open, the two men were dead" The Milwaukee Journal
  243. 1950 5 7 Otari Keichi Japan Topsides Hiroshima. Diver aged 48, found a Torpedo. He hit it with a hammer and it exploded killing him and 7 others. No real details. Reported in the New York Times.
  244. 1950 4 21 Borden Ralph E USA 5 S/S Air Unemployed war veteran, aged 40. Reported as :- “Four boys aged about 13 were looking for a swimming hole along the Muddy Run Creek when they came across the veteran standing by the bank with a diving suit and pump. He told them he had heard a tale from an old man about a barrel of gold bars lying under 15' of water. The boys agreed to operate the pump but after about 15 minutes got tired and pulled him up but he was dead.� . He was pronounced dead of drowning. The Evening Independent
  245. 1950 3 25 Ayerst Syd Australia S/S Air DIVER HAS TOUGH JOB Sydney, Saturday. A daring Public Works diver, Syd Ayerst (26), of Newcastle, today battled for 10 hours against Murrumbidgee floodwaters racing at 10 to 15 knots to successfully restore domestic water supplies. Ayerst had to lash himself to an underwater pipeline and take down extra weights to withstand the surging waters. Silt blocked pumps at a pumping station some days ago, cutting off supplies to many towns including Cootamundra Young, West Wyalong, Harden and Temora. Reported in the Sunday Times, Perth, WA.
  246. 1950 3 17 Nunn J Australia Topsides “Shark Dynamited At Glenelg. While waiting to be lowered from a pontoon during diving operations at Glenelg on Thursday, a Harbors Board diver blasted with dynamite and killed an 11-ft. shark close to the pontoon. The diver, Mr. J. Nunn, of Solvay road, Osborne, was about to have his headpiece fitted at the edge of the pontoon when the shark, attracted by a string of fish hanging over the side, swam alongside. Retreating to a safe distance on the pontoon, Mr. Nunn and the crew loaded one of the fish with dynamite, hooked it to an electric cord, and threw it to the shark. After nosing the bait for 15 minutes, the shark grabbed it and dived for the bottom. The exploding charge blew shreds of its head over a wide area and the carcass sank in 14 feet of water. Efforts lasting more than an hour to retrieve the carcass, which could be seen on the bottom, were unsuccessful. Fresh efforts will be made today�. Reported in The Advertiser, Adelaide, SA
  247. 1950 3 15 Not Recorded UK "Diver killed in old warship". Diving on the wreck of the 'Warspite" (Went aground off Prussia cove, Cornwall in 1947 on her way to the breakers yard). Another six men were trapped below water in the hulk of the 30,600 ton baatleship for two hours. The explosion was an air blast that blew out an air lock as the men were making the vessel airtight for lifting operations. The Windsor Daily Star
  248. 1950 3 10 Bollard Petty Officer W. UK Military 163 Reported as "Petty Officer Wilfred Bollard recently set up a new world record when he reached a depth of 535 feet in a rubber diving suit. Petty Officer Bollard is attached to the Research ship "Reclaim" at Loch Fyne, in Scotland. The previous record of 440 feet was held by the United States of America. This picture shows Petty Officer Bollard, on left, being congratulated after he broke the world diving record by fellow officer W Soper, who himself broke the previous record with a depth of 454 feet." in the Horshan Times, Victoria. Curious as this is a repeat report of this same record being set in August 1948 but by 'Petty Officer W Ballard".
  249. 1949 12 22 Whap Tom Australia “Diver Finds £3000 Pearl� Darwin, December 28.— “The largest pearl ever found off Thursday Island was recovered last week by diver Tom Whap, in the lugger ‘Galton’, owned by Burns, Philp. It is worth approximately £3000, but owing to its shape it could be worth £4000. It is pear-shaped, of perfect lustre, weighs 40 carats, and is an inch long. The diver, a full-blooded Torres Strait native, will receive 75 per cent, of the value of the pearl�. Reported in the Kalgoorlie Miner, WA.
  250. 1949 12 14 Boitelle Andre Australia S/S Air “Thursday Island Diver Paralysed. A French diver, Andre Boitelle, aboard the lugger ‘Kingfisher’, working new ground at 15 fathoms, fell a further three fathoms in an unexpected crevice on the ocean bed. He was brought to the surface paralysed from the waist down, and at present is in the Thursday Island Hospital. His condition is serious�. Our Thursday Island correspondent. Reported in the Cairns Post, Qld. Another report stated:- DEPTH BEAT WHITE DIVER. One of the few white divers engaged in pearling operations at Thursday Island was admitted to hospital severelv paralvsed with 'diver's bends,' according to information received in Townsville on Thursday. The victim is the French diver, known as Andre, who was brought to Thursday Island by the lugger ‘Kingfisher’ on Sunday night. This is believed to be the first case of the 'bends' this year at Thursday Island. Andre, a former sponge diver from Normandy, has been diving at Thursday Island for about six months. Mr. E. A. Duffield, who has pearling interests at Thursday Island, and is at present visiting Townsville, said on Thursday; 'diver's bends' were usually suffered by divers when about the 13 fathom murk. Present operating depth was about 8 fathoms. Mr. Duffield said susceptibility to 'bends' depended on the diver's stamina. He said the usual practice was to depressurise the victim by raising him by degrees to the surface. Reported in the Townsville Bulletin
  251. 1949 10 13 Wila Poeloe Australia N. Paspali S/S Air "Death of a Diver". Darwin, Friday, pearling from the lugger 'Pam'. "Stricken with diver's paralysis, a Koepang pearl diver died on the pearling grounds west of Bathurst Island, yesterday. It was the first case of paralysis since the war". The Advocate, Burnie, Tas.
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