Below the Edge of Darkness: A Memoir of Exploring Light and Life in the Deep Sea by Edith Widder

Author:Edith Widder [Widder, Edith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2021-07-27T00:00:00+00:00

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The problems began before we even left the dock. A meeting on the bridge of the 204-foot R/V Seward Johnson, the ship that would be carrying us all to Cuba, felt like the makings of a three-ring circus. In ring one was the ship and sub crew, a well-known, highly dependable group. In ring two we had the science team, which was top-heavy with senior-level scientists. The absence of technicians and graduate students, who are often critical members of a research team, was evidence that the focus was going to be on form over function. There were four Harbor Branch scientists, including the chief scientist for the expedition, Grant Gilmore, plus four non-HBOI scientists—two from the United States, who were riding down with us, and two from Cuba, who would meet us there. And in ring three we had the film crew. These folks fell into two camps: the above-water team, led by coproducer Jimmy Lipscomb, a tall, thin, thoughtful documentarian, and the underwater team, led by Al Giddings, a bull of a man in both stature and personality, who’d been involved in underwater cinematography for a long string of high-profile films, including The Deep, For Your Eyes Only, Never Cry Wolf, The Abyss, and Titanic.

As the meeting progressed, further evidence that science was going to be taking a back seat to staged adventure emerged as the discussion focused on potential wrecks we might dive on along the southern coast. Wreck diving is fun, sure, but it had no scientific value for any of the scientists on this expedition.

Also on board was a corporate producer from Discovery Channel, a nervous little man who, I was relieved to learn, would not be joining us for the expedition. The opposite of a seasoned explorer, he was stressing out about everything, including the working title for the production: Cuba: Forbidden Waters. Fearful of rabid anti-Castro sentiments from powerful and highly vocal Cuban exiles and desperate to avoid political controversy of any kind, he was advocating for the far more white-bread title Cuba: Enchanted Waters.

In this same vein, he was also promoting the bizarre notion that there should be no mention of Castro. Besides the fact that that would be like describing a zebra without mentioning its stripes, it was clearly at odds with the whole concept that Giddings and Lipscomb had used to conceive of and promote the documentary. Their focus on the opportunity to explore a place that had previously been verboten clearly didn’t fit corporate’s need for a controversy-free production.

Effectively sharing science with the public hinges on being able to spin a good tale. Clearly, we had the essential elements: fantastic underwater visuals captured by Giddings combined with Lipscomb’s erudite storytelling, revealing the thrill of exploring a heretofore inaccessible frontier. Lipscomb and Giddings had even taken the unusual step of including a political science scholar on the team. Richard Fagen, a professor of Latin American studies, recently retired from Stanford University, was introduced as someone who would be briefing us on the history and politics of places we would be visiting along the way.

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