Spies of the Deep by W. Craig Reed

Author:W. Craig Reed [Reed, W. Craig]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Permuted Press
Published: 2020-05-11T07:59:16+00:00

CHAPTER 10

THE DIVE

“Sat diving is not for the faint of heart. It’s not just physically demanding; it’s also psychologically demanding.”

—TONY SCOTT,

Saturation Diver

When Tony Scott was only eleven, he thought he was destined to be a marine biologist. He wanted to help save the whales and play with the dolphins. He was not very interested in the academic side of the equation, so he dropped out of high school to find his fame and fortune at sea. He got as far as the submarine base at Plymouth, where he worked in construction, building various structures and working as a mechanical engineer. One day, while watching the Navy divers suit up and plunge beneath the depths, he decided to join them. He wanted to be like the famous diver Jacques Cousteau.

A variety of companies needed the services of deep-sea divers to help build and maintain oil platforms, conduct salvage operations, and build underwater structures. Many of them hired Navy divers but soon discovered they were adept at diving but not so skilled at construction or mechanical engineering. Scott was, by then, highly skilled at the latter two but was not a trained diver. He took a three-month government course to earn his certification in standard air diving and then, years later, completed deep-sea-diver training.

Scott worked for a variety of firms for about five years and then decided to learn how to breathe helium. Dive jobs were becoming more demanding and required deeper dives for longer periods of time. Saturation diving was maturing from nascent to mainstream, and there was a dearth of trained divers. The demand was high and the compensation attractive. Also, Scott relished a good thrill and wanted to dive deeper into his career, literally.

Although Scott considered himself adventurous, when it came to taking risks, he was never unsafe. He refused to work for companies or in locales where rules and precautions were ignored. This line in the sand often pushed him toward work offered by Norwegian firms. The jobs were interesting and somewhat dangerous, but the personnel were trained and cautious. Even so, underwater communications back then were patchy at best, and upon occasion, a crane operator might drop a load in a dive zone without double-checking to ensure it was clear of divers. Scott had more than once nearly been crushed to death by a mountain of steel and concrete.

“Sat diving is not for the faint of heart,” Scott says. “It’s not just physically demanding; it’s also psychologically demanding.”

A typical dive job requires climbing into a small chamber with two or three other guys, sometimes for weeks on end. “Most of the time,” Scott says, “it’s like camping with friends. But heaven forbid you should get paired with somebody you can’t stand. Then it’s like a social hand grenade.”

The saturation-diving chambers on the Eagle, built into the structure a few decks below topside, resembled four large oval water tanks laid horizontally. Entry hatches and various controls were attached to the sides. Two of the chambers were connected to the two diving bells.

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