The President s Corner

Transcription

1 FAIRFIELD COUNTY DIVING ASSOCIATION January 2005 Volume 12 Issue 1 Inside this Issue The President s Corner by Mel Rich, Jr. The President s Corner by Mel Rich, Jr. page 1 Holiday Party Raffle Winners page 2 American Diver Underwater During Catastrophe by CNN.com page 2, 9 Events of Interest to FCDA Members page 3 FCDA Member Ads page 3 Dolphins Save Swimmers from Shark by FOXNews.com page 3 FCDA Calendar of Events page 4 A Submersible Robot Dives for Steamship Gold by William J. Broad pages 5, 6, 7, 8 pages 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Upcoming FCDA Events page 10 Happy new year folks! It's been warm so far, but where will you be heading when the cold New England winter sets in? Some of us will be heading to tropical destinations for some good blue water adventures. Good for you guys! Maybe one or two may even don your drysuits and enjoy some good winter diving. I admit I'll not be one of them. But for most I would say they and their gear are in hibernation. A good time to service gear and then store it properly for its winter slumber. When the dive begins it will emerge much more eager to serve you well. Don't forget that marinade: equal parts water and white vinegar and a drop of dishwashing detergent. An overnight bath in this (NO MORE THAN THAT) will ensure moving parts and fittings such as low pressure quick disconnects work smoothly. A light spray of silicone and you re ready to store it away. I use the larger plastic storage bins for my gear. Throw in a desicant bag or two and everything will in excellent condition when dive season begins. And when it does begin there will some new sites to explore. From May to October we will post at least one dive per month. Along with the old favorites like Cape Ann. To mix it up we're going to visit some sites we haven't been to in a long time or not at all. Some like Dutch Springs are great for family outings. Good for mom, dad and the kids. To see what this 47 acre scuba park has to offer visit their site For now to keep your thoughts into diving join us for our first meeting of the year. Captain Billy Palmer will be visiting us for a talk and video presentation of the SS Blackpoint. She was the U-853's last victim. Captain Bill had the opportunity to interview the Captain and one of the surviving crewman. Both of whom are now gone. Captain Bill has explored this wreck extensively and has some awesome images from deep within the ship. Captain Bill is always eager to educate, entertain and just be his old loveable self. See you all there! Until then, safe diving to all!

2 As part of the festivities of the Holiday Party, FCDA held its extraordinary raffle! The winners and prizes awarded were: Paul Gacek - Weight Belt donated by Captain Saam s Scuba School; Tom Provencal - Weight Belt donated by New England Dive Center; Al Kuhawlik - Shipwreck Map donated by Ski & Scuba; Diane - Dry Bag donated by Ski & Scuba; Jody Brown - Submerged Block donated by Ski & Scuba; Diane - PADI Sign donated by Ski & Scuba; George P.O. Box 3005, Fairfield, CT Internet mail: fcda@aol.com President Vice-President Secretary Treasurer 2005 Board Mel L. Rich, Jr. Mark Shannon Christina Matthews Paul J. Gacek Holiday Party Raffle Winners Danielczuk - Sea Drops donated by New England Dive Center; Mel Rich - Shoulder Strap donated by New England Dive Center; Paul Gacek - Mesh Bag donated by New England Dive Center; Al Kuhawlik - Fish Cards donated by New England Dive Center; Ed Arsenault - T Shirt and Mesh Bag donated by New England Dive Center; Jody Brown - Bathing Shorts donated by New England Dive Center; Judy Kutz - Shoulder Strap donated by New England Dive Cen- Page 2 ter and our grand prize Tom Provencal - BCD donated by Orbit Marine. Special thanks to those who donated prizes for this meeting to help support our DAN Raffle: New England Dive Center, Captain Saam's Scuba School, Ski & Scuba and Orbit Marine. Remember, you can't win if you don't buy tickets and you can't buy tickets if you don't come to FCDA events and meetings! American Diver Underwater During Catastrophe by CNN.com An American woman who was scuba diving with her husband in Thailand as one of Sunday's tsunamis roared overhead said she was oblivious to the disaster until after they surfaced, her mother told CNN on Tuesday. Faye Wachs, 34, was diving with her husband, Eugene Kim, Sunday morning off Ko Phi Phi Island in Thailand when they noticed the water visibility worsened and felt as though they were being sucked downward, Helen Wachs said. Their dive master signaled to them to surface, "but we still didn't know what happened," Faye wrote in an to her mother Tuesday. The enormity of what was happening while they were scuba diving was not immediately apparent after they surfaced, Helen Wachs said her daughter told her. "She said she saw a lot of trash in the water. The dive master said it was really rude for people to throw trash. Then they saw large bits of debris and thought there might have been a boat crash," Helen Wachs said. She said her daughter didn't know what had happened until the dive master got a text message from his wife telling him about the catastrophe. Soon they saw bodies floating past them, Wachs' mother said in an interview from Oakland, California, where she lives. Once they returned to shore, the couple did what they could to help, Helen Wachs said. "I can't describe carrying a moaning person who just saw his girlfriend killed down a hill in the middle of the night," the said. "I saw more bodies than I care to report. The hotel where we were staying is mostly gone. We lost everything, but our lives." Faye Wachs said she was impressed by the efforts of the Thai government and the International Committee for the Red Cross, but "she was appalled at the treatment they got" from the U.S. government, her mother said. At the airport in Bangkok, other governments had set up booths to greet nationals who had been affected and to help repatriate them, she said. That was not the case with the U.S. government, Wachs told her mother. It took the couple three hours, she said, to find the officials from the American consulate, who were in the VIP lounge. Because they had lost all their possessions, including their docu- (Continued on page 9)

3 Page 3 Events of Interest to FCDA Members DATE Jan-Sept 2005 EVENT Into the Abyss: Extreme Deep at the Maritime Center Norwalk, CT for more info March 4-6, 2005 Boston Sea Rovers 2005 March 18-20, 2005 Beneath the Sea 2005 FCDA Member Ads Hey - have you got a non retail-diving business that you d like to share with fellow members of FCDA? Get your business card size ad in the FCDA monthly newsletter Surface Interval for only $50.00 for one year. Give your business a boost and help support the production of our monthly newsletters. For more information, write to FCDA, P.O. Box 3005, Fairfield, CT or to fcda@aol.com. Dolphins Save Swimmers From Shark Man's best friend swims in the ocean, at least in New Zealand by FOXNews.com Four lifeguards were in the water 100 yards off Ocean Beach in New Zealand's semitropical far north Oct. 30 when a pod of seven dolphins suddenly surrounded them. "They started to herd us up," lifeguard Rob Howes told the New Zealand Press Association. "They pushed all four of us together by doing tight circles around us." Howes tried to break out of the group, but two big dolphins pushed him back. It soon became clear why a 10-foot great white shar was heading right for them. "I just recoiled," said Howes. "It was only about two meters [six feet] away from me. The water was crystal clear and it was as clear as the nose on my face." Howes didn't tell the other lifeguards, who included his 15- year-old daughter Niccy, about the shark right away. To them, it was the dolphins that were scary. "They just started circling us and banging their tails on the water," said lifeguard Karina Cooper. "It freaked me out." A fifth lifeguard, Matt Fleet, came up in a patrol boat, dove in and also spotted the shark. "Some of the people later on the beach tried to tell me it was just another dolphin," said Fleet, "but I knew what I saw." Eventually, the shark swam away, and so did the dolphins. The lifeguards waited three weeks to go public with their story because they did not want the shark to be hunted down and killed. Dr. Rochelle Constantine of Auckland University wasn't surprised at the dolphins' behavior. "They like to help the helpless," she said. November 30, 2004; Foxnews.com

4 Page 4 FAIRFIELD COUNTY DIVING ASSOCIATION 2005 CALENDAR DAY DATE TIME EVENT Friday January 28, :00 PM January Meeting Friday February 25, :00 PM February Meeting March 4-6, 2005 Boston Sea Rovers 2005 March 18-20, 2005 Beneath the Sea 2005 No March Meeting Saturday April 23, :00 AM Underwater Easter Egg Hunt/Beach Cleanup 10:00 AM Registration (High 11:14 AM) 12:00 AM Water 12:00 Noon Cookout Friday April 29, :00 PM April Meeting Friday May 20, :00 PM May Meeting (Moved Memorial Day) Saturday June 4, :00 PM Kick Off the Season Clambake Friday June 17, :00 PM June Meeting (Moved - Vacations) Friday July 29, :00 PM July Meeting Friday August 26, :00 PM August Meeting) Friday September 30, :00 PM September Meeting Saturday October 15, :00 AM Underwater Pumpkin Carving/Beach Cleanup 10:00 AM Registration (High 9:58 AM) 11:00 AM Water 12:00 Noon Cookout Friday October 28, :00 PM October Meeting Friday November 18, :00 PM November Meeting (Moved - Thanksgiving) Saturday December 3, :00 PM FCDA Holiday Party

5 Page 5 A Submersible Robot Dives for Steamship Gold by William J. Broad When the 250-foot Odyssey Explorer docked here this week to unload a trove of gold coins and valuable artifacts from the wreck of the Republic, a 19th-century steamer, the Explorer's deck was a blur of activity, bristling with the modern technology now necessary for the recovery of sunken treasure. A seven-ton submersible robot held pride of place. Its flexible arm was equipped with tiny suction cups made of soft flexible plastic for carefully picking up rare coins that can fetch up to half a million dollars each. The robot is one example of the sophistication and technological precision of this salvage effort, which leaders say surpasses any previous shipwreck salvage. Among the treasures brought to land this trip were coins, ceramic pots, 600 glass bottles and some samples of technology from another time - a telescope and the ship's barometer, which probably fell rapidly as the storm grew in strength. The recovery has not always been smooth. When the robot gingerly picked up its first gold coin, it fumbled, dropping it back onto the seabed instead of into the impromptu holding tank, an old chamber pot. One year and more than 52,000 coins later, the team has set new records in deep recovery. From the disintegrating hulk of the sidewheel steamer that sank in 1865 about 100 miles off Georgia while battling a hurricane, the robot has plucked gold and silver coins valued at more than $75 million. And it is pursuing billions more in lost treasure. "We've gotten really good at picking up coins," said Greg Stemm, director of operations for Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. of Tampa, Fla. On Wednesday, PBS will broadcast a National Geographic Special called "Civil War Gold'' on the recovery that shows exactly how good Mr. Stemm's team is. The Republic lies a third of a mile down in the strong currents of the Gulf Stream. The main wreckage lies scattered over an area nearly the size of a football field, making its discovery and recovery a challenge. Finding it took special sonar. Photographing it for archaeological Lessons Equipment Service Charters Travel Air Fills Nitrox Advanced Scuba Master Diver NITROX Divemaster Wreck Diver Lobstering Photography Dry Suit Diver Rescue surveys and artifact collection took powerful lights and cameras. Mapping the position of each artifact took precision gear linked to a network of sonic beacons set up around the wreck. And lifting 52,000 coins and 12,000 artifacts - the haul so far - took the precise control of a tethered robot nearly the size of a tank, its arms dexterous enough to thread a needle. "It's all about computers and digital technology," Mr. Stemm said. "It adds a whole lot of archaeological capability to the operation." (Continued on page 6) The business listed on this page has donated dive gear and dive services to help support the Fairfield County Diving Association. LOCAL DIVING CHARTERSHARTERS LOBSTER DIVES WRECK DIVES NIGHT DIVES TECH DIVING 863 East Main St., Stamford CT SCUBA ( )

6 Page 6 A Submersible Robot Dives for Steamship Gold by William J. Broad (continued) (Continued from page 5) "We're doing it to an extreme that nobody else has taken it to," said Tom Dettweiler, the project's manager and a deep-sea veteran who helped discover the Titanic's resting place. Clad in dark blue overalls, James Andrade, a supervisor of robot operations with a weight lifter's build, showed off a hightech control room crammed with panels and video monitors. At sea, the recovery work can go around the clock, day and night, tedious despite the high stakes. "Most important," he said, "we have satellite radio and an espresso machine." The Republic sailed from New York on Oct. 18, 1865, bound for New Orleans with families, businessmen and a diverse cargo of trade goods meant to help the shattered South recover from the Civil War, its passengers brimming with optimism and a sense of opportunity. The storm hit off Georgia. For two days, the steamship fought wind and wave. Then the engine failed. The crew and passengers threw cargo overboard to lighten the ship. But the pumps failed and seawater poured in. Most people made it into lifeboats and a raft. Of 59 passengers and crew, 42 survived. But the cargo of money - $400,000 in coins, as described in newspapers of the day, including The New York Times - went down with the ship. Mr. Stemm and his partner, John C. Morris, began looking for the Republic in the early 1990's. Nothing came of the periodic hunt until July 2003, when, some 100 miles southeast of Savannah, they picked up a tantalizing image on sonar screen. Within a month, the team had positively identified the decomposing wreck by retrieving the ship's bell. Experts estimated the current value of its lost coins at up to $150 million. Odyssey, a public company, hopes to make a profit mainly by selling coins and setting up shipwreck museums and exhibits. Late last year, team members flew the tethered robot about 15 feet above the wreckage, taking more than 4,600 digital still photographs and turning them into a detailed photo mosaic. "We can zoom in on domino stones and see the dots," Gerhard Seiffert, the team's data manager, said as he demonstrated the technique at a computer, zooming in on an old domino made of wood and ivory. Rare coins have a high priority since their sale promises to repay the recovery's high cost. But at first, the team had no idea how to gather them up carefully and expeditiously when even the slightest scratch could greatly reduce their value. Much testing ensued. The tiny suction cups proved safe and efficient. More troublesome was finding the right holding devices for transporting coins to the surface, despite Mr. Stemm's extensive hunt for solutions. Plastic REX DIVE CENTER Norwalk, CT DIVE Rex Dive Center 144 Water Street Norwalk, CT (Continued on page 7) The business listed on this page has donated dive gear and dive services to help support the Fairfield County Diving Association DIVE Fax Come on in to the Rex Dive Center Home Page at Authorized Dealers for Dacor, Mares, DUI, Zeagle, Sherwood, and over 100 others!! DIVE & SNORKEL EQUIPMENT CLASSES CHARTERS

7 Page 7 A Submersible Robot Dives by William J. Broad (continued) (Continued from page 6) colanders and ice cube trays proved unworkable. Finally, the team hit on large kitchen pots lined with carpet, fitted with wide funnels and filled with a dense vegetable oil that kept the coins snug and secure. By January, the team was tucking away an average of 1,700 coins a day, one every 50 seconds. "Once we got the hang of the arm" coin recovery became fast and easy, said Mr. Andrade, the supervisor of robot operations. The finds include Double Eagles ($20), Eagles ($10), half dollars and quarter dollars - in total more than 100 different kinds of gold coins dated between 1838 and The company says it recovered at least a dozen of the finestknown examples of United States gold coins from the period. Hauls of artifacts included a shipment of leather shoe soles, school supplies, keys, patent medicines, fabrics, jars of food, tons of coal, religious artifacts, chamber pots and thousands of bottles, many empty and some filled with peaches, berries, pepper sauce and pickles. In January the company, confident that the salvage would be financially successful, reached an agreement to buy all rights to the Republic from the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company, which had paid a claim on the lost paddlewheel steamer and become its default owner. The sale price was $1.6 million. This spring, the trail of coins suddenly vanished after the Odys- (Continued on page 8) The business listed on this page has donated dive gear and dive services to help support the Fairfield County Diving Association. The Ski & Scuba Connection LLC (203) We offer a full range of Scuba Diving instruction using the PADI education system, starting with Discover Scuba and continuing up to Assistant Instructor, with instruction in many specialties like; Nitrox, Wreck, Deep, Night, Search and Recovery, Photo Underwater Hunter, Dry Suit and Equipment Specialist. We can also provide a refresher class for the diver who has been away from diving for a while. You will receive superior instruction taught by a Master Instructor with 28 years of experience having trained over 650 students and his staff of Dive Masters. We use top of the line, state of the art equipment that is well maintained to work at peek performance. We arrange and personally escort group dive travel: Fiji, Palau, Yap, Tahiti, Little Cayman, St. Lucia, Bequia, Saba, St. Vincent, BVI, Florida Keys, and many more. Tahiti Aug weeks in paradise 7 nights aboard a luxury cruise ship, Dive Bora Bora, Moorea, Raiatea, Taha a 5 night in Rangiroa Dive the world famous Tiputa Pass We also offer the usual: Equipment sales, rental, and repairs. We put the Fun back into Diving

8 Page 8 A Submersible Robot Dives by William J. Broad (continued) (Continued from page 7) sey team had recovered less than a quarter of their reported $400,000 face value. Mr. Dettweiler, the project manager, said the team turned to pulsing the seabed with a powerful device that worked like magnetic resonance imaging to excite metal objects into emitting magnetic signals. It found copper hull sheathing that showed where the Republic had struck bottom during its fall, but no coins. The team now assumes they lie hidden in the ship's extensive debris field. The 21 gold and silver coins that came in last week are strays. Alexandra Elliott, an Odyssey spokeswoman, said the company had so far made $9.6 million in Republic sales. On Wednesday, the company plans to open a Web site (accessible via for selling Republic artifacts, including coins and a selection of bottles priced from $550 to $1,150. Project officials said they were upgrading the robot with new arms and other gear and planned tests of the equipment back at the Republic site while doing rounds of new recoveries. After that, the Odyssey Explorer is to sail to the Mediterranean for the next project - a deep wreck thought to be the Sussex, a British warship that sank in In partnership with the British government, Odyssey plans to haul up a cargo of coins that experts say may fetch as much as $4 billion. Reprinted from The New York Times - November 16, 2004 New England's Tech Diving Center! New England Dive Center 476 North Colony Street Wallingford, CT The region's foremost source for scuba and technical diving gear, training and everything for the recreational or serious tech diver. The business listed on this page has donated dive gear and dive services to help support the Fairfield County Diving Association Fax Dealer for OMS, UWATEC, Oceanic, Mares, Dacor, Cressi-Sub, P o s e i d o n, Scubapro, Bare, O'Neill and Henderson. Draeger Atlantis I Rebreather training, certification and rental. New England Dive Center offers complete training for all levels of diving, from Open Water through the most advanced technical courses. Our instruction provides certification through SSI, PDIC, TDI and IANTD. Visit us on the Web:

9 Page 9 American Diver Underwater During Catastophe by CNN.com (continued) (Continued from page 2) mentation, they had to have new passports issued. But the U.S. officials demanded payment to take the passport pictures, Helen Wachs said. The couple had managed to hold on to their ATM card, so they paid for the photos and helped other Americans who did not have any money get their pictures taken and buy food, Helen Wachs said. "She was really very surprised" that the government did so little to ease their ordeal, she said. Helen Wachs said her daughter told her they would need "some serious counseling" upon their return to Los Angeles. Once aboard the plane, Wachs told her mother, the biggest thing they noticed was the absence of the stench of raw sewage that had permeated the air. "She said the clean smell was amazing. Wachs, who described herself as "shell-shocked but happy to be coming home," is scheduled to arrive Wednesday morning in Los Angeles, her mother said. She returns acutely aware that many thousands of others don't have that option. "The tourists are able to get out, but those there are left with utter destruction," Helen Wachs said. Reprinted from CNN.com December 29, 2004 The business listed on this page has donated dive gear and dive services to help support the Fairfield County Diving Association. Orbit Marine Sports Center, Inc 3273 Fairfield Avenue, Bridgeport, CT (203) 333-DIVE (800) 395-DIVE Capt. Noel s Diventures!! The Spirit of the Good Life! Grand Cayman February 18-25, 2005 Winter Break Cayman Brac March 20 - April 3, 2005 Tuluum, Mexico April 27 - May 1, 2005 Turks & Caicos May 26-30, Memorial Day Weekend Little Cayman 30 - July 4, 2005 Freeport, Bahamas August 3-7, Captain Noel s Birthday North Carolina July 29-Aug 6, 2005 S. Florida & the Keys September 1-5, Labor Day Weekend Bonaire October 1-5, 2005 Truk Lagoon October 14-24, 2005 Belize November 9-13, 2005 PLEASE BUY LOCAL! Mail order/internet sales hurt all local retailers. We re the ones who fill your tanks, service your gear, train you to dive, take you out diving and REALLY CARE ABOUT YOU! SUPPORT US SO WE CAN SUPPORT YOU! Orbit Marine is 32 Years Old! Orbit Scuba Courses listing Open Water Advanced Open Water Rescue Diver Underwater Photography Wreck Diver Divemaster Assistant Instructor Instructor, Nitrox Advanced Nitrox Cylinder Inspector DAN O2 Provider Deep Diver Night diver Underwater Navigation Visit Orbit Marine on the Web -

10 Page 10 Upcoming FCDA Events Next FCDA Meeting - Friday, January 28, :00 PM Coast Guard Cottage - South Benson Marina - Fairfield, CT SS Blackpoint - Last Victim of U-853 a video presentation by Captain Bill Palmer Fairfield County Diving Association P.O. Box 3005 Fairfield, CT Address Service Requested