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Few professions are as perilous as deep-sea saturation diving, where divers descend to staggering depths of 985 feet (300 meters) to repair underwater structures. These often extended, month-long dives require divers to live in pressurized chambers to avoid the dangers of decompression sickness. But at these extreme depths, things can go terribly wrong. Here are 10 deep-sea diving accidents that will leave you shivering.
10. The Byford Dolphin Tragedy
The Byford Dolphin tragedy is one of the most significant deep-sea diving accidents to have occurred. It took place in 1983 aboard the Byford Dolphin, a drilling rig that operated in the North Sea.
Here’s how it happened: On what seemed like a routine day, two divers entered the rig’s diving bell, a chamber used to transport them to the depths before proceeding further into the chamber system deep beneath the ocean’s surface. Initially, everything appeared to go smoothly, with the divers alternating between resting and going out to work on the rig.
On a fateful day underwater, while two divers were resting in their decompression chamber, another two were making their way to the chambers in the diving bell. Everything seemed to be proceeding smoothly, with the two tenders—referred to as the 'drivers'—securing the bell to the chambers. The divers on board were set to move to their respective compression chambers. But as the tenders prepared for departure, they neglected to properly seal the diving bell from the chambers before starting their ascent.
What followed was catastrophic: the chambers rapidly decompressed from nine atmospheres to one, causing the air to rush out. Tragically, three divers inside were killed instantly by explosive decompression. The nitrogen bubbles in their blood expanded violently, boiling them from the inside. The fourth diver was violently ejected through a narrow opening, his internal organs being torn out. One of the divers in the bell also perished in the incident.
9. The Wildrake Incident
The Wildrake incident occurred in August 1979, aboard an oil rig in the North Sea. During the dive, two American commercial divers, Richard Walker and Victor Guiel, entered a diving bell on the MS Wildrake, a support vessel to the rig.
Tragically, the diving bell detached from its lift wire—used to lower and raise it—while at a depth of 525 feet (160 meters). This separation resulted in the bell being cut off from its electrical and heat sources, leaving the divers stranded in a perilous situation.
The oil rigging company made every effort to rescue the two divers trapped inside the diving bell, but their attempts would take nearly twenty-four hours to succeed. During that time, the fate of the two divers was sealed. By the time the rig was able to retrieve the diving bell and bring it back to the surface, both divers had tragically succumbed to hypothermia.
8. The DOF Subsea Incident
Not all diving accidents have occurred in the North Sea. One particularly severe deep-sea diving accident took place in 2017 off the northeastern coast of Australia, involving a company named DOF Subsea Australia.
In this incident, DOF Subsea Australia dispatched several divers to work on an underwater pipeline at depths ranging from 778 to 885 feet (237 to 270 meters). This was among the deepest saturation dives conducted in Australian waters, making it a significant operation.
Regrettably, it appears the company did not treat this dive as seriously as it should have. They failed to supply the divers with the necessary gases required for working at those extreme depths. Upon surfacing, the divers began reporting symptoms such as hallucinations, tremors, and cognitive issues, with some even noting that these symptoms had begun while they were still on the ocean floor.
Upon further investigation, it was revealed that the divers were suffering from high-pressure nervous syndrome, a condition caused by breathing helium at extreme depths. Although the symptoms were temporary and did not lead to any lasting health problems, DOF Subsea Australia was found liable for their negligence and ordered by the court to compensate the affected divers.
7. The Drill Master Tragedy
The Drill Master tragedy occurred in Norway in 1974, claiming the lives of two commercial divers. The incident involved two men, Per Skipnes and Robert John Smyth, who were preparing to work on a rig known as the Drill Master.
While inside the diving bell at a depth of 321 feet (98 meters), a malfunction caused the bell's drop weight to release, sending the bell shooting upward towards the surface.
The situation worsened when the bottom door of the diving bell was left open. As the bell rapidly ascended to the surface, the pressure inside the bell shifted dramatically, leading to both divers' deaths from decompression sickness and drowning.
6. The Star Canopus Tragedy
In 1978, the Star Canopus tragedy occurred off the coast of Scotland during a standard dive near the Beryl Alpha platform in the North Sea. On this dive, two divers, Lothar Ward and Gerard Prangley, entered the diving bell for a routine descent.
Unfortunately, a loose anchor severed the drop wire, life support, and guide wires. Instead of being gently lowered to the designated depth, the bell plunged uncontrollably to a depth exceeding 328 feet (100 meters).
A rescue operation was mounted, and after more than thirteen hours, the divers were recovered. Tragically, both men had succumbed to drowning and hypothermia before they could be saved.
5. The Stena Seaspread Incident
The Stena Seaspread incident occurred in the North Sea in 1981. At the time, two divers, Phil Robinson and Jim Tucker, were stationed more than one hundred meters below the ocean's surface inside a diving bell after completing their tasks on an oil rig.
While everything appeared to be fine, the team remained unaware that the strong tides had caused damage to the bell's umbilical cords, which resulted in the bell losing its supply of air and pressure.
Once the surface team discovered the issue, they immediately initiated a rescue mission, beginning to raise the diving bell to the surface. However, they soon realized that the bell had lost pressure, putting the divers in danger of decompression sickness.
Thinking quickly, the rescue team deployed a second diving bell to the same depth and sent rescue divers to transfer the two men from the damaged bell into the new one. The rescue was carried out successfully, and everyone returned safely to the surface.
4. Venture One Accident
In 1977, an incident involving the Venture One drilling rig occurred in the North Sea. This event, part of a seemingly routine dive, saw divers Dave Hammond and Craig Hoffman tasked with lowering a blowout preventer to a depth of 525 feet (160 meters).
The operation required the divers to sever several loose wires on the blowout preventer. While Hoffman waited inside the diving bell, Hammond ventured out to the rig to complete the task. It was then that an eerie electrical sound was heard over the communication radio.
Hammond hurried back to the bell to check on his partner, only to discover Hoffman floating outside the bell, unconscious. Hammond managed to bring Hoffman back inside and attempted to revive him, but ultimately Hoffman was declared dead.
The bodies of the two men were recovered, and the investigation revealed that Hoffman had drowned. It was believed that he fell out of the diving bell, likely without his mask, inhaled water, and subsequently passed away.
3. Johnson Sea Link Accident
The Johnson Sea Link incident occurred in 1973 when the submersible, known as the Johnson Sea Link, was deployed off the coast of Key West to assist in sinking an artificial reef.
Aboard the submersible were two divers, Edwin Link and Albert Stover, along with the pilot, all tasked with assessing the conditions of the reef beneath them.
While submerged, the submersible became ensnared in the wreckage of the very destroyer it was supposed to inspect.
Rescue operations commenced right away, and the submersible was eventually retrieved. While the pilot managed to survive and make it to the surface, both divers succumbed to carbon dioxide poisoning.
2. Bibby Topaz Accident
The Bibby Topaz incident, a more recent diving tragedy, took place in 2012. During this incident, a diver named Chris Lemmons was working on a subsea drilling structure with the assistance of the vessel Bibby Topaz.
While Chris was submerged, a failure in the Bibby Topaz’s positioning system caused the vessel to drift off course by 625 feet (190 meters). Fortunately, Chris was able to safely exit the underwater structure and wait for rescue. However, in doing so, he became entangled in his umbilical cord, which provided him with air, hot water, and communications.
This left the panicked diver trapped on the seafloor in complete darkness. However, on the surface, the crew aboard the Bibby Topaz was able to regain their position and quickly assess the situation. After 40 minutes on the seafloor, they managed to retrieve Chris and bring him back to the diving bell, where he received the necessary medical care. Thankfully, Chris survived the incident, and since then, the Bibby Topaz has implemented improvements to safety protocols for its divers.
1. Waage Drill II Accident
The Waage Drill II accident occurred in 1975 when two divers, Robert Edwin and Peter Holmes, were working in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland.
During this dive, the two divers descended to a depth of 394 feet (120 meters) to complete a brief task of untangling ropes along the rig. Once the job was finished, they made their way back to the diving bell to begin the decompression process.
However, as they were sealing the bell, they detected a gas leak. Despite their attempts to stop it, they were unsuccessful and had no choice but to retreat into a deeper chamber attached to the bell. This is when things began to take a dangerous turn.
Their supervisor, who was outside the chamber, started pumping helium into it to isolate it from the gas leak. Unfortunately, due to a malfunctioning gauge inside, he was unaware that he had overfilled the chamber with helium.
As a result, the pressure inside the chamber dropped to the equivalent of 650 feet (200 meters) and the temperature soared to 120°F (48.9°C). The two men inside could not breathe properly in these conditions, and after several hours, they succumbed to hyperthermia and passed away.
