Silted up in a wreck at 30m

[Nick_lincoln]

I've been debating posting this for some time. After reading Garfs very frightening post about SMS Markgraf I was reminded of my own similar ish experience and decided to post.

May 2007, Clyde, The Akka.
Gas, air. x2 10 L cylinders.
Dive 113 for me.

It was our second dive on the Akka in the trip. My buddy and I were advised of a large hole along the post side of the stern which led into the hold. The holds were open so it should have been a simple case of entering the wreck carefully then ascending out of the hold to open water.

The descent was normal, viz was crappy at around 2m and it was dark. We rounded the stern and moved along the port side looking for this hole. We found a hole at around 30m which looked right, although in my opinion, based on the description it seemed a little small.

A joint decision was made to enter the hole, as we thought we were in the right location and would be entering the hold which was open, neither of us lined in (big big big error).

I can only speak from my own experience of what happened next and as to what I saw and thought.
The space we entered in the wreck was small, definately not a hold. I was about 5m inside when I realised this. I looked left to see my buddy entering what appeared to be a narrow corridor, to my right was a solid bulkhead, to my front was another bulkhead. Looking back to my buddy there was now an almighty cloud of silt where he used to be (if you have ever seen a pyroclastic flow from a volcano eruption - this is what it looked like). Not happy now. There was no way I was following him into that, but there was no way I was leaving him either - at this point I assumed he didn't realise that the silt was behind him.
I took a very quick decision to head back to the hole we entered through, shine my torch into the wreck and wait 2 mins. If my buddy did not emerge within 2 mins, I would line in and try to find him. Good, got a plan.

I turned around to head back to the hole, and hit my own cloud of silt which I had made. Viz now 0. Like diving in lentil soup. Panic started now. Ears felt like they needed to be equalised - therefore I am descending. I landed in something soft, which turned out to be about 30cm deep silt layer. Metal to my left, metal to my right, metal to my rear. At this point I was in total illogical panic, looking around for anything which might indicate an exit and in doing so kicking up more silt for myself. I stopped and had a quick check of the gauges, holding them very very close to my face I made out 110 in the left and 200 in the right - good thats plenty, but I'm still stuck in a wreck, now at 33m with no viz.

Next there was a bright light above me. My buddy had found me, viz was so low that all I could see was a torch beam. We got close enough to be able to just make out each others faces, he seemed to be indicating a direction and that I should follow. Off he went with me to follow. But as soon as he turned around I lost his torch beam. I quickly killed both of my torches to see if this would reveal a glow of where my buddy was heading. Nothing....... just silt, again. And now I was alone, again.

This was the worst bit. As I sank back into to silt I thought about what it would be like to drown, I distinctly remember thinking I wished I'd had a rich nitrox mix with me, then when the twin set dried up I could suck on that, hit the convulsions and die without the pain of drowing consciously. Then I thought about my parents losing their only child and about my girlfriend being told I fooked up. I thought about giving up diving if I could just get out of this one. Then this tremedous calm hit me and I seemed to be giving up. I remember thinking 'f*ck it, theres now way out, why bother' State of mind not good.

Then I seemed to get my brain back. I decided to try to ascend a bit, CLANG!!! no thats not going to work! I moved forward, ascended, ascended a bit more, the viz cleared to about 1/4 of a metre, Yes!!!! In front of me was a piece of metal which seemed to go up, I followed it, viz cleared to 1/2 m ish' and I started moving forward through the wreck. Solid, slightly curved wall to my left so it made sense that this was the edge of the wreck we had come though, so in sinking I had done a 270 degree turn.

Got to a bulkhead and saw a gap which I could possible sqeeze through which I could see had clear viz beyond it. But I knew I hadn't gone far from the entry point so discounted that idea as ultimately it would lead deeper into the wreck. I stopped, had a think and had a look around again. Quick gauge check, 70 left, 200 right. I switched to the right cylinder. To my front and left a bit I saw a bit of generally low viz soup that looked brighter than the rest - maybe the hole?? Closer, brighter, closer - yes!!!! The hole, congrats, you get to live today.
First thought as I emerged 'wheres my buddy'. The answer came quickly, as a torch beam moved in a circular motion above me. I returned the signal and we met up with an exchange of ok's and some ad lib signals which we took to mean, 'that was less than amusing, lets not f*cking do that again!' We decided to ascend, I fired a bag and we did 10 mins ish deco and emerged with air to spare.

We debriefed each other when back on the boat. My buddy had turned around to see the silt behind him and tried to find an exit. But he had stayed above the really thick cloud of silt I sank into, he still had very low viz and got lost himself. Eventually finding his way out of the top of the wreck. But his story is his to tell.

Interrogating the vytecs profile later revealed a drop from 30m to 33m, where it stays for 10 mins. This I have taken to be where I sank from the entry point to the silt at the bottom of the wreck. It seemed like hours, not 10 mins.............

Had a couple of beers that night! Rang my girlfriend for some sympathy and got told I was a tw*t - which is a fair analysis of my actions that day!

Lessons learnt -
1. Assume nothing and always line into an enclosed space.
2. Adapt movements inside wrecks to not disturb silt - or minimise this disturbance. I have practiced this since.
3. I can bring myself back from a panic. In some ways I'm glad it happened as I learned a lot about myself.

Thanks for reading.


Nick

[warmwaterdiver]

Originally Posted by Nick_lincoln

I've been debating posting this for some time. After reading Garfs very frightening post about SMS Markgraf I was reminded of my own similar ish experience and decided to post.

Garf is the one reason Mark Powell earned another £300 out of me for the Adv Wreck course, in my view money well spent

[Sparky750]

Glad your both ok good read thanks for posting

[Mark Chase]

Great post.

For the sake of any one who ever gets them selves in this situation. Always have a spool with you and before trying to search for an exit, tie it off somewhere at your starting point then tie into a second location close to the first. This will give you a directional reference. Then go search using memory of the wreck if possible but if not then use something tangible like a bulkhead on one side.

You have to make a plan.

For example: Did you enter from the top or the side? if the top go to the ceiling to start your search.

If you are 100% convinced you have gone way past your original entry point best thing is to try another 4-5m because 10m feels like 100 in a silt out.

If still no joy return to your start point and search again with another tangible reference. Use your double tie to guide you in a different direction to the first search.

If lost like this minutes feel like hours and inches feel like feet in terms of distance traveled. If your aware of this then it can help reduce the stress.

The good divers will tell you, you should never enter an area out of the daylight zone without laying a line. This is absolutely correct. However in the world of Merphys law even the most simple swim through can accidentally end up as a problem. Whilst its understandable (but still wrong) to have not laid a line, it is totaly unforgivable not to have a search spool.


ATB

Mark

[Nick_lincoln]

Thanks Mark, very useful advice, especially the second tie off.

Thanks to all who have replied.

[Mal Bridgeman]

Originally Posted by Mark Chase

Great post.

For the sake of any one who ever gets them selves in this situation. Always have a spool with you and before trying to search for an exit tie it off somewhere at your starting point then tie into a second location close to the first. This will give you a directional reference. Then go search using memory of the wreck if possible but if not then use something tangible like a bulkhead on one side.

You have to make a plan.

For example: Did you enter from the top or the side? if the top go to the ceiling to start your search.

If you are 100% convinced you have gone way past your original entry point best thing is to try another 4-5m because 10m feels like 100 in a silt out.

If still no joy return to your start point and search again with another tangible reference. Use your double tie to guide you in a different direction to the first search.

If lost like this minutes feel like hours and inches feel like feet in terms of distance traveled. If your aware of this then it can help reduce the stress.

The good divers will tell you, you should never enter an area out of the daylight zone without laying a line. This is absolutely correct. However in the world of Merphys law even the most simple swim through can accidentally end up as a problem. Whilst its understandable (but still wrong) to have not laid a line, it is totaly unforgivable not to have a search spool.


ATB

Mark

Really good advice Mark....I would add that this is *flippin* difficult to do in an emulated situation so not the sort of thing you could perform easily in the mire .... in other words get appropriate training on how to penetrate overheads.

Nick .... great story and thanks for sharing the experience

Mal

[DevonDiver]

Because I teach diving in a tropical location, I rarely found an opportunity to demonstrate to students what zero viz felt like. A few months ago I found one single nasty silty patch at 30m. Great! Nowadays, my Deep and Wreck students are treated to a great introduction to the throat clenching, panic inducing zero viz. My logic is that anyone wanting to dive wrecks or dive deep should have felt what it is like not to be able to see your dive computer when you hold it against your mask (and no, taping up a mask and working line drills just doesn't have the same effect). What I do is get all my students knelt on the bottom in a circle, holding each others tank valves. I then sit in the middle of the group and scoop up big handfuls of silt...within seconds viz in the immediate area (inside the circle) is zero...it goes black. We sit and wait and within 90 seconds it will be clear again. From this demo, I always get a positive response from my students....along with the promise that they will never, ever enter a wreck without a line. Zero viz is amazing and can be terrifying...and you can never guess at how much so until you've experienced it yourself.

[MartyC]

Nick,
Thanks for that, must admit, it's my ultimate nightmare and one reason I don't even like swim throughs - I am going to do a wreck course at some stage but won't be doing any penetrations until I do.

[dublinbay]

Billy Deans used to send guys wanting to do trimix to a cave course before training them. You cant beat proper OHE training. Lost line, lost buddy, search spool, line laying, tie off points, environment awareness etc.
For instance, you might find a shaft or entrance on a wreck that is narrow/shallow but navigable on way in, but on way out the piece of metal sticking up/down/out is now angled towards you waiting to snag on anything you have. Good report. Good effort.

[DarrenA]

Excellent post.

I found the Akka to be a very dark, oppressive dive and a silt out inside it must have been terrible.

I too have found Cave/Cavern training a big help in learning how to penetrate wrecks (not that I have done a great deal of either but enough to know the training is worth it).