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11/4/12 5:36 AMSanta Barbara News-Press : Daily newspaper since 1855
Page 1 of 4http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=LOCAL&ID=566523500161007657
Don Barthelmess, professor of marine divingtechnology at Santa Barbara City College,
stands with the new Santa Barbara MaritimeMuseum exhibit honoring local legendary
diver Dan Wilson on the 50th anniversary ofMr. Wilson's historic 400-foot helium dive.
ROBBY BARTHELMESS/NEWS-PRESS
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A deep dive that changed history : Dan Wilson remembered on 50th anniversaryBy KELLY HOOVER, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
November 4, 2012 12:34 AM
The world of diving was forever changed 50 years ago today off thecoast of Santa Barbara by an innovative abalone diver who had notonly grand ideas, but also the guts and the smart people around himto make them happen.
It was Nov. 3, 1962, and 32-year-old Hugh "Dan" Wilson made adangerous, record-setting dive on the east end of Santa Cruz Islandoff a commercial fishing boat, the Rio Janeiro.
Mr. Wilson, who died in 2007 at 76, saw an opportunity to help theoffshore drilling industry tap into hard-to-reach spots in the SantaBarbara Channel more than
250 feet underwater, beyond what commercial divers could reachusing the air-breathing equipment available at the time.
Mr. Wilson secretly plotted, planned and did what many consideredcrazy. He altered his abalone diving helmet to use helium mixed withoxygen, a practice the Navy was using for special operations, tomake it possible to dive 400 feet.
It was an accomplishment that immediately captured the attention ofpetroleum companies and catapulted Mr. Wilson, along with manylocal divers, into the international spotlight of commercial diving andof creating state-of-the-art underwater technology.
Mr. Wilson went on to invent the first diving bell of its kind, whichcould protect divers while they were decompressing. The bell is onpermanent display at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum.
Although this 50th anniversary of the historic dive could easily gounnoticed, it is an important occasion for Don Barthelmess, SantaBarbara City College professor of marine diving technology.Although the professor only met Mr. Wilson once in 1992, at theinaugural meeting of the Historical Diving Society in Santa Barbara,he has spent the countless hours the past several years researchingand writing about the historical significance of Mr. Wilson's dive.
Mr. Barthelmess' fascination was piqued when he attended Mr.Wilson's memorial service at the Santa Barbara Yacht Club, whichwas also attended by many of the biggest names in the diving world.
Mr. Wilson, a father of four, died after a long battle with a raredisease called progressive supra-nuclear palsy.
"It was a 'who's who' in the diving world," Mr. Barthelmess said."People came from all over to pay homage to Dan. It dawned on methat if Dan didn't do what he did, the other guys couldn't have donewhat they did.
"He didn't really get his place in diving history that he deserved," Mr.Barthelmess said. "The least we can do is recognize his efforts andthe folks around him that helped him get where he was."
Some of those who were a part of Mr. Wilson's effort to developunderwater technology are still living in Santa Barbara andremember the game-changing dive as if it were yesterday.
Immediately following the dive, Lad Handelman, Walter "Whitey"Stefens and Ken Elmes, who owned the Santa Barbara Fuel Dock,started a company with Mr. Wilson called General Offshore Divers.
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11/4/12 5:36 AMSanta Barbara News-Press : Daily newspaper since 1855
Page 2 of 4http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=LOCAL&ID=566523500161007657
Santa Barbara abalone divers Bev Morgan,left, and Bob Kirby partnered in 1965 with
their first shop at the Santa Barbara Airportto build diving equipment in support of
deepwater mixed-gas diving. Today, KirbyMorgan Diving Systems is the world's largest
manufacturer of diving life-supportequipment, with offices in Santa Barbara
and Santa Maria.
Mr. Wilson decompresses underwater aftercompleting a record-setting dive to 400 feet
Nov. 3, 1962, off Santa Cruz Island. ABrooks Institute of Photography student
observes as a safety diver.
COURTESY SANTA BARBARA MARITIMEMUSEUM
Santa Barbara abalone diver Dan Wilsonconceived and built the world's first
commercial diver lockout bell, Purisima, in1964. He is shown here at his Santa Barbara
shop on Gutierrez Street with his partner,local diver and resident Whitey Stefens, who
is climbing into the bell prior to testing.Purisima is now on permanent display in
front of the Santa Barbara MaritimeMuseum.
COURTESY BEV MORGAN
started a company with Mr. Wilson called General Offshore Divers.
Although they had a falling out and the company ultimately wasbought out, they can't deny that Mr. Wilson was a go-gettingpioneer.
"He was a dreamer, but he acted on his dreams," Mr. Barthelmesssaid. "When people would say 'Why,' he would say 'Why not?'"
Mr. Handelman went on to create Oceaneering International, which ispublicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and is among theworld's largest marine contractors.
"Dan Wilson risked his life to prove a point to the oil companies andthat was important. He was not only brilliant; he was not afraid to tryhis ideas," Mr. Handelman said.
The diving world was amazed that Mr. Wilson had the courage toattempt the famous dive using only a small commercial fishing boatwith no decompression chamber on board, a small crew and thehomemade helmet he had created.
"If any of the equipment had malfunctioned or if the weights hadslipped off, he would have suffered a 'blow up' and would haveresurfaced quickly and likely died of severe compression sickness,"said Mr. Barthelmess who preaches diving safety in his SBCC classes.
"If I had been one of the divers at the time I would have thought hewas crazy because I am not a risk taker as a diver. There is a sayingthat there are old divers and bold divers but there are not old, bolddivers."
Mr. Wilson's oldest son, Dan Wilson of Bozeman, Mont., said hedoesn't remember being scared for his father, but knows his mother,Dorothy, was worried.
"She was really nervous and didn't know if he was going to comeback up," the younger Wilson said. "So I knew he was really taking achance but he was always doing crazy things, so I wasn't worried.
"I helped tape the air hose, the helium hose and the communicationwire all together. We laid the 400-plus feet of hose out on the streetin front of our tract home in Goleta and I remember kids running upand down the street asking us what we were doing."
It may sound exciting, but being the child of a man who "neverstopped thinking" was often difficult, young Mr. Wilson said.
"He always had projects, three of four at a time and immersedhimself in subject matter. His mind never rested."
He said his father was introduced to science methodology and divingwhile living with his grandmother as a child in Wilmington.
"He attributed his ability to come up with unique solutions and hisunderstanding of scientific method to a retired teacher named 'Chub,'who was his neighbor."
In junior high, Mr. Wilson made his first big, risky dive in the LosAngeles River with a group of friends. After that, was hooked.
"He was a born diver, chose what he wanted to do early on andexcelled in the field he chose," his son said.
The abalone business is what brought Mr. Wilson and his family toSanta Barbara. His son said Mr. Wilson was doing well as acommercial fisherman but wanted to make more money and saw theoffshore drilling business as the perfect chance.
At the time, Associated Divers, a loose cadre of commercialconstruction divers, dominated the diving work in Santa Barbara andSouthern California.
However, they didn't have the technology to go past about 250 feetof water and explore for more than 25 minutes, which is what thepetroleum companies needed.
"Associated Divers knew about oxy-helium diving but didn't want todeal with trying to modify or come up with a more efficient helmet,"Mr. Barthelmess said.
The helmet the Navy used for its helium dives was heavy, expensiveand impractical.
"(Mr. Wilson) found a way around the $5,000 cumbersome helmetthe Navy used and invented his own. It's brilliant because it's simple,and he used items from the shelf to make it happen," Mr.Barthelmess said.
After Mr. Wilson's successful dive, there was a frenzy to be the firstto develop the new gear.
"That dive created what I call the Santa Barbara helium rush, or theevolution of underwater technology," the young Mr. Wilson said. "Weneeded all new equipment and we had to create it and there was aworldwide demand for divers. They suddenly had an underwater
11/4/12 5:36 AMSanta Barbara News-Press : Daily newspaper since 1855
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General Offshore Divers was formed shortlyafter Mr. Wilson's historic record dive to 400feet on Nov. 3, 1962. Pictured here in SantaBarbara Harbor with the Purisima diving bellthat they built are, standing from left, DanEden, Al McCready, Whitey Stefens, MitchPimentel, Bob Ratcliffe, Jack Strickland,
Kevin Lengyel and Billy Bossert. Kneelingare Bob Christensen, left, and Gene
Handelman.
Mr. Wilson had his abalone "heavy gear"diving helmet, left, modified by Santa
Barbara Radiator Shop to convert it for usewith oxy-helium. The modern Superlite 77 at
right is now the world standard.
COURTESY DON BARTHELMESS AND KMDSIINC.
worldwide demand for divers. They suddenly had an underwatermarket-driven economy."
Local abalone divers Bev Morgan, Bob Ratcliffe, Bob Christensen andBob Kirby, among others, helped to create the new helmets,breaking away from the "old school" copper version and introducingthe commercial lightweight helmet.
Today, Kirby Morgan Diving Systems, based in Santa Barbara, is theworld's largest manufacturer of these types of helmets.
Just two years after the dive, Mr. Wilson achieved another first byinventing the world's first-ever diving bell, named Purisima afterPurisima Point, where he dreamed up the bell while abalone diving.
The commercial lockout bell is made up of two spheres. The top ofthe bell housed the engineers to observe the work, and the bottomsection protected the divers during their decompression.
It was around this time that Mr. Wilson nearly died using oxy-helium.His crew lost communication with him during a dive, and his businesspartner, Mr. Stefens, found him in bad shape.
"His face was dark and his hose was tangled up," Mr. Stefensrecalled. "I brought him up and on the way, when we were stoppingat points to decompress, he went crazy and tried to climb up thehose and I couldn't hold him."
Mr. Wilson suffered oxygen toxicity and explosive decompressionsickness from his rapid ascent to the surface. Although he recovered,he never made another oxy-helium dive.
Mr. Wilson retired at age 47 and went on to sail around the world with his wife. His son said he never stoppedcoming up with ideas.
"He made a name for Santa Barbara in the diving world and the people who worked with him went on to do greatthings," the younger Mr. Wilson said.
"I was proud of being a part of it and still am proud of it. There were a lot of people who had their hand and foot init," said Mr. Stefens.
According to Mr. Barthelmess, who will make a multimedia presentation on Mr. Wilson's 400-foot dive to theHistorical Diving Society next Saturday, the 50th anniversary is a proud moment for Santa Barbara.
"This dive made Santa Barbara the birthplace for deepwater commercial diving and allowed our industry to rapidlydevelop," he said.
To learn more about Mr. Wilson's dive, visit the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, where a new exhibit on the firstcommercial oxy-helium dive will be unveiled to the public Friday. A reception for the new exhibit will be held from5:30 to 7:30 p.m. For more information go to www.sbmm.org.
email: [email protected]
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