Scuba Divers Perish Inside Florida Wreck

Authorities have recovered the bodies of two divers who died Friday while exploring the wreckage of a sunken U.S. military ship off the Florida Keys.

The bodies had been trapped in the U.S.S. Spiegel Grove, which serves as an artificial reef on the ocean floor. A third diver, who was pulled from the water Friday, died at a hospital. A fourth member of the party, who had stayed out of the wreck, swam to the surface when he ran low on air and called for help for the others.

It remains unclear how exactly the three men, all from New Jersey, died Friday. Officials say the men didn't take enough air tanks with them and didn't have a dive plan. They also didn't have dive reels to show them the way back out of the wreck.

Authorities identified the divers as Kevin Coughlin, 51, of Chatham Borough and Jonathan Walsweer, 38, and Scott Stanley of Westfield. Stanley's age was not known.

The men were attempting what is called a "penetration dive," venturing into compartments inside a wreck.

Lt. Don Fanelli of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office said, "The nature of the dive is more treacherous."

The ship is one of the most popular diving spots in the Keys.

The U.S.S. Spiegel Grove is one of the most popular diving spots off the Florida Keys. The retired 510-foot ship, which was due to be sunk to serve as an artificial reef, prematurely sank and rolled over May 17, 2002, in 134 feet of water about eight miles off the Florida coast.

Diver James Lane described a penetration dive to CBS station WFOR: "It's dark. And it's dangerous. Diving is dangerous when you go out near these wrecks and you got to put your life in your own hands. There's no one to hold your hand down there."

On Saturday, divers from the Monroe County Sheriff's Office and Key Largo Fire Rescue recovered the bodies of Borough and Walsweer, who were located deep inside the Spiegel Grove. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the United States Coast Guard assisted in the efforts.

One body was brought to the surface just before noon and the second just before 4 p.m. Both of them were transported to the Islamorada Coast Guard Station.

Both bodies are being transported to Key West so the Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office can perform autopsies to determine the cause of their deaths.

A local dive captain told WFOR correspondent Dave Malkoff that the divers were experienced. "Sometimes it's better to be a beginner because you are more careful."

He said there must have been a moment when the trapped divers knew they were going to die.

"Imagine yourself being down there, 140 feet, 130 feet, and you don't have no more air and you're sucking on your regulator and there's no air and you don't find you way out. So it's a very painful situation before you pass out."

The divers started out from Scuba-Do, a one-boat operation in Key Largo.

[scbadvr1]

If you read the liability waiver/diving agreement that Scuba-Do has each diver sign before ever leaving the dock (we know because we have dove with them before, and this is standard operating procedure with any diving operation), you can see that the each diver must sign that they agree not to penetrate or enter any overhead environment and specifically mentions wreck penetrations. (See their web page).

I am sorry for anyone's loss that knows these guys, but it sounds like they had no business penetrating that wreck for many reasons. This type of thing gives the sport a bad name.

As a side note: when I dove with Scuba-Do's operation, they were very careful and safety-conscious. In fact, they are the only operation that has so thoroughly checked our credentials, checked our log books, and interviewed us about our diving experience before taking us out. I would dive with them again anytime.

[grouperbob]

Now the latest batch of comments is more like it. Good to hear from someone (plural) who knows a bit about the topic. The only thing I can add is that it's never just one little mistake that gets you. It's usually several, and they don,t have to be big ones either. Dead is dead though, and that's too bad. At least a shark wasn't involved. Those poor guys catch more grief whenever it's a slow news day.

[twistedtruth]

All comments posted have been B.S. Unless you know any of these men you can just keep blowing wind out of your arses under your noses.

[thescubatank]

As an instructor with 19 years experience, wreck certified and certified to teach wreck diving I see several errors make by the story posted. The story doesn%u2019t tell whether the divers were using air or mixed gasses. That aside, the maximum limit for a recreational diver is 130 ft. This means that if you go down 100 ft the maximum penetration is 30 ft. The divers were found at 135 ft and inside the wreck, they exceeded the maximum recommended depth. Secondly, they should have had a reel and been using it. Any time you penetrate a wreck, a penetration line should be used. Third, they did not have an extra tank at the entrance or exit point should one run low on or out of air.

Prior to penetrating the divers should dove the wreck and map it. This will provide them with information on the structure of the wreck. After mapping they should make a dive to determine their penetration points. The third dive is to set the penetration line, and only then should they do the penetration dive.

Mistakes as I see them. The divers did not follow the appropriate diving procedures. At 135 feet they were most likely under the affects of nitrogen narcosis and panicked, silted up the interior of the ship, and ran out of air. They did not have a way out because of no penetration line to guide them out.

Dive rules are for the safety of all divers and those that may have to go and find the bodies. The unfortunate part is that the lack of there preparation put the rescue divers also at risk.

[jvman4u]

As an EXPERIENCED, licensed Advanced PADI Diver, I intend on diving this dive, BUT, I'd never attempt to penetrate this dive, I served on this ship for a year before I retired from Naval service in 1975. I know how narrow and long the stair wells and passages are on this ship. YOU have as many as 3-4 compartments before there is another stair well up again. This is a DEEP dive and to make it a PENETRATION dive is beyond my skill level, so I'd question if these guys were AWARE of what they were doing, first off their AIR was diminished due to the depth, and if the were NITROX divers, they should have known there are RULES and training for this kind of dive, and if you haven't been trained, and don't have an EXPERIENCED lead, YOU proceed at your PERIL! ALWAYS sad to hear when bad judgement ends a life, this is about bad judgment, not living on the edge, a simple rule 1/3 in, 1/3 out, 1/3 reserve... a deep dive and penetration required additional equipment and a line and planning, and most of all experienced leadership, it dosen't sound like there were even 3 of those 4 elements here...ONE lead, and two followed, one went for help... 3 died, that's not edge, that's final... this is just sad to hear...

[barbaraf4]

"It remains unclear how exactly the three men, all from New Jersey, died Friday. Officials say the men didn't take enough air tanks with them and didn't have a dive plan. They also didn't have dive reels to show them the way back out of the wreck."

I say they committed suicide.

[nicsim1012]

I'm an experienced wreck and penetration diver. I wonder if the deceased were. If they were, they did what they did full knowing the potential outcome, and were not very wise. If they weren't, they clearly weren't prepared for what they did & Techxr is 100% correct. Except for the "stupid" part. That WAS stupid. Not very wise if you'd prefer to soften the blow. In either scenario.

[tigerbeach]

I taught Scuba diving for 6 years way back in my 20's. I was trained by a Navy Seal originally, who didn't know an easy way to train divers.
I taught for Naui and PADI, 2 of the most respected agencies at the time. I owned my own business in Hawaii and taught divers there. I even achieved IDC Trainer status with PADI, meaning I was training to train new Instructors.
I have been around the dive industry for awhile, and I shake my head sadly when I hear about deaths such as these.
I was very reckless as a young diver,(deep dives, bounce dives, diving intoxicated, messing with animals I shouldn't have, etc.) and remember the saying " there are old divers, and there are bold divers, but there are no old, bold divers."
This industry, it's standards, training, and equipment have changed greatly since then.
Sadly though, these words are as relevant as they were 25 years ago.

[grouperbob]

I'd like to hear some of these critical comments begin with "I'm an experienced wreck and penetration diver", or else save the air. The guys made mistakes, like we all do. What I see is a bunch of Monday morning quarterbacking. Must not be much to talk about since Anna Nicole's body has gotten cold. Bet you guys had a lot to speculate on that one. Obviously you guys don't know the meaning of the word "edge", nor have you ever gotten close enough to truly say you live or play anywhere near it.

[jn122736]

"Um, does anyone need to point out the OBVIOUS to the clueless? they got trapped down deep inside the ship and DROWNED when their air supply ran out, don't need an autopsy to determine THAT one kids!"

Posted by newster1 at 04:13 PM : Mar 18, 2007
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I would imagine that the autopsy report would rule drowning as cause of death only if water were found in the lungs other wise the deaths probably were the result of asphyxiation.