Working Underwater: The Story of the Commercial Diving Industry

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THE COMMERCIAL DIVING INDUSTRY TODAY Left: Astronaut Virgil I. Grissom climbing into the Liberty Bell 7 space capsule on July 21, 1961. The capsule was lost during recovery operations and came to rest at a depth of 16,100 feet. COURTESY OF NASA. Right: The Liberty Bell 7 after its recovery by Oceaneering International in 1999. COURTESY OF NASA. Ongoing technological improvements, the continued expansion of offshore oil production and a generally strong national economy made commercial diving an increasingly attractive career choice for those who preferred a rigorous outdoor vocation as opposed to being behind a desk. Today, commercial diving is a multi-billion dollar a year world-wide industry, but in the U.S. the number of men and women who do underwater work is surprisingly small considering income generated. The U.S. Department of Labor defines commercial diving as: Work below surface of water, using scuba gear to inspect, repair, remove, or install equipment and structures. May use a variety of power and hand tools, such as drills, sledgehammers, torches, and welding equipment. May conduct tests or experiments, rig explosives, or photograph structures or marine life. Excluding those who dive as fishing workers or law enforcement officers, the federal agency reported only 3,370 individuals working in the U.S. as commercial divers. Not surprisingly, the states with the largest number of commercial diving jobs are adjacent to water. The top five states, in number of divers, are Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Washington and Michigan, followed by Virginia, Alaska, New Jersey, Alabama and Missouri. In terms of metropolitan areas, ground zero for the largest concentration of commercial divers in the nation is greater New Orleans- Houma, Louisiana, axis followed by the Houston area. LOOKING AHEAD WORKING UNDERWATER: The Story of the Commercial Diving Industry 44 The ever-expanding technology that eventually enabled man to work and play under water with relative safety has not stopped. On land and sea, the use of robotics is growing. In the spring of 2016, a humanoid robotic named OceanOne made news around the
world when it recovered a grapefruit-sized vase from the sunken wreckage of the La Lune, a vessel not seen by man in nearly 350 years. The flagship of France’s Louis XIV, the warship went down in 328 feet of water 20 miles south of the coastal city of Toulon in 1664. Though originally designed to explore deep ocean reefs, with OceanOne’s artificial intelligence abilities, the dive off the coast of France made it clear that the underwater robot and its successors are the future of deep-sea commercial diving. Oussama Khatib, a computer science professor at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, piloted the humanoid robot from a vessel on the surface. Using joysticks to control the robot’s movement, he saw everything through the robot’s two “eyes,” a set of cameras in an orange head that gives the device a distinctively human appearance, at least from its “shoulders” up. Even the robot’s two arms are reminiscent of human appendages and they certainly are in function. Each hand has, as an article in Digital News explained, force sensors “that transmit haptic feedback to the robot’s pilot. Because of this, the driver can feel exactly what OceanOne feels, helping determine if it’s grabbing something dense or delicate.” A planned modification of the robot will include tactile sensors in each finger. “The human can provide the robot with intuition, expertise and cognitive abilities,” the professor told the Stanford News. “The robot can do things in areas too dangerous for a human, while the human is still there.” In expanding on that, Khatib set forth the obvious for anyone who knows anything about commercial diving: In diving beneath the surface, despite technological advances, humans must still deal with air supply issues and the dangers of decompression sickness. “The intent is to have a human diving virtually—to put the human out of harm’s way,” the professor said. “Having a machine with human characteristics, that can project the human diver at depth is going to be amazing. OceanOne will be your avatar.” In Khatib’s view, the future lies in a combination of old-fashioned human skill and a sturdy, man-like diving robot that can work for longer and at great depths. Man will still have a place in commercial and all other aspects of diving, but he can accomplish much of what needs to be done without ever getting in the water. “[Scientists] see a future where ROVs and AUVs in their present form will cease to exist and are replaced by transformative e-robotics that can roam, hover, reside, and perform all underwater tasks,” notes an article in Ocean News & Technology Magazine (February 2017). Commercial divers in training preparing to embark upon careers beneath the waves. COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. THE HISTORY OF COMMERCIAL DIVING 45
Page 1 and 2: WORKING UNDERWATER The Story of the
Page 3 and 4: WORKING UNDERWATER The Story of the
Page 5 and 6: An early day diver suiting up. CONT
Page 7 and 8: Mainstream Commercial Divers, Inc.
Page 9 and 10: THE HISTORY OF COMMERCIAL DIVING Wh
Page 11 and 12: Oppian in the second century A.D:
Page 13 and 14: ell was lowered into the Tagus Rive
Page 15 and 16: 1788, when John Smeaton (1724-1792)
Page 17 and 18: With the world’s first practical
Page 19 and 20: Charles Deane died in 1848, but bro
Page 21 and 22: usiness beyond salvage work to incl
Page 23 and 24: In the spring of 1841, as Green wal
Page 25 and 26: SCUBA The common perception is that
Page 27 and 28: valve. Exhaled air escaped from und
Page 29 and 30: THE UNDERSEA GOURMET George W. Full
Page 31 and 32: e used in 1972 was referred to as a
Page 33 and 34: In 1878, Paul Bert, a French physio
Page 35 and 36: A two-lock recompression tank (abov
Page 37 and 38: THE HISTORY OF COMMERCIAL DIVING 35
Page 39 and 40: During the war, the focus on diving
Page 41 and 42: diving helped revolutionize the oil
Page 43 and 44: of human divers. Progress slowed wi
Page 45: ADVENTURE ( AND TRAGEDY) BENEATH TH
Page 49 and 50: As the industry embraces technologi
Page 51 and 52: can get up close and have a tactile
Page 53 and 54: THE HISTORY OF THE ADCI FORMING ADC
Page 55 and 56: Again the U.S. Navy played a large
Page 57 and 58: took nearly three years and many ho
Page 59 and 60: THE ADCI CONTINUES TO BUILD UPON IT
Page 61 and 62: CELEBRATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF
Page 63 and 64: SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Delgado, Jame
Page 65 and 66: SHARING THE HERITAGE SPECIAL THANKS
Page 67 and 68: The year 1989 proved to be a monume
Page 69 and 70: By 1998 the company was well into d
Page 71 and 72: services are performed from its cor
Page 73 and 74: young crew member named Ray Kronfro
Page 75 and 76: with Brennan on numerous opportunit
Page 77 and 78: During the 1950s, oil and gas produ
Page 79 and 80: and Alcatel Fiber Optics in Cable l
Page 81 and 82: divers with Eason as the site Dive
Page 83 and 84: comprehensive set of safety standar
Page 85 and 86: “Work was not steady during the e
Page 87 and 88: extensive expertise in marine engin
Page 89 and 90: custom design and fabrication of sm
Page 91 and 92: in/out for lower tunnel repairs. Wo
Page 93 and 94: Global was also one of the first su
Page 95 and 96: McClure started his diving career a
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This primary regional location of A
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photographs and video documentation
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Marine Engineering in Vina del Mar
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years been overshadowed by W. H. St
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Today, MHA is comprised of approxim
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U.S. Underwater Services, LLC has a
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Looking back on a long and successf
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Chesapeake Bay Diving, Inc., based
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ASSOCIATION OF DIVING CONTRACTORS I
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR M IKE C OX Mike Co
Page 117:
LEADERSHIP SPONSORS ISBN: 978-1-944
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Working Underwater: The Story of the Commercial Diving Industry

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