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Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] nekton fatality
That's the way Rich tells it, except he has virtually no memory of the ascent. Vance
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Kreemer <paulkreemer@gmail.com>
To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Sent: Wed, 25 Jul 2007 3:51 pm
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] nekton fatality
I had this description of the Nekton accident:
The Nekton Alpha and Nekton Beta with a surface ship were raising a sunken powerboat near Catalina Island, California in 1970. They attached a line to an existing bowline on the boat and moved about 100 yards off to watch the lift. When the powerboat was lifted almost to the surface the bowline broke and the boat glided shallowly and rapidly towards the Nekton Beta, with a steel skeg striking the conning tower of the submersible. The impact shattered an observation port and dazed the pilot Rich Slater. The Beta sank to the bottom and filled with water up to a level where the internal pressure matched the ocean pressure and in a semi-concious state Slater managed to swim to the surface. He was luckily picked up and rushed to shore. His copilot Larry Headlee was found dead on the bottom. Slater survived with ruptured eardrums, cuts and a concussion.
(details from the Busby book)