http://www.darwinawards.com/slush/200509/pending20050920-094300.html

21st May 2005 - Whitsand Bay: Raymond Thomas,47, was one of a group of six divers who visited the wreck of the James Egan Layne, a US liberty ship that was torpedoed on her maiden voyage in 1945. Only five divers returned.

Well, technically, all six did actually return - but the sixth of them went back down - and even returned again.

Raymond had, of course, very safely set up a divers marker bouy at the site, to warn passing boats to stay away. When the group returned, however, at the end of their air supplys, he was naturally dismayed when he realised this all-important safety item was still tethered firmly to the bottom of the sea. And it had cost him all of £30! He had to have it back.

The good Samaritan Neil Richards, who was supervising the diving, said that Raymond and his dive partner Andy Pritchard could have his bouy. But Raymond was determined to salvage his bouy. He fooled Neil into thinking he was returning to sever the line, retrieving only the bouy itself. But he had greater plans then that.

He went down, and began following the line back down to the sea floor. Andy realised that recovery of a safety device should be done in the safest possible manner, and so, in acordence with his dive training, followed him down. But he was running out of air, and gestured to Raymond to share his air with him. But Raymond responded by signaling that he too was running out of air. Despite this Raymond was determined to perservere. Andy, very sensibly, decided enough was enough, and exited the water.

At this point I must explain to the non-diver how bouyency is changed underwater. It is all courtesy of the Bouyency Control Device (BCD). The BCD is simply a jacket the diver wears over his wetsuit. To change bouyency air is pumped into the BCD from your air tank(s) - the same one(s) you breathe from. Also, both wetsuits and drysuits, whichever was being used here, are highly bouyant. This means that several kilos of lead weights must go around the divers waist attached to a weight belt. For safety reasons this can be released quickly if required. The signifigance of these facts shall become aparant in a moment.

Meanwhile, Raymond had given up trying to salvage his bouy, as he had breathed all his air. So, atmiting defeat, he raised the inflater hose attached to his BCD, and pressed the button that would pump it full of air and take him to the surface.

Nothing happened. He had allready breathed all his air. He could have dumped his weights and swum up. But evidently, after risking his life to save one safety device, he was going to finish himself off saving his weights instead of himself. He tried to swim up with the weights, instead of dumping them. His dive flippers would propel him swiftly to the surface.

What he didn't take into account was that since flippers move such a large quantity of water they are actualy more tiring per stroke then standard swimming. It was too much on his allready oxygen deprived body. He managed to reach the surface, and so his last gasp was not from a tank but the fresh air, and the he sank back beneath the waves.

Even then he did not remove his weights, and they caried him to the bottom, where he drowned.

Reports don't mention if the bouy was removed, so it may still be there, reminding divers of the fact that Raymond Thomas was a very safety conscience man, and of the extremely unsafe measures he went to to ensure his futuer safety.

Submitted on 10/23/2005

Submitted by: Iain Macdonald
Reference: bbc news, PADI dive courses

Copyright © 2005 DarwinAwards.com

James said:
Neutral: For Darwin's Eyes
Your original submission made the cut; I vote to let Darwin have a look at the new write-up and decide. BTW is a typo in a critical spot (..."cost him all of �30!"...was that supposed to be a dollar sign or pounds sterling?)...Thanks!

Greg said:
Neutral: Repeat
Ditto. I remember voting yes for this first time around. Worth keeping the story, though it doesn't need to be voted on again. Ps - That's no typo - that's us not handling special characters properly ... oops. ;-) I'm guessing it's a dollar sign, given the locale.

Jorge said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award

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