Diver Explains: Typhoon Billy DB29 Disaster

as the barge sank the four divers waited for that one moment that presented the only opportunity for them to survive as the pressure equalized the hatch popped and then three of the divers made their way through the hatch and swam for their lives [Music] brian shepard is 44 years old he's a devoted husband and father to three young sons adam ryan and brett brian was born in birmingham in the uk but he moved to australia to be with his wife gail and enjoy the warmer climate and particularly the warmer water his boys love their dad and they go on adventures whenever they can swimming in the sea camping and horsing around at home but they also wish he was home a lot more than he is you see brian's a commercial diver so he's away from home for over a month at a time and the boys miss him when he's away in 1991 brian is working on an oil part playing barge called the db-29 db stands for derrick barge which is a floating platform that doesn't have its own form of propulsion like a ship a barge has to rely on a tugboat to push and pull it around its position a derrick is a support structure that's built vertically or at an angle to support the work of the oil rig this particular derrick barge is used to lower pipes into the ocean to lay a pipeline for oil to be pumped from the well to the filling station where ships can dock and take on their load now brian is a saturation diver which means he spends about 28 days under pressure so that he and his teammates can connect the pipework on the seabed but instead of diving down and connecting the pipe then coming back up to the surface and decompressing from those depths after each dive brian and his team will come up to the barge deck in a dive bell that stays under the same pressure as the seabed that means they don't have to decompress until after their 28 day working shift the db29 is a flat bottom barge owned by a company called mcdermott who are essentially an engineering company they get contracts from large oil companies to install the infrastructure that they'll use to extract oil from under the sea originally operating in the gulf of mexico and later in asia during its lifespan the db-29 along with two sister barges the db-27 and the db-28 were converted from lay barges to derrick barge that means they started life flat and then had a 3 000 ton derrick installed the derrick would allow the barge to send pipe vertically down through the center of the barge which provides an alternative technique for connecting pipes and lowering them into the ocean someone who actually worked on the db27 reported that the barge felt top heavy and on one hair-raising occasion when the barge was facing sideways to the wind it rolled so heavily on the waves that he thought it'd capsize and sink in its life the db29 had a few close encounters in 1986 she was working in the straits of taiwan when typhoon zeke appeared on the horizon she ran for port taichung and then again for typhoon yvonne when typhoon abbey rolled through the captain billy young was tired of running and losing precious time so he decided to stick it out that decision earned him the nickname typhoon billy when the typhoon hit all 12 anchor lines broke free and the db-29 drifted perilously in the high seas the tugboat jeremiah 69 tried to tow her in but a mirroring line got caught in the propeller and ripped the propeller clean off both the jaramac and the db29 were pushed dangerously close to the rocks but in a huge stroke of luck ended up on a mud bank in a river estuary knowing the saturation diving system had no hyperbaric evacuation system the dive supervisor had the foresight to decompress his dive team in time for the typhoon to hit a hyperbaric evacuation system is a breakaway system that would float free of the barge if it sinks while maintaining the working pressure with the divers inside that would allow them to complete their decompression inside the chamber and float free even if the barge sank below them but none of that mattered because they didn't have one anyway luckily on this occasion they didn't need one she was sent for repairs in singapore and then on to a new assignment in australia but the australian client refused to accept the db29 unless mcdermott retrofitted a hyperbaric evacuation system begrudgingly they did and so the db-29 spent the next few years laying park in australian waters fast forward to 1991 and the db-29 leaves australia and heads back to singapore for maintenance during this routine maintenance mcdermott and typhoon billy took the decision to remove the hyperbaric evacuation system to free up space on deck for more pipe and leave that in singapore after her routine maintenance she started work in the south china sea with a crew of 195 including four saturation divers john lyons from new zealand steve hardy from bradford uk terry dennison from whole uk and of course brian shepard life on board was somewhat mundane john steve terry and brian rotated their shifts their job was to attach pipes and secure them along the path of the pipeline at 200 feet or roughly 60 meters down on the seabed as one section of park was laid they repeated the process two divers would enter the dive belt descend to 200 feet and go to work first one diver would go out into the relatively warm water while the other diver stayed in the bell to provide support after a few hours they would swap temperatures would range between 26 to 32 degrees celsius or 78 to 89 degrees fahrenheit that was one of the perks of the job they didn't have to work in the freezing cold temperatures of the north sea oil rigs when times were tough the divers would joke at least we don't have to freeze our butts off in the north sea after their shift they'd seal up the dire bell and the barges derrick crane would haul them back up the 200 feet to the deck they would reattach to the habitat on deck and go about their daily lives which consisted mostly of sleeping and reading and sharing a meal with their colleagues a habitat is a pressurized dive chamber with bunks a small kitchen toilet and a table to sit and eat and maybe have a game of cards with the other divers being locked up in this pressure capsule for a month was mostly mundane but around this time of year there was the excitement of thinking about typhoons typhoons in the south sea mostly fall between july and september on the 13th of august right in the middle of peak of typhoon season an alert went out for typhoon fred the divers were told that fred was in the area but not coming their way of course in the back of brian's mind he started running through scenarios most divers play out scenarios in their mind especially when they have time to kill but most of these scenarios never really play out and the typhoon passes by without much more than high winds and some rough seas one of the most likely scenarios in brian's mind is that the dive supervisor decides to decompress the divers so that if the typhoon comes their way they aren't stuck in the chamber when the typhoon hits and that's precisely what happened as a purely preventative measure the dive supervisor decides to decompress the divers their working depth of around 200 feet means they're gonna take about four days to decompress but there are also some experimental rapid decompression techniques and brian senses some urgency when the dive supervisor outside the chamber lets the divers know that that's what they're going to do what you have to understand is that inside the chamber brian terry steve and john are somewhat at the mercy of external forces if the typhoon bears down on them they're stuck in a chamber if the dive supervisor decides to decompress them that's what's going to happen if management of the barge decide the hyperbaric evacuation system is to be removed from the vessel they have no control of course they probably get to have some conversation about some of these things but ultimately their lives are in the hands of someone else so when the dive supervisor tells them they'll be decompressing them because typhoon thread is on its way and they have to get them out quickly the questions and scenarios in the diver's mind start to rack up really quickly in fact typhoon fred is going to reach them 48 hours later now the divers start to prepare for some rough weather first they make some food so they have enough energy to deal with the rough seas they make extra because they definitely won't be able to make anything or do any cooking when the sea gets rough then they stir away all their belongings and lash anything that's not bolted down so that it doesn't get tossed around and injured someone then they try to relax and hope that fred passes them by without any incidents john blurts out it could be worse we could all be freezing our butts off in the north sea the rest of the divers laugh ryan turns away with a sinking feeling in the pits of his stomach john looks out the tiny port window and he can see the waves are now washing over the deck of the barge the barge is now being towed back to port and john knows this is serious typhoon billy doesn't run from just any typhoon john then sits down at his bank and writes a letter to his wife sue he says goodbye and tells her he loves her and the children he hopes they'll never read the message but he's worried nonetheless on the 14th of august the diver's decompression is progressing but the race is on one of three things is going to happen the tug might get them to safe harbor before typhoon fred hits they might outrun thread long enough for them to fully decompress or fred catches up before they finish decompression it's a bit like watching a train crash in slow motion brian knows it's coming because he can feel the wind picking up the swell is getting stronger but being pulled back to safe harbor will take days decompression will take days and typhoon thread will build in strength over days it doesn't happen instantly but something is coming on the 15th of august two days into decompression brian looks out the porthole window and he can sense an uneasiness in the chamber the divers are cut off from people on the barge but it feels like the wind is picking up and he's not quite sure but the barge feels like it's listing blisting is when a boat leans to one side because it's taken on water this is different from healing which is when a boat leans to the side because the wind is courted at a particular angle or the boat is turning in a controlled way brian can see the people on deck are in larger numbers and there is a certain worry on their face brian knows that mariners come out on deck in rough seas because they don't want to get caught below deck if the boats six nobody wants to be locked in a tiny cabin while the boat sinks dragging them down to the bottom of the sea brian feels a heavy wave of fear pass over him and he slumps into his bunk then he looks over at the hatch that hatch is all that stands between life and death just then brian feels a wave wash over the deck that was larger than the rest the barge had been slow rolling for almost 24 hours but now it didn't seem to want to roll back brian waited willing the barge to write itself as it always had terry screamed out we're still at 60 feet being at 60 feet means the divers are still in their decompression they've made it from a pressure equivalent to 200 feet all the way up to a pressure equivalent to 60 feet but inside the chamber that's still three times as much pressure as at the surface with that pressure on the hatch they wouldn't be able to open the hatch even if all four of them try to pull the hatch open the only way the hatch will open if the pressure inside the bell is equal to the pressure outside the bell steve is on the radio trying to get the dive supervisor to give them any information but the ship is listing the aft quarter is now submerged there is panic on deck nobody is paying attention to the divers it's every man for himself then brian feels a shooting pain run up his leg the derrick has too much weight extended over the side of the listing barge and it rolls all the way over the barge is now upside down and as it turned the lashing on the equipment in the chamber gives way and something heavy lands on brian's leg he doesn't know what hit him but he can feel the warm blood trickling up his leg while he braces himself upside down in the chamber terry who's 46 and has the most experience in saturation diving shouts to the other divers hey guys we're in the south china sea if we go down here it'll be days before another vessel can locate us maybe longer before a dive bell can reach us and extract us safely that's if we're lucky the typhoon passes quickly but realistically we've got 24 hours of breathing gas that means we have a choice to make we can either hold tight and hope we get found within 24 hours or all men looked over to the hatch terry continued when we hit 60 feet that hatch is ready to open at 60 feet the pressure inside the hatch is equal to the pressure outside the hatch if they unlock the hatch then as soon as they reach the right depth the pressure outside the chamber will automatically pop the hatch open if they leave the hatch locked then the chamber will act like a submarine and the pressure inside the chamber will stay at 60 feet but they might not have enough air to last until rescue comes so their choice is simple unlock the hatch and try to swim free facing the chance that they get decompression sickness or leave the hatch locked and wait in hope that they are rescued in the middle of the typhoon that's just sunk the barge brian looks at his leg and tells the guys he won't make the swim but he thinks they should unlock the hatch that's their best option he will stay in the chamber and prop himself up at the highest point and hope that the air bubble will last long enough for them to bring back some help the other divers are terrified to die they know that brian has just signed his own death warrant but that's not going to stop them if he tries to swim out he dies and if he stays he might survive for them it's the opposite if they stay they probably all die but if they try and swim free then they might just stand a chance to get to the surface and possibly get some help from ryan the decision is made and steve unlocks the hatch nothing happens the divers wait they can hear the wrecked barge twisting and breaking up under the pressure the barge had flipped but it still took some time to completely fill with water and then sink beneath the waves the horror for the other 191 sailors on board is a distant thought for these guys who are about to begin the biggest fight for their lives they know that when the hatch pops they're going to have to swing for their lives and they have to exhale all the way to the surface when a diver ascends with compressed air in their lungs they can't hold their breath as they ascend the air in their lungs expands because the pressure is decreasing and if they hold their breath they'll burst a lung so as they ascend they need to exhale in order to let any expanding air escape brian asks the guys to help him fashion a sling to prop him up if he's gonna survive he needs to save his energy and so they help him make hammock to sit in and hold his head above the water just then the door pops open the water rushes in like a torrent and then reaches the top of the hatch in a surreal moment of calm the water stops pouring in as the water pressure for that depth and the air pressure in the chamber reach a point where they are equal the water stops rushing in and instead starts to creep up while it matches the pressure inside and outside the chamber you can see this for yourself if you take a glass and turn it upside down then swim to the bottom of a pool as the depth and pressure increases the air bubble in the glass gets compressed and the water level in the glass rises brian's heart is pounding this is the moment that steve terry and john have been waiting for they quickly say their goodbyes and then the three divers pull themselves out through the hatch and into the water steve terry and john are now swimming as hard as they can they are exhaling slightly so the air in their lungs doesn't expand and rupture their lungs but there's something wrong no matter how hard they try they can't seem to get away from the barge the barge is sinking and they are swimming up and away from the barge but they're not gaining ground quick enough as the barge is sinking it's creating a vacuum above it that is now sucking the divers down no matter how hard they swim they're fighting a downward current created by the sinking barge over the days that followed 169 crew were saved all four divers died the three that swam free drowned and their bodies were recovered at the surface an autopsy showed they did not have significance enough bubbles in their system to cause serious decompression sickness had they made it to the surface they would possibly have survived saturation divers recovered the body of brian shepard some two months later the diver's decision to try and swim free was the right one had they stayed in the chamber they would have had to wait two months to be recovered but they only had enough breathing gas for 24 hours we don't know if they tried to swim horizontally out of the pool of the sinking ship and then up to the surface if you're ever caught in a current it's best to swim at 90 degrees to the current rather than swim directly against the currents as experienced divers they would have known that and so we can assume they did everything possible to clear the ship before swimming up to the surface brian's autopsy showed that he died of asphyxiation which means he stayed in an air bubble in the chamber until the bubble ran out of oxygen and he suffocates it ultimately being on one side of that hatch all the other determined how they died but the fate of these four divers was sealed long before they decided to open that hatch you

Channel: Waterline Stories

Views: 275,698

Keywords: saturation diving, scuba accidents, diving accidents, scuba diving, scuba diving accidents, decompression sickness, accidents, commercial diving

Id: dDX8mFkUyfs

Length: 19min 26sec (1166 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 02 2022