Every Rolex tells a story

[Colnago]

Originally Posted by Safetrends

I have posted a copy in the library, check it out.

David...any chance of a link to the thread, I looked in the library and could not find it....would love a copy, the stories are brilliant!!!

[Subfiend]

Here's a link to Jake's article on another Submariner that has an amazing Titanic history.

http://rolexblog.blogspot.com/2010/0...brilliant.html

Jake does an incredible job researching and posting stories on Rolex history.

[Colnago]

Originally Posted by Subfiend

Here's a link to Jake's article on another Submariner that has an amazing Titanic history.

http://rolexblog.blogspot.com/2010/0...brilliant.html

Jake does an incredible job researching and posting stories on Rolex history.

Thanks for that....another great read!!!

[franksremote]

Originally Posted by Colnago

David...any chance of a link to the thread, I looked in the library and could not find it....would love a copy, the stories are brilliant!!!

+1 my search-fu must be weak, I tried every search parameter including a line by line search of the Reference Library and didn't see it in there anywhere. A link would be great!

[Xenophon]

Ten years ago I was taking part in a marine survey just off Honduras. One day I was in a submersible 200 metres down the side reef wall when the power totally went. We couldn't just blow tanks and surface as the wall was slighty concave. We started showing signs of CO2 poisoning as the life-support system had stopped. The pilot and I had to release the CO2 scrubbers from their recessed containers. We also had to manually operate trim valves in order to "yo-yo" up and down to try to catch a current and float away from the wall. My sub non-date took a few scratches and dents whilst doing this. I remember thinking at the time that if the submersible seals broke and flooded my watch would be fine but I definately wouldn't be. After about an hour we figured we were sufficiently away from the wall to blow tanks and surface. There will be no more sweeter breath that I take than when we finally surfaced and opened up the hatch !

[Colnago]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

Ten years ago I was taking part in a marine survey just off Honduras. One day I was in a submersible 200 metres down the side reef wall when the power totally went. We couldn't just blow tanks and surface as the wall was slighty concave. We started showing signs of CO2 poisoning as the life-support system had stopped. The pilot and I had to release the CO2 scrubbers from their recessed containers. We also had to manually operate trim valves in order to "yo-yo" up and down to try to catch a current and float away from the wall. My sub non-date took a few scratches and dents whilst doing this. I remember thinking at the time that if the submersible seals broke and flooded my watch would be fine but I definately wouldn't be. After about an hour we figured we were sufficiently away from the wall to blow tanks and surface. There will be no more sweeter breath that I take than when we finally surfaced and opened up the hatch !

Fantastic.....the stuff of legends......that breath must have been the best ever!!!!

[Johny]

great story.any pictures of your titanic collection. crockery etc. thank you.

[Subfiend]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

Ten years ago I was taking part in a marine survey just off Honduras. One day I was in a submersible 200 metres down the side reef wall when the power totally went. We couldn't just blow tanks and surface as the wall was slighty concave. We started showing signs of CO2 poisoning as the life-support system had stopped. The pilot and I had to release the CO2 scrubbers from their recessed containers. We also had to manually operate trim valves in order to "yo-yo" up and down to try to catch a current and float away from the wall. My sub non-date took a few scratches and dents whilst doing this. I remember thinking at the time that if the submersible seals broke and flooded my watch would be fine but I definately wouldn't be. After about an hour we figured we were sufficiently away from the wall to blow tanks and surface. There will be no more sweeter breath that I take than when we finally surfaced and opened up the hatch !

I've had the same experience Nathan. It's not fun.

I don't have any Titanic artifacts, only photos. Here's another one.

[Subfiend]

While I am waiting for somebody else to chime in and keep this thread alive, I will post another story. Same watch, different adventure.

Two hundred years ago this month, in June 1810, a wooden clipper ship set sail from Jamaica after delivering a cargo of slaves to besold in the local market. The ship was engaged in the Triangle Trade from England to West Africa, across the Atlanctic to the Caribbean where, after dropping off its human cargo, it would return northeast to England carrying an exoctic cargo of rum and coconuts. The ship would never reach its destination. Instead, it would founder in a hurricane in the heart of the Bermuda Triangle, where it would lie undiscovered for almost two centuries.

In 1999, during the hunt for the Liberty Bell 7, a sonar search of a six square mile box in the middle of the ocean, far from the normal shipping lanes, would reveal 88 man-made targets. One target was Gus Grissom's Mercury space capsule; the other was the right size and shape to be a Spanish galleon.

In July 2001, a group of veterans of several Titanic expeditions, would return to this search area in an attempt to refind the "galleon" more than 16,000 feet down. On Day 1, Mir 1 was unable to find anything on the bottom after more than 18 hours underwater. Mir 2 was more successful. Pilot Genya Chernaiev, fresh from finding the Bismarck underwater one month earlier, found a trail of debris that led to the shipwreck. Elation quickly turned to sadness as the explorers found a shipwreck that was far too intact to be anything more than a modern sailing vessel. They knew from prior experience that organic materials like wood, cloth and coconuts simply do not survive in the deep sea, at least not in place near the Titanic. They recovered a few objects and brought them to the surface. Upon reaching the surface, however, it was discovered that none of the objects was more modern than 1796. They had found the deepest wooden shipwreck ever discovered, the fourth deepest shipwreck known to exist.

One two more days of diving, the explorers performed the deepest ever archaeological recovery, the first use of digital mapping of a wreck site in the deep ocean, and the deepest ever use of HDTV, on the only known intact slave ship. They recovered 1,300 Spanish gold and silver coins, worth the equivalent of $10,000 in 1810, and dozens of artifacts.

I made my dive on the third day. As always, I was wearing my trusty Sub Date, which I used to time the cameras, currents and for navigation. I later used it to time my ascent, five hours and 45 minutes. After I returned to the surface at 3:00 a.m., I was met on the deck by Don Walsh, where he congratulated me on taking longer to ascend from 16,109 feet than he and Jacques Piccard did to ascend from the bottom of the Marianas Trench in the Trieste in January 1960. Here are some photos.

[greekbum]

Awesome story and pictures I enjoyed reading it thanks

[andrew79]

great story and it really make history with rolex..... amazing watch.

[Subfiend]

Let's hear from some others. Jetdriver? Anyone?

[Subfiend]

Originally Posted by greekbum

Awesome story and pictures I enjoyed reading it thanks

I enjoy telling the story of this expedition better than talking about Titanic. I have given lectures all over the U.S., Caribbean, South and Central America on this expedition and it's always fun.

[Watchdog]

Cool information on this thread!

[layne]

Subfiend - some great stories there mate. Thanks for sharing!!!

[Subfiend]

A copy of the book is up for auction right now on a certain popular auction site. Auction No. 380240938273.

[GregWormald]

I was diving in the Poor Knights Islands just off the north eastern coast of New Zealand. The water was so clear that floating on the surface gave me a fright because I could clearly see the white sand 140 feet below. Vertigo in a mask and SCUBA gear is not a good idea.

We floated over the the edge of reef and dropped down to about 165 feet so my buddy could film some rare reef crawlers. As always my Red Sub was my constant companion.

My buddy got really involved in contorting himself to get the movies he wanted, and we were both having trouble managing the nitrogen narcosis. "Martini's Rule" says that every 50 feet in depth is the equivalent to one martini--so we were somewhat more than half-cut. Then he smashed his dive computer on the reef and, unknown to us, it stopped working.

There was only one spare tank each waiting for us on the way up. Too long down and we'd have the choice of the bends, or drowning, and the nearest recompression chamber was at the navy base in Auckland--hours away.

I endeavoured to keep an eye on the time, and tried to remember the US Navy dive tables at the same time--with 3 and a bit martini's making me feel pretty good and easily distracted!!!

According to my Rolex, our time at depth was expired, and I tapped my buddy on the shoulder and indicated up. He glanced at his dive computer, and then had a hard look and indicated to me that it was 'cactus' and we'd be going by my watch for the decompression stops as well.

We made it up safely, and to this day I am unsure whether the prickles I felt on my skin for the next couple of hours indicated a close call, or just too much adrenaline.

This was the second time my watch had saved my life. In 39 years it's only stopped while at Rolex for servicing, and those are the only times it's off my wrist.

It's currently in for a big service and a new band--the links in the original band are failing!

Greg

[veidtadrian]

Thanks for posting Jocke! Great read!

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by Subfiend

I've had the same experience Nathan. It's not fun.

I don't have any Titanic artifacts, only photos. Here's another one.

Cheers Subfiend. Great pics. Are you in the Explorers Club ?

[Subfiend]

I was reminded today that my ascent from 16,109 feet took longer than Don Walsh's ascent from 35,797 feet because we had to use the last part of our dive to film a German underwear commercial, but it took a lot longer than expected and we used up too much battery power. Consequently, we did not have enough power to pump water out of the ballast tanks and we were unable to ascend.

I remember falling asleep with a massive headache after the first 12 hours in the six foot wide submersible compartment, just as we were starting our ascent. The Russians do not like to waste consumables, so they allow the carbon dioxide levels to climb to very high levels inside the sub before they finally change out the scrubber material in the CO2 scruber canisters. High CO2 levels cause sleepiness and headaches, among other things, as does exhaustion and boredom, so I fell asleep.

When I woke up an hour later, we were still below 15,000 feet. We had only ascended 900 feet in the past hour, and we still had a long way to go. I remember thinking we might be in the sub for a total of 30+ hours at this rate. The sub carries enough oxygen for three days, but you can freeze to death in two days if you're not careful. Lack of food, water and bathroom facilities is another issue adding to the discomfort.

For the next several hours, I anxiously looked at my watch as we crawled toward the surface. The luminous dial helped, because we had turned off nearly all of our electrical instruments to reduce the power drain. I felt like I was in Apollo 13. Reducing the electrical drain helped provide additional power to the pumps for the ballast tanks and, after three hours, we had reached the same depth as the Titanic. We finally reached the surface after another three hours.

I was later told that we were very lucky. The ship had raised the sonar transponder grid when we began our ascent, so there was no way for us to tell where we were during our ascent. The Mir submersibles operate as a team so, in theory, one submersible could help the other if it got into trouble. But Mir 1 had ascended to the surface long before us. It would have to recharge its batteries before it could relaunch, a 12 hour process. Then it would have to find us in the water column without sonar. We only knew our depth during the ascent. The ship knew where we were, but we could not find the ship.

Overall, this was a very unpleasant part of the dive. But the commercial was filmed successfully, so we had that to be grateful for. Here is a photo taken during the filming:



I found the video on YouTube. Here's the link. Our part starts about 2:35 in to the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOhGqF0Tle8

[Subfiend]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

Cheers Subfiend. Great pics. Are you in the Explorers Club ?

Fellow National, 1996. Former Board Member and GC.

My Explorer II engraved with the Centennial logo is on the left. These engraved watches were made available to members for a limited time in 2004. Rolex specially engraved my Sea-Dweller with The Explorers Club Centennial logo for the final Titanic expedition in 2005.

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by Subfiend

Fellow National, 1996. Former Board Member and GC.

Excellent & congratulations Subfiend. I'm a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society but wonder if my expedition days are too far behind me to try and join The Explorers Club. I haven't done a real scientifc one since 1999.

[cody p]

mine tells the tale of a middle aged man spending more money on a wristwatch than he really should have.

[George Ab]

Amazing story.

[Subfiend]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

Excellent & congratulations Subfiend. I'm a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society but wonder if my expedition days are too far behind me to try and join The Explorers Club. I haven't done a real scientifc one since 1999.

There is an active British Chapter that can get you back into the field. Send me a PM.

[CaveDiver]

Wow, nice read and nice to read these stories. Subfiend, your stories are great..
Here are few I put together from my father’s dive trips. Full of pictures. Not as cool as the Titanic though.

Florida Diving History of 60's and 70's: The Tusk Recovery Trip early 70’s
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=12939

Florida Diving History of 60's and 70's: Recovering Portuguese Galleon Ship Anchor
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=12941

[slevin kelevra]

Very interesting!! Keep the stories coming!

[Subfiend]

Originally Posted by GregWormald

I was diving in the Poor Knights Islands just off the north eastern coast of New Zealand. The water was so clear that floating on the surface gave me a fright because I could clearly see the white sand 140 feet below. Vertigo in a mask and SCUBA gear is not a good idea.

We floated over the the edge of reef and dropped down to about 165 feet so my buddy could film some rare reef crawlers. As always my Red Sub was my constant companion.

My buddy got really involved in contorting himself to get the movies he wanted, and we were both having trouble managing the nitrogen narcosis. "Martini's Rule" says that every 50 feet in depth is the equivalent to one martini--so we were somewhat more than half-cut. Then he smashed his dive computer on the reef and, unknown to us, it stopped working.

There was only one spare tank each waiting for us on the way up. Too long down and we'd have the choice of the bends, or drowning, and the nearest recompression chamber was at the navy base in Auckland--hours away.

I endeavoured to keep an eye on the time, and tried to remember the US Navy dive tables at the same time--with 3 and a bit martini's making me feel pretty good and easily distracted!!!

According to my Rolex, our time at depth was expired, and I tapped my buddy on the shoulder and indicated up. He glanced at his dive computer, and then had a hard look and indicated to me that it was 'cactus' and we'd be going by my watch for the decompression stops as well.

We made it up safely, and to this day I am unsure whether the prickles I felt on my skin for the next couple of hours indicated a close call, or just too much adrenaline.

This was the second time my watch had saved my life. In 39 years it's only stopped while at Rolex for servicing, and those are the only times it's off my wrist.

It's currently in for a big service and a new band--the links in the original band are failing!

Greg

This is why I never rely solely on my dive computer. Thanks for posting.

[scottjb411]

I don't have any fascinating stories about my rolexes, but I'm fascinated about the story of the artifact being found at the titanic site. And the background that was discovered on it. I've seen that exhibit with my wife at the Luxor in las Vegas and to think you helped make that possible is awesome. Thanks

[scottjb411]

Actually my rolex tells the story of a young man who's wife was kind enough to give him a sub for quitting smoking. That's one way to quit cold turkey!