Ten years ago a diver could jump on a local boat, be whisked off to an offshore location, jump in a cage and see the spectacular endemic pelagic shark species. Tragically, the Pacific shark finning trade has drastically depleted shark populations, and these charters were ceased…until now. Ocean Explorers (www.SDoceanexplorers.com), a San Diego dive business providing training and trips, is now running blue water shark trips, and they’re having outstanding success at locating and diving (non-cage) with the sharks. Not only can you now dive with large sharks locally, but you can do it for under $150.

San Diego’s blue waters are home to two of the world’s most elegant elasmobranchs – the Blue shark (Prionace glauca) and the Shortfin Mako (Isurus oxyrinchus). Blues are a slender shark, able to reach over twelve feet long, and are adapted for long migrations to patrol the open ocean for a meal. Blues are notorious for turning up at the right place at the right time to gorge on seasonally abundant food. The mating and spawning squid off California are a prime example of this. Although found in many of the world’s oceans, San Diego is listed as one of the premier Blue shark diving locations (The Shark Watcher’s Handbook, Mark Carwardine and Ken Watterson, 2002). San Diego is also one of the top Mako diving locations. Makos are a pursuit predator, and actively chase down fleeing prey. The Mako has a sophisticated countercurrent circulatory system, which basically means they are endotherms (warm-blooded), which is an adaptation for fast swimming and gives them an advantage over cold-blooded prey.

On December 4th 2010 Ocean Explorers headed out on one of their blue water shark trips aboard the Andrea M. She is the ideal boat for such a trip, as she is towed to the optimum launch ramp for the planned dive site and is an extremely fast and stable aluminum chambered hull boat. We loaded up our gear onto the boat at 6:30am at Dana Launch ramp in Mission Bay and were on our way at 7:00am. On the way out we were served Brie and crackers, pita chips and dip. With sandwiches and clam chowder to come, gourmet food for a day charter, I started to feel like I should have brought a nice Bordeaux wine instead of beers for the journey back in. Motoring at twenty six knots, it only took us an hour to reach our destination thirteen nautical miles due west of Torrey pines.

With over-cast skies and a cold wind blowing, we began chumming the water. All eyes scanned the water’s surface, and we waited patiently for three hours with only a few Mola molas sighted. Although it is normal for the pelagic sharks not to show for three to five hours, we were all thinking the same thought: will we get sharks today?
After three and a half hours of chumming, the skies cleared and the wind died. As the seas calmed I spotted a dorsal fin break the surface around the chum bucket. Our guest had arrived. It was a juvenile three foot Blue shark. As fast as lightning, we all donned our wetsuits and splashed. To our disappointment the animal took off and none of us saw it sub-surface. Climbing back onto the boat we all hoped another would show.
After half an hour Captain Danny Howard yelled out, “shark!” A beautiful six foot Blue could be seen circling the bucket. Then a second six foot Blue joined as we were entering the water. With all others free diving (to not scare away the sharks with noisy bubbles) and me on my rebreather, nice and silent, we hovered around the chum bucket patiently waiting to see if the sharks had fled or if they were players and would return. For the next three hours, we experienced ultimate blue water shark diving.
We all hung between the boat and bucket, looking through the clear blue water into the cloudy, oily slick of chum. First the male Blue would come in. Ignoring us, he would head directly for the bucket and after a little taste would change direction and vanished into the slick. Next the female would appear. She would approach a diver inquisitively, and a little push to the nose would deter her enough to move onto the next diver. After investigating all individuals she, like the male, would taste the bucket and retreat out of view. After a minute, both would return and repeat the dance. Respectfully, one to two divers at a time would don their scuba equipment and join the free divers in the water to not scare the sharks off with excessive bubbles. For the entire three hours, on my rebreather, I hung at five to fifteen feet waiting for the female to come investigate me. She would swim directly towards me, pectoral fins spread. To avoid a test nibble, all that was required from me was to place my hand on the top of her nose and push her down. I could see her enormous coal black eye looking at me, and then as she swam beneath me, I would stroke my hand along the length of her indigo-blue satin back. To our amazement a third Blue decided to join in the fun to finish off the diving for the day.

After four hours of stunning shark encounters, all boarded the boat, cracked open some beers and pulled the chum buckets closer to the boat. For the next hour we enjoyed good beer and good cheer as we admired the beautiful sharks beneath us and the biblical sunset before us.

Words and photos by Michael Kazma

BIO:
Michael Kazma completed his Open Water Diver certification at age 13 in Beirut, Lebanon. He advanced through the recreational and technical diver and instructor courses, and at 18 became an Advanced Nitrox Instructor. After instructing in Lebanon and then Hawaii, he moved to California, where he fell in love with wreck and shark diving. Currently, Michael is a technical scuba instructor, CCR diver, scientific research diver and has logged well over 1000 logged dives.

In this article, I will walk you through a simple image-editing progression in Photoshop, starting with the Camera RAW dialog box, and continuing through a couple of basic edits in Photoshop. Whether you use Photoshop or another editing program, the options and principles will be the same…

Note: This story is featured in our current May/June issue, and we’re adding it here so subscribers can download the working RAW file linked below. If you would like to read the full story now, download a copy of this issue through Zinio.com by clicking here.

Download working files here:
RAW_Original.CRW

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Story and photos by Dave Ditta
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I love a challenge, and often times everyday life doesn’t throw enough of them at us. Real challenges, like swimming through a stiff current and trying to remain silent enough to not scare away timid creatures, or rolling overboard to chase a Mola-mola without your fins…heck, anyone can sit in traffic, where’s the challenge there?

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Words & Photos by Mike Bartick
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Like most people, I began shooting digital photos with a compact camera that allowed me some flexibility when it came to lens decisions. One of my favorite photos was shot with my old Oly stylus. But then something happens once you decide to shoot with an SLR, the decision of what to shoot needs to be made before the dive, which often hampers the newbie photographer and the experienced alike.

Wide angle photography offers many options in the way of composition, natural lighting, capturing animal behavior, wrecks, split photos, sun-balls and much more. And  It enables the photographer the chance to capture incredible sea-scapes and natural drama as it quickly unfolds.

Wide angle lenses can range from ultra wide 8mm to 17mm, with several choices in between. Fisheye, zoom, prime and rectilinear lens choices exist throughout most of the lens manufacturers. These shorter lenses offer a broader range of view and an increased depth of field. Most wide angle lenses l,ike my trusty  Nikor 10.5mm lens, offers  dramatic depth of field, keen colorful contrast, razor sharp images and can focus in very low-light situations, perfect for underwater photography. Shooting wide allows the viewer to connect with the image and rarely needs an explanation as to what the viewer is looking at. What the viewer often doesn’t understand is how close a photographer needs to be to catch the action in life like form.

This is all nice to talk about but how do we shoot wide angle in California, Simply put…change your lens..but yes there is a little more to it, so let’s look at a few tips.

First, make the switch to manual lighting and forget about TTl. TTl lighting is often dictated throught the camera algorithm which is set for land photography. Operating either by a series of pre-flash metering or by single flash, the idea here is to give a perfect exposure everytime. This is a very effective way of lighting things evenly but a little flat for my taste and counter productive for wide angle shooting.

Take a look at your magazine and think of a photo as a whole.  In short, recognize the layers of the photo and break it down. There are three key areas to pay close attention to:

Foreground – Something stationary like a sea fan or coral head, even your subject matter that the eye is attracted to.

Midground – This is the area where the artificial light produced by strobe power and ambient light produced by solar power mix and blend.

Background – This is where ambient lighting takes over completely.

These three key areas in the photo will intermingle and melt into each other through the entire frame. Incorporating artificial and ambient light will add color and vibrance. Negative space or a black unlit area will add natural saturation to the photo and models or friends will also help the photo to come alive.

Lighting is the main thing that many photographers overlook and is everything when shooting underwater. Turning the strobe power down will help exposures when shooting at a closer distance.  Adjusting the strobe to 1/8^th power and slowly increase output to ½ Power. Soft lighting is far better than overexposure and the “recovery” button in photo shop only does so much. Besides that, reducing the output can really help in reducing the dreaded backscatter.

Most of the time we don’t have the chance to stop and check off all of these items before squeezing the shutter release, however You will notice that these layers are naturally occurring in your photos already. Paying attention to these layers will enable you to create shots quickly and compose them naturally.

Composition is a factor for any photo and plays a vital role too. So without delving into a novel length article I will tap the easiest rule of them all, the “rule of thirds”.  Imagine a Tic-Tac-Toe design in your viewfinder and compose your shot to meet where the lines cross. An animal’s eyes, Kelp, the sun or  even a boat, using this simple rule will help you to steer away from bulls eye shots and create with eye appeal.

Another trap for photographers is not getting close enough to their subject. Many photographers think wide angle means to photograph the entire reef in one frame.  While this may be possible, it doesn’t always work to well. The optimum working distance from your lens port to your subject should range from 1 inch to 3 feet, of course there are always exceptions to the rule. Getting close to your subject helps with lighting and often times gives the image greater perspective.

Now that were armed with a foundation of basics lets take a look at shooting using the manual settings on your camera too. First move that dial on your camera or in your menu to the “M” position and notice that you now have the ability to make decisions on your own. Asserting full control over F-stop, shutter speed and ISO will give you the edge your seeking and will push your camera and skills to the limit.

Set your camera up before entering the water with these suggested settings . ISO 400, F-stop’s between 5.6 and 11 are all good for animal encounter shots  and the shutter speed at 125 should stop your critter with acceptable sharpness.  Leaving the speed at 125 will allow you to just concentrate on the f-stop. Notice that by shooting the same subject the exposure value will change as you change the f-stop.

I learned to use the F-stop for color in the foreground and the shutter speed for the lighting in background. This little technique has allowed me to make quick adjustments on the fly and actually walk away with a few keepers. An animal encounter happens quickly so you want to be ready. After each round of photos with a subject turn your setting back to your baseline, f-8 @ 125 and continue to explore.

So lets put it all together with an easy formula for animal encounters:

• ISO 400 (Nikon) 200 (Canon)
• F-stop 8
•Shutter Speed 125

Going wide in California will be the best thing you ever did to revive your portfolio, and the challenge of going wide in California is well worth the effort. There are only a few places in the world to experience kelp, mammals, and the chilly green hue of cold water diving that only a wide angle lens can depict. So rise to the occasion, take the challenge and change your lens!

This story appeared in our January/February issue of California Diver Magazine. Subscribe today and read 68 more pages of great diving in each issue!

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Words & Photos by Mike Bartick
All work is copyright and may not be reproduced without express written permission.

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Albert Falco, 

Albert enjoyed creating and sharing short films for environmental organizations such as Martinique Vidéo Sub, Earth and Sea Images. According to Oceanfutures.org, “His films aim to protect the ocean and the riches it conceals; to create marine reserves in order to save aquatic species facing extinction; and to teach children about the environment.”

A very informative book aboutAlbert’s early life and his life of adventure was published in 1977 called “FALCO, Chief diver of the Calypso” by Albert Falco & Philippe Diole.

Related Links:
Albert Falco’s Facebook Page
Albert Falco, The Oceanaute on Vimeo

These hoses were sold at scuba diving retailers and online between May 2009 and April 2012.  They were sold as individual replacement gauge hoses and as cascade hoses. According to a recent press release, the diving hose can rupture, reducing the available air supply to the diver, posing a drowning hazard.

The affected hoses were sold as individual replacement gauge hoses and as cascade hoses and in the following kits and model numbers:

    --  Deluxe Cylinder Equalizer w/ Miflex HP hose P/N AC366
    --  Miflex Two-Gauge Console HL300/HL300M
    --  Miflex Rebreather Kits MRB-EVO-LG, MRB-EVO-MD & MRB-ISP-POST-LG

XS Scuba has received reports of 189 hose failures to date, with no injuries reported. The recall pertains to about 17,000.

For more information, contact XS Scuba at 888-249-5404 Monday through Friday 8am-5pm (PST), or visit their website at http://www.xsscuba.com.

Rebecca Ziegler

The opportunity to dive with Scott was an incredible opportunity in itself. Scott is an accomplished marine explorer, whose underwater videography has been featured on MTV, the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and the History Channel. This trip with Rebecca was planned to investigate marine life down to 900 feet deep around the island of Catalina in the submarine “Antipodes” – a submersible with two acrylic domes. ¹

According to Mr. Cassell’s  website,  for 45 days beginning September 1, Cassell was to  pilot the Antipodes to various dive spots around Catalina Island, taking with him researchers, scientists, and even those who were not scientists who want to experience the  thrill of deep water exploration. ²

Then, in late September, Rebecca and her family got the word: Rebecca had been chosen, along with a select group of marine biologist, scientists and ‘citizen scientists’ to be a ‘Mission Specialist’ on the Antipodes, conducting experiments and learning to pilot ROV’s  (Remotely Operated Vehicles) underwater. Rebecca and her mom were ecstatic.

Shortly afterwards, however, the hammer blow fell: Rebecca was notified by  Oceangate, Mr. Cassell’s company, that due to flooded battery compartments in the submersible and other mechanical issues, Rebecca and the team would not be able to make the dive after all.

Although Rebecca and her parents were devastated, Rebecca decided that the rest of the Undersea Voyager Project program was still an experience of a lifetime, and she would proceed to the island of Catalina and learn what she could, even without the trip below the surface in the submarine.

[Note: this interviewed had been scheduled before Rebecca was notified she would not be able to make the dive, but we decided to proceed with it anyway, since Rebecca is such a fascinating young lady and her story can be an inspiration to others thinking of making the ocean a career.]

Q: You’re a certified Rescue Diver, right? How long have you been diving? How were you selected for the Undersea Voyage Project?

Rebecca meets Scott Cassell

A: Yep, I just got certified as a Rescue Diver in July. I have been diving for about  3 years.  I did a couple resort dive courses a few years prior [to that]. I was chosen to participate in the Undersea Voyager Project by submitting a proposal-style essay about what I would research if given the chance on Catalina. I wrote about the disphotic/ “twilight zone”. This is the area in the water column where all light fades.

Q: It must have been a thrill meeting noted marine explorer Scott Cassell–what is he like? Were you intimidated at first?

A: Oh boy, was he intimidating!  At a first glance he looks like this tough guy, but then he starts talking about the ocean and squids (he loves squids) and you see his eyes light up and a smile breaks out. Then the whole intimidation faction is gone! Scott was totally awesome the whole week I was there. He is such a great guy, and I am so lucky that I got the opportunity to meet him.

Q: While you must have been disappointed at not being able to go down in the sub, you obviously had a great time doing all the other science related activities. What was your favorite?

A: How can I pick a favorite?  My favorite thing I did would have to be “flying” the ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle)! It was so much fun! What was really cool was that the controller was a PS2 remote that was just programmed for ROV use, so it was basically like playing an underwater video game.

Q: What was the hardest?

A: Honestly, the hardest thing to do was read the 36 page manual on the submersible. It was just straight operation and guideline reading. Not the most thrilling stuff, but it is telling you how to operate the life sustaining vehicle you are in, so it’s important!

Q: How has your experience with Undersea Voyager Project affected your plans for the future? Do you still plan on making the ocean part of your future? If so, how?

A: I most definitely want to keep the ocean in my future.  It’s impossible to see my life without a marine influence. Where I may go with the marine part of my life is still being determined. At first I wanted to go into marine biology, but as I come towards the end of high school, I am starting to realize that my passion may not lie so much in the biology portion as the exploration. I am even looking into the possibilities of marine archeology or underwater filming/documentaries.

Q: What would be your advice to other young people your age who want to make the ocean part of their career?

A: Just go for it. If you are truly passionate about the ocean it won’t matter if you have a mansion and luxury vehicle (‘cause to tell you the truth, scientists/researchers are not the highest paid individuals in this line of work).

The ocean needs help to be protected, and so do all the creatures that reside in it. Research all the possibilities, there are so many fields of work that have to do with the ocean! Make connections and contacts any way possible, in this line of work it’s all about networking. If you are serious about making the ocean a part of your future, you can make it happen.

Footnotes:

1 http://underseavoyagerproject.org/uvp-news/84-citizen-scientists-may-explore-catalinas-deep-water

2. Ibid

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Each year, Subsurface Progression hosts an abalone derby, and this year’s winner will win a Fish & Dive kayak. For more information on their upcoming 2012 derby, click here.

Check out their website, and stop by on your next visit to fort Bragg.

Website: subsurfaceprogression.com

Dave, Blake and John at Subsurface Progression

“Ballbuster” is a site visited by both charter boats and fishermen and is located About 2/3 of a mile northeast of the Coral Street entry in Monterey Bay. The site was named by local fishermen whose tackle and weights got hung up and ultimately lost on the rocky reef. Over time, this beautiful dive site has accumulated more than its share of tackle, and this weekend, Silver Prince Charters is organizing a pair of dives to help clean up the site.

The SIlver Prince will depart Sunday morning, April 22, at 9am, and is looking for more divers to join them in cleaning up Ballbuster. The cost is $75 per diver, with your two dives  focused on picking up lead weights and other fishing gear. Between dives, the Silver Prince staff will raise and recover the weights with lift bags. It’s a great opportunity to help clean up the ocean, enjoy two great dives at a beautiful site, and meet other divers!

At this time, the weather forecast is for clear and sunny conditions this weekend, with highs in the 60′s. To reserve your spot, call Silver Prince Charters at (831) 204-0539. You can also view other upcoming dives on their website at SilverPrinceCharters.com.

Related Articles:
Diving Monterey on the Silver Prince

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John Chatterton. Photo by Howard Ehrenberg.

While Shadow Divers might have propelled him to international fame, John Chatterton had long been something of a celebrity within the often-insular diving community at the time of the book’s publication. A veteran of over 160 dives on the SS Andrea Doria (often described as the “Mount Everest of diving”), he had also garnered legendary status by recovering the safe of the SS Carolina.

In August 2005, Chatterton and his partners put together an expedition to the most famous shipwreck in the world, the RMS Titanic—diving to 12,500 feet in a Russian MIR submersible. He and fellow diver Richie Kohler co-hosted the History Channel’s Deep Sea Detectives, researching and filming 57 episodes. Chatterton also spent 20 years working as a commercial diver in and around New York City. He was underwater, working, on September 11, 2001—directly across the street from World Trade Tower #1—at the time of its tragic demise.

Although Chatterton has spent much of his career diving the East Coast of the United States, he has also explored California underwater, most notably Catalina Island and the oil rigs off of the coast of Southern California. At the time of this article’s publication, he had just returned from a trip to the Dominican Republic, where he was searching for shipwrecks. Despite his hectic schedule, Chatterton graciously agreed to an interview with California Diver Magazine.

California Diver: You are one of the most well-known figures in deep wreck diving today. What is it about diving shipwrecks that has held your interest over the years?

John Chatterton: When I first started wreck diving, I was fortunate enough to fall in with the “wrong crowd”—deep air wreck divers. The late Bill Nagle was the Captain of the dive boat Seeker, and he is really the guy who taught me what wreck diving was all about. He motivated and inspired me to strive to become a skilled wreck diver, using his yardstick. To Bill, diving was about going places where no one else had been. He did not have much in the way of social skills, but he was very generous in sharing what he knew about diving, as well as his genuine enthusiasm for shipwrecks and history. He sort of taught me how to excel, and how to survive.

Titanic Dive. Photo: Joe Porter

Those are my roots. I love challenging myself, and I have never found any shortage of opportunities for new and varied challenges in wreck diving. For me, diving is still fun and interesting, because I have been able to almost continuously evolve as a diver—with changing skills, equipment, goals, and new wrecks.

California Diver: Thanks to the book Shadow Divers, you have also achieved fame for your work in locating the U-869 U-Boat. There have been rumors over the years of your story being turned into a movie. Any word on that?

John Chatterton: 20th Century Fox purchased the rights to Shadow Divers, and renewed our contract as recently as a year ago. They are trying to come up with a script that the director, the studio, and the producers all like. Apparently that is not easy, but it seems like they might now have the script. They already have made a significant investment in the project, so maybe we will be lucky and see it go into production.

California Diver: You also retrieved the safe of the SS Carolina. How did that come about? 

John Chatterton: In New Jersey, the Carolina was one of those wrecks that divers dreamed about one day finding. It was a passenger liner, and it had a great history, having been sunk by a German U-boat in World War I. It had been missing since June 2, 1918, and more than a couple of Jersey divers had gone looking for it without success.

Photo: Howard Ehrenberg

Of course, like everyone else, I wanted to find the Carolina, too. With all of the U-boat research I had done, I was already familiar with the German U-boat Archives. So I went to the original documents from WWI. On that day in 1918, the submarine U-151 sank six ships. In the boat’s KTB, or ship’s log, was a trace of their movements for that day. I assumed that it would be easier to look for all six wrecks, rather than just the one. The submarine had to use a sextant and dead reckoning for navigation. So, they could have been way off on their positioning, having come all the way across the Atlantic, but their relative positions for that particular day should be pretty close, right?

I made some fundamental assumptions about the wrecks. First, I have never been on a wreck without mono-filament fishing line on it. So I believed that someone knew where the Carolina was . . . they just did not know what it was. I was convinced that some of the local guys were fishing these sites.

I asked around the docks to find out who the fisherman was with the most experience in the general area where the wrecks were located. Everyone told me that I should talk to Paul Regula on the boat Bounty Hunter. I found Paul, and explained what I was doing. He was a smart guy, and already familiar with the history of the Carolina. He insisted he already knew where it was, and was very much interested in what I had to say. I showed him my chart overlay for the six U-151 wrecks, and we were able to align my overlay onto his chart of the wrecks he was fishing. We were immediately able to line up five of the six. He had been fishing the site I thought was the Carolina, but it was not the site he thought it was.

Gold Rosary. Photo: John Chatterton

Paul wanted to follow through on this, and use his boat for us to dive the wreck. Brad Sheard, John Yurga, and Barb Lander joined me on the Bounty Hunter. The day we picked was absolutely beautiful, and so was the wreck, in about 240 feet of water. I made my first dive, and was convinced it was the Carolina. On my second dive, I found the brass letters across the fantail, “C-A-R-O-L-I-N-A,” and recovered the letter “C.”

On the very next trip to the wreck, I tried to swim it end to end, but I was running a little late getting back to anchor line, due to the current. I swam over a hole in the deck, and inside I saw a large metal box, with little short stubby legs. I did not have much time to check it out, because I was limited on my open-circuit gas supply, but my first impression was that it was a safe!  After reviewing the ship’s deck plans, I thought it was the Purser’s safe from first class. But the offshore dive season was over.

Clump of coins. Photo: Howard Ehrenberg

I decided to go to court, and get the rights to the safe under Admiralty Law, before bringing it up. My case was put before Judge Joseph Rodriguez. I was not aware that Judge Rodriguez was the first Hispanic federal judge to be appointed in the state of New Jersey. He was known for giving spirited lectures to immigrants who appeared before him to take their oaths as naturalized citizens. He would tell the story of his father, who had emigrated from Cuba to America. His ship had been sunk by a German U-Boat off the coast of New Jersey. His father’s story of survival­—of being adrift in an open lifeboat that traveled over 70 miles to arrive on the beach in Atlantic City—is truly inspiring.

Amazingly, it turned out that Judge Rodriguez’ father was aboard the Carolina! Later, I would bring up the safe. It contained gold, silver, diamonds, and a variety of artifacts. With a professional genealogist, I am still researching a gold wedding band with a date and two sets of initials on it. Maybe someday I will find the family to whom it belongs.

This article appeared in our January/February 2012 issue of California Diver Magazine. If you’re not a subscriber, you’re missing dozens of other great stories like this! Help support us by subscribing today!

I will always have a special place in my heart for the SS Carolina. Obviously, the possibility of discovering or identifying a wreck is one of the main reasons why I dive shipwrecks. But I am especially fond of this particular wreck, because I was also able to see how the Carolina played such an important role in shaping the lives of the Rodriguez family.

California Diver: You recently worked in Hawaii with PBS on a NOVA special about the Japanese mini-subs at Pearl Harbor. What did you find about the mini-subs that was not known before? Is it true that the USS Ward may have, in fact, fired the first shots against these mini-subs, several hours before Pearl Harbor was attacked?

Diving the USS Spiegel Grove. Photo: Howard Ehrenberg

John Chatterton: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, was a two-pronged air and sea attack, utilizing both aircraft and submarines. There were five Midget Subs that took part in the assault. Three of these subs were accounted for at, or near, the time of the attack.

Terry Kirby and his associates at the University of Hawaii, NOAA, and Hawaii Undersea Research Lab (HURL), were able to locate the fourth sub a few years ago. The fourth sub had been sunk by the USS Ward more than an hour before the first wave of Japanese aircraft appeared over Pearl. The Navy brass did not believe the report from the Ward, and did not issue an alert. The shot fired by the Ward was the first shot fired on December 7th, 1941, and thereby the first shot fired by the US in WWII. When Terry found the wreck, the sub had a hole drilled into the sail, just as it had been described by the men on the Ward. The sub had been so close when the Ward fired, the artillery shell did not have time to arm itself to explode. It is a fascinating story, and we did an episode on it for Deep Sea Detectives.

Over the years, I kept in touch with Terry Kirby, and when he felt he was on to something about the fifth and final Midget, he called me. I helped him put together a project with NOVA and PBS. We did a program called “Killer Subs of Pearl Harbor,” where Terry and his team located the sub and put together a lot of the mystery of what happened to the Japanese Midget Submarine I-24.

As often happens with a good mystery, locating the remains of the sub raised more questions than it answered. In my mind, the foremost question is “what happened to the crew?” This is genuinely something for historians to ponder.

Terry and his crew were able to fill in some of the blanks in the history of Pearl Harbor. Personally, I was honored to dive with Terry in the Pisces submersibles from HURL, as well as make a few dives with the National Park Service on the USS Arizona—all as part of the NOVA special. I think of myself as incredibly fortunate to have been involved in this project.

USS Spiegel Grove. Photo: Howard Ehrenberg

California Diver: You and Kohler mounted an expedition to the RMS Titanic in 2005, aboard the Russian research ship Keldysh, for some specials on the History Channel. There are reports that the Titanic is being slowly dissolved by so-called “rusticles” that may result in the eventual destruction of that ship. Do you think anything can be done to preserve it?

John Chatterton: Most people have seen footage of Titanic sitting on the bottom of the ocean, strands of rust hanging from the bow of the wreck, looking much like icicles. They have been named “rusticles,” and scientists are only recently beginning to study them. What they have learned is that rusticles are composed of colonies of iron-eating micro-organisms, with different dominant organisms in different rusticles. It is some fascinating science, and the work of figuring out how the rusticles play into the lifecycle of ferrous shipwrecks is only beginning.

I guess we all would like to look good and live forever, wouldn’t we? However, that is not the way of nature (although some of us look better than others). It seems to me that time holds the winning hand. We are born, we age, and then we return to the soil. That is kind of the way it works with us . . . and the same is true of shipwrecks.

Face it. Shipwrecks age. As much as we might like to see Titanic live forever, that is just not the way of nature. The wreck of Titanic will continue to age, and eventually she will disappear. But I would imagine that the memory of Titanic will remain with us for far longer. Preserving the history of Titanic is important, but preserving the wreck itself forever is a fantasy.

California Diver: You also dove the HMHS Britannic, near the island of Kea in Greece, at a depth of 400 ft. on a rebreather, something that would never have been possible on regular SCUBA. What was that like?

John Chatterton: Jacques Cousteau discovered the HMHS Britannic in the 1970’s and the Cousteau team dove the wreck on open-circuit SCUBA. Their dives were of relatively short duration, but impressive for the time period. There were a couple of other open circuit expeditions as well, again, with modest bottom times.

The first time I dove the HMHS Britannic was in 1998, as part of a British expedition. Everyone on the team was diving open-circuit, except for me. I was the only rebreather diver.

Photo: Howard Ehrenberg

As we were applying for our permits to dive the wreck, we had a meeting with the wreck’s owner, Simon Mills. Mills was an annoying little man who was not a diver and who had purchased the rights to the wreck from the previous owner. Mills liked to be in control, and I did not care for him.

He starts out the meeting by telling us that he had been talking with Dr. Ballard about the possibility of anaerobic compartments—compartments where there is no oxygen—within the wreck of Britannic. If they existed, these compartments might have been perfectly preserved. As a result, we would not be allowed to penetrate the wreck, specifically because Mills and Ballard concluded the diver’s bubbles would disrupt these anaerobic compartments, thereby damaging the wreck.

I was just a simple commercial diver, but I know Ballard does not like wreck divers, and I know that water is made of hydrogen and oxygen. This stunk like phony science to me, and I thought it was total BS. I did not like Mills telling me what I could and could not do. And to tell the truth, when it comes to big steel wrecks, I am kind of an inside guy. I was truly not happy.

So, I interrupt Mills, and ask him, what about me, a rebreather diver who does not make bubbles? He inquired as to what a rebreather was, and I explained it was an apparatus that contained a closed breathing loop, where the diver’s exhaled gas is cycled through a chemical absorbent that removed the CO2, and the oxygen metabolized by the diver is replaced by an electronic system that sensed oxygen levels and added oxygen as it was needed.

This article appeared in our January/February 2012 issue of California Diver Magazine. If you’re not a subscriber, you’re missing dozens of other great stories like this! Help us promote diving and support us by subscribing today!

Mills was kind of caught off-guard, and had to think for a few seconds. “Fine, we will amend the permit. John Chatterton is the only diver permitted to penetrate the wreck using a rebreather, but the other divers will not be allowed inside.

I felt like I had beat Mills at his own game, but at the time, I did not even have a rebreather and had no real experience diving one—especially in the neighborhood of 400 feet.  Regardless, I was committed, and now I had to deliver. My choices were somewhat limited and I was in a hurry. Although there were a few display rebreather units at the dive shows, they were like “vaporware.” At the time, there were no commercially manufactured rebreathers for wreck diving. The only unit I could lay my hands on was a prototype of an AURA CCR2000.

I flew to Seattle to conduct my training in Puget Sound. My two certification dives amounted to a total of about eight minutes of bottom time, because I had catastrophic loop failures on both dives. I left Seattle with a suitcase full of parts, and not much else, so I had a lot of work to do. I estimate I had 40 dives with serious system failures, before I had three dives in a row where nothing bad happened. Those were my last three dives before leaving for Britannic. On Britannic, I made a total of six dives, and had rebreather failures on three of them, where I had to bail to open circuit. The electronics caught fire in my hotel room the night before one dive, and on another day I had to fix the onboard computer with a soldering iron. Back then, diving rebreathers was a little more adventurous. However, I was the first diver to use a rebreather on Britannic. I penetrated the wreck, and I did not see any mythical anaerobic compartments. Seriously, I looked.

I returned to the wreck in 2006, leading an expedition with Richie Kohler for the History Channel. All of the bottom divers were on rebreathers. What a difference eight years makes!  We conducted dives with bottom times as long as 40 minutes, and runtimes of over seven hours. Dives that long are really only possible on rebreathers.

Side mount rebreather. Photo: Howard Ehrenberg

California Diver: There have also been reports that the Andrea Doria is deteriorating and collapsing. Is it still worth being called the “Mount Everest” of wreck diving?

John Chatterton: I have seen Everest, but never climbed it. From what little I see on TV, it is a popular destination for serious tourist climbers. Obviously, it is still a formidable climb—and dangerous—but there are plenty of professional guides looking for clients, the routes are well known, and the equipment and technology is pretty well evolved enough to help climbers manage the inherent risks of high-altitude climbing. It seems to me that Everest is just not as tall as it used to be.

The thing that made the Doria such an imposing wreck years ago, was not just the depth, but that it afforded divers the opportunity for deep, complex, multi-deck penetrations. We memorized the ship’s deck plans, and that was how we navigated around inside. The fact that the wreck was so deep, the water was cold, there were strong currents, and divers were using air, all made it extremely challenging.

You are right, the Doria is deteriorating. The wreck is compressing, collapsing on itself, and as a result, it no longer offers the kind of penetrations it once did. At the same time, divers are able to utilize Trimix, or, more often, rebreathers, to conduct their dives. The Doria is not the wreck it once was, and it is not as deep as it used to be, at least not figuratively.

Make no mistake about it: the Doria is still an extremely serious dive. As recently as this past summer, a diver lost his life on the wreck. The deep-water wrecks of the North Atlantic do not tolerate mistakes very well. Maybe the comparison to Mount Everest is a fair one . . . but that is only if you consider that the Doria is not what it used to be, and neither is Everest. This is just my opinion.

California Diver: You’ve been in the Dominican Republic recently. What were you working on?

 John Chatterton: I have been working in the Dominican Republic for several years. My partners and I have a contract with the Dominican Government to locate, document, and salvage shipwrecks of interest. We work closely with Dominican Navy, and the Oficina Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural Sub Acuático.

Diving blue water, looking for colonial-era shipwrecks, mostly in remote, shallow reef systems, is relatively new for me. The challenges doing what I do now are completely different from those I faced while I was diving big steel wrecks. These days I struggle with speaking Spanish, keeping my magnetometer and side-scan sonar off the rocks, and making the Nitrox machine work. This is while we dodge hurricanes and try to keep our boats afloat. Every day is new challenges and new opportunities. But that has been true of my entire diving career.

Over the years, I have been allowed to reinvent myself as a commercial diver, a deep-air diver, a scuba instructor, a Trimix diver, a rebreather diver, an ROV operator, a TV diver, a submersible diver, and now I am working as a commercial archaeologist.

Seriously, I started out shore diving in Florida with a single tank and crappy rental gear, and look at me now. I don’t even have a college degree, but I have been to Titanic. I am 60 years old, and on any given day I may jump in the water on SCUBA, dive a full-face mask, or even work at the end of an umbilical in my KM37SS hardhat. Today, I am going to go looking for a new shipwreck, and I just I might find one. I feel great, but I am so excited I have trouble sleeping at night! This is exactly why I love diving shipwrecks. I never run out of things to do.

California Diver: California has some decent wreck diving, including the former HMCS Yukon, a 366-foot-long Canadian warship, which now belongs to the city of San Diego, off Mission Beach. Have you ever dived it? You are welcome to come dive it with us any time.

John Chatterton: Sure. I love diving on the “Left Coast,” and I will take you up on that the next time I am in town. I will also extend an offer for you guys to come over and dive with us here in the DR. But if you come, be ready to work!

Story by Michael Bear, photos above as credited.

Michael Bear is a PADI Divemaster with over 1,000 cold water dives in California and has been diving in the San Diego area for over a decade. He is also an active Science Diver with the American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) and founder of the Sevengill Shark Sightings website. He lives and works in San Diego.

All copy and photos are © Copyright 2012 by California Diver Magazine and the original photographers credited above. Copying or any reproduction of this content is strictly prohibited without prior express written permission. All rights are reserved.