Presidents’ Messages - May 2012

The daylight is lasting longer, the air's getting warmer, not to mention, so is the water (not that it was overly cold this winter). It must be spring! I'd like to thank those that did come out for the float cleaning and the Easter Egg dive. I would like to remind everyone that if you sign up for something, please do your best to show up.

We have some exciting events coming up soon. This week, Paul Harling from the Dive Locker in Gloucester and Jack Munro will be presenting on Hard Hat diving and Barbara Warren from Salem Sound Coast Watch will be here at the end of the month. Next thing you know, it will be June, and time for the beach meeting! Hopefully, it won't rain this year

Diver of the Month is Gary Michaud for finding the most Easter eggs. Member of the Month is Vinny Egizi for laying the eggs and everything else he has done for the club so far this year.

Happy Diving!

Meg!

Above: President Meg with recent presenters Paul Harling and Jack Munro and their equipment.

Coming Club Events

May 3: Helmet Diving – Paul Harling of The Dive Locker and our own Jack Munro presenters.

May 31: Barbara Warren of Salem Sound CoastWatch – will give a presentation on local marine invasive species.

NOTICE

Dues for 2012 are now overDUE.

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In this Issue:
President’s Message	pg. 1
Meeting Summaries	pg. 2-4
Undersea Divers Boat Dives	pg. 4
Float Cleaning	pg. 4
Easter Egg Dive / Party	pg. 5
Coming Events & Calendar	pg. 6-7
Previous Presentations	pg. 6
Submarine Disasters-J. Munro	pg. 8-9
DUI Demo Days	pg. 10

The North Shore Frogmen’s Club

PO Box 3604

Peabody, MA 01961

2011 OFFICERS

President: Meg Tennissen Tel: (781) 724-0071

Email: macduff18@yahoo.com

Vice President: Lauren Byrne Email: laurenb5635@hotmail.com

Treasurer: Vinny Egizi Tel: (858) 342-3365

Email: vinnymass@yahoo.com

Secretary: Ellen Garvey Tel: 781-595-4978

Email: elleng@alumni.duke.edu

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Membership: Dan Hering membership@northshorefrogmen.com

Newsletter: Mary Howard

Tel: (781) 944-1292

Email: m.m.howard@comcast.net

Webmaster: Markus Diersbock

*Deadline for submissions* for the June 2012 issue

of Air Bubbles is

Thursday, May 24

Air Bubbles – May 2012

Meeting Summaries

29-March-2012

Meeting called to order: 8:07PM

Attendance: 1 Officers, 16 Members, 1 guest

Secretary: Business portion of minutes read and accepted

Committees:

-Program: see website for details

- 5/3 – Helmet diving – Paul Harling

and Jack Munro

Old Business:

-Sign up for float cleaning (21-Apr). New Business:

Dive Talk:

-Susan went to Cozumel with 15 people. Great weather. Very little current. 84 with 88 surface temp. Went to Playa del Carmen and dove cenotes. Also went to a dry cenote bar.

-Al Morris dove in swimming pool – tech equipment test. Tried sidemount and really liked it. Talked with Pete Navracki from Diverite who would be willing to come up and let people try it (for a bit of a charge to cover expenses). Also tried Poseidon rebreather – it was very quiet.

General Discussion:

-Susan went to Beneath the Sea and saw lots of people she knew.

-Susan’s friend Mike of Nautilus

Explorer does cold water dives. There are a couple of spots on 11 day trip to Alaska June 19 – he’ll pay for your airfare if you sign up. Look online for more info about the trip

-Al told us about a Sea Life contest sponsored by Dominica. Go to website www.iamdominica.com (or www.sealife-cameras.com), enter a statement as to why you should go there. Prize is a trip and camera.

-Mike’s Moments:

-James Cameron – director of Avatar and Titanic - went to the bottom of Marianas Trench – was there 3 hours.

-Tsunami debris is starting to show up in British Columbia – coming more quickly than expected. US State Dept is urging people who are

finding anything of value to contact them – esp photographs – to get them back to owners.

-Dept Marine fisheries – salt water fishing permit is supposedly to help understand the catch (but nobody is asked to turn data in). It’s good for

ME NH, RI CT. 126K permits were issued last year. Collected ~$1M which is to be put back to the industry

Raffles

Dollars Box: John Marren Bug Bag: Jeff Lynch (Dive on

Easy Diver)

Mystery Prize: Al Morris

05-April-2012

Meeting called to order: 8:07PM

Attendance: 1 Officers, 19 Members, 3 guests

Great macro presentation by Jerry Shine!

Secretary: Business portion of minutes read and accepted

Committees:

-Program: – see website for details

-4/15-Easter Egg Dive Sunday, change of location to Salem Willows

-4/19-Fred Dion of Backscatter East

-4/21-float cleaning for PCYC

-Apr 20-22 in Pennsylvania course on how to survey wrecks and other archeological artifacts. See Claus if you are interested

-Mon Apr 23 7PM - lecture sponsored by the Salem State dive club: Sharks of Massachusetts by John Chisholm, Shark Biologist, MA Division of Marine Fisheries.

-Membership: Currently 95 members

-Air Bubbles: Went out electronically

General Discussion:

-Someone is looking to hire a diver to locate a lost mooring in the Danvers River. Anybody interested? Vinny said he would contact her.

-NEAq is looking for people to be rescue volunteer for Cape Ann/NH

-National Geographic show “Wicked Tuna” is good. Vinny went on that

trip once and got lots of fish. May be able to get the boat captain to present.

Raffles:

Dollars Box: Vinny Egizi

Bug Bag: John Marren (Dive on Easy Diver)

Mystery Prize: Roslyn Smith (Dive on Easy Diver)

12-April-2012

Meeting called to order: 8:08 PM

Attendance: 2 Officers, 11 total Members, Guests

Secretary: Abbreviated minutes accepted as read

Treasurer:

-Paid for prizes Easter Egg dive.

-Several members paid dues last week.

Correspondence

-Email from Jonathan Bird about a trip to remote areas of Indonesia

-Lady who wanted help with her mooring was already contacted by Dan Hering.

Committees:

-Program: See calendar

-4/15-Easter Egg Dive Sunday at Salem Willows. Vinny laying eggs ~8:30. Just past high tide.

-Meg will not be diving, so come over after diving or around noon if you’re not diving. 2B Nimitz Way, Salem

-4/19-Fred Dion of Back Scatter East, underwater photographic equipment and techniques

-4/21-Saturday, float cleaning at PCYC

-5/3-Helmet diving presentation by Paul Harling and Jack Munro

-5/31-Barbara Warren of Salem Sound CoastWatch on marine invasive species

-Other organizations:

-4/17 – (Tuesday) Divers Down presentation at South Shore Neptunes.

-4/23- (Monday) Sharks of Massachusetts by John Chisholm at Salem State Dive Club meeting. Info is in AB

-4/25 – Bay State Council presentation from Diveheart

Air Bubbles – May 2012

- Air Bubbles:

Old Business: Banquet – caterer, dj and hall booked

New Business: Vinny booked stage fort park for the picnic

General Discussion:

-Mike’s Moments:

-Jerry Pope 10/2010 tossed a bottle in water Nyack, CT it showed up in Isle of Scilly off England

-Sting Ray that looks like the face of Jesus.

-Abandoned boat from Japan. Canadian company wants to salvage, so Coast Guard blew it up, in 8000 ft sw.

-28 y/o surfer shark attack on north shore of Oahu

-Individal decided to analyze wreck of Titanic to prove what sank it. Boat may have hit on the bottom of the boat, filled with water. New theory. Astronomically high tide may have broken off the iceberg that caused the problem.

Raffles: Dollars Box: John Marren

Mystery Prize: Meg Tennissen

Bug Bag: Jeff Lynch

19-April-2012

Meeting minutes not available at press time.

Presentation by Fred Dion of Backscatter East

26-April-2012

Meeting called to order: 8:08 PM

Attendance: 2 Officers, 12 total Members

Secretary: Abbreviated minutes (from Vinny) accepted as read

Treasurer: Paid PCYC for the hall for banquet; new buddy list mailed out

Correspondence: email from Finatics about fun dive at OGB on 4/28

Committees:

-Program: See calendar

-5/3-Helmet diving presentation by Paul Harling and Jack Munro

-5/5-5/6- DUI Demo Days

-5/31-Barbara Warren of Salem

Sound CoastWatch on marine invasive species; emailed her for update on what she needs for presentation.

- Air Bubbles: deadline today.

Old Business:

-Float cleaning – only 4 divers showed up, two support. Sort of embarrassing. Easter Egg dive we had one diver. How can we get people to show up for events?

-Fred Dion was here last week, and we had only 6 members show up at the meeting; two officers.

-If you have a speaker in mind. Spaces are fairly open for the second half of the year.

-Shall we schedule an open video night?

New Business:

-DUI Demo Days. We should have a table with our brochures and cards.

Dive Talk:

-John Sears last weekend with Jim

D’Urso off Misery Island, scalloping; got a half bag, Jim got a full bag. Recovered anchor he had left the week before.

-Damn Boat is in the water.

-Float cleaning: Meg, Vinny, John S and Arnie, with Fred Pfeil and Peter Chapman. Each diver was given a section and got a lot of stuff off the docks.

-This weekend: meet at BK at 9 on Sunday 4/29?

General Discussion:

-Bob’s sale is 14-15th of May

-Art Channel used to do bottle dives off PCYC, covered in Vaseline and in 2 wetsuits. Got lots of bottles and pipes.

-Graham: Albert Falco died at 84 yrs. Worked on films with Cousteau.

-Al: was at a conference a couple of weeks ago about divers and what causes death. In most cases it is diver error. Met a guy who wrote a book about his time with Cousteau, My Time with Cousteau. Said he would be willing to come to talk to the Froggies. Al will talk to him to see how week could get him to come.

-Mike’s Moments:

-Armless, legless Frenchman is swimming around the world, by the shortest waterways.

-37 yo man died in a pond. His job was to scare swans and geese off the ponds. A swan made him tip out of his kayak.

Raffles: Dollars Box: Peter Chapman

Mystery Prize: Ray Porter

Bug Bag: Ray Porter

For Sale: DUI DRYSUIT

50/50 FLX standard, woman's L. With medium polartec DUI undergarment and size 6 rock boots, original DUI bag, zipper aide & talc. Used 5 times! A MUST SEE!!

List price new $2500 for drysuit only. Selling all above for $900.

Call Linda Connors: 978-462-0460, or email lpski26@yahoo.com.

Diver of the Month

for May 2012

Gary Michaud

For finding the most Easter Eggs.

Member of the Month

for May 2012

Vinny Egizi

For laying the eggs and everything else he does for the Club.

Undersea Divers

2012 Boat Dive Schedule

You’re invited!

Come dive with us!

We are announcing our summer boat dive schedule and we want you to join us! Come discover Folly Cove without the hassle of parking and lugging your gear! Don’t wait, these spots will fill quickly.

Start planning your summer fun today!

To register: Call the store (978-927-9551) and choose your date. Payment ($80) is required to hold your spot.

Dive 1: June 30. Morning trip, depart at 8AM, 2 tanks. Dive 2: July 29. Afternoon trip, depart at 1PM, 2 tanks. Dive 3: August 25. Morning trip, depart at 8AM, 2 tanks.

Undersea Divers Spring Sale

May 12 & 13, 2012

Float Cleaning at PCYC, April 21, 2012

Looks like they had a beautiful day for float cleaning at PCYC.

Thank you to those who represented our Club in helping out our Hosts by cleaning some of the growth off their floats!

Those diving were Meg (ladies first!), Vinny, John and Arnie (not shown). Support staff: Peter and Fred.

(Photo courtesy of Vinny Egizi)

It was a picture perfect day for an Easter Egg Hunt, but sadly we had only two divers in the water.

Upcoming Club Presentations

May 3: Paul Harling of the Dive Locker and our own Jack Munro will give a presentation on Helmet Diving.

May 31: Barbara Warren of Salem Sound Coastwatch will come and speak to us about marine invasive species in our area. These are animals and plants we can expect to see diving here in New England.

Other Upcoming Events

July 28: 11th Great Annual Fish Count

Coming back for the 11th year in a row, you can help count fish and win prizes! Each year divers help researchers by surveying fish populations. This is done by identifying what fish you see on a dive. After the dive, we gather at Stage Fort Park in Gloucester, for raffle prizes and a BBQ!

As of 4/12/12, our raffle is now valued over $4000, with more to come shortly.

There will be a picnic, raffles, and a touch tank. Every diver who submits a survey form will get an entry into the raffles. We are expecting more than 100 divers to participate in the day’s celebration.

WHAT IS REEF? REEF provides the SCUBA diving community a way to contribute to the understanding and protection of marine populations. REEF achieves this goal primarily through its volunteer fish monitoring program, the REEF Fish Survey Project.

Previous Club Presentations

Jerry Shine showed us some great pictures of small things.at the meeting on April 5. Wow, does he take great pictures! He was also selling copies of his just released new book, Nudibranchs of the Northeast.

Fred Dion of Backscatter in Derry New Hampshire came down to talk to the Froggies about underwater camera gear on April 19. Thank you Fred!

On May 3, Paul Harling and Jack Munro gave a presentation on hard hat diving. They included a short video of Paul talking about some of the things he has in The Dive Locker in Gloucester. They also showed a video about army hard hat diving training made 50+ years ago; very informative! Then Club members had a chance to try on Jack’s “lightweight” helmet that weighs only about 30 lbs.

Paul and Jack with the helmets they brought with them.

Left:

Ellen

Below:

Dawn

Below:

Vinny and Tony

Submarine Disasters

By Jack Munro

This is a serious look at what has happened to some near misses that could have been really disastrous. In my last story, we looked at the C.S.S. Hunley, which was hand- powered, but managed to sink a much larger steam- powered boat, the U.S.S. Housatonic. The C. S. S. Hunley went down after sending down a blue light signal to shore at which time the shore team lit a huge bonfire to guide the Hunley home. This disaster put Hunley on the bottom for 136 years, but it had sunk several times, before losing 14 crew members (22 lost).

As submarines started to operate in deeper waters with Naval fleets, more disasters were bound to happen. Even before the Hunley sank, in Germany in 1852, William Bauer was experimenting with a submarine, sank it in 60 feet of water with two others. All managed to escape to the surface as the submarine was crushed.

Tullibee launch November 1960

Many years ago in 1961, I was aboard the U.S.S. Tullibee SSN 597 coming back from the Caribbean near Cape Hatteras. We were in the submarine-transiting lane, which runs next to the shipping lanes. It was late fall and water conditions were loud, making listening for surface contacts difficult. As the Tullibee made her way to the surface, the captain made a 360-degree sweep with the periscope and to his amazement, we were less than 1000 feet from a 600 foot merchant ship! The merchant ship had drifted out of the shipping lane with engine problems. At the very moment we were coming up, he started his engines and was coming right at us. The

closing rate was nearly 30 mph. The captain stopped the surfacing, flooded negative and safety tanks, and made a full dive on stern planes, sail planes, neutral and periscope down.

Rigged for collision, the scope came down in less than 20 seconds; we had a 14-inch antenna on the top of the scope which broke off on the hull of the merchant ship. The boat (Tullibee) started rocking side to side and with the sound of propellers clearly audible through the hull for what seemed like hours, the merchant ship passed over us without touching us, except for that scope antenna. It was gone, but not forgotten, and the crew started breathing again, and we headed back to New London, Connecticut.

The U.S.S. Greeneville SSN-772 collided with a Japanese civil ship Ehime Maru while coming to the surface off Hawaii in 2001. This is very different than what happened with the Tullibee which had a near miss with a merchant ship 600 feet long and 30,000 tons versus the Tullibee, 270 feet long and 2300 tons. This would be like a mac truck coming up against a motorcycle. On the other hand the Greeneville is much bigger at 360 feet x 6900 tons with a heavy weight hull which is much stronger versus the Ehime Maru at 180 feet and 140 tons. The Greeneville’s rudder nearly cut Ehime Maru in half and was sunk almost immediately, taking nine Japanese students to their death. A disaster in an age where high tech sonar and radar should have warned the crew, but it happened anyway.

USS Greeneville

The Kursk, an Oscar II-Class Russian sub on a major exercise for her own Naval fleet in the Barents Sea in August of 2000, had 2 explosions in the forward torpedo room. The first was a minor one, the second, was the equivalent of two tons of TNT which killed 2/3 of the

crew outright. The after engineering compartment was damaged but 9 survived for nearly five days. The Russian rescue sub had not been used for 15 to 20 years and no one knew how to use it. They tried but their own life support systems shut down and they barely made it back to the surface. The Russian Brass refused help from the United States, the British, and Norway, until the 6th day and by then it was way too late. The hydrogen peroxide torpedoes that caused the explosions were loaded onto the Kursk just before she left for economy measures; electric torpedoes were in short supply and very expensive. To add to this disaster, the first torpedo was dropped onto the pier before loading onto the Kursk. In the late 1950s, the British had hydrogen peroxide torpedoes blow up in port, killing several crew members. The British gave up on the hydrogen peroxide torpedoes then. But the Russians not only kept them, they even had several hydrogen peroxide powered submarines that were captured by the Germans after World War II.

Russian Submarine Kursk

Upwards of 200 plus submarines have been lost between 1774 and 2005 by nearly every country on earth, during peace time and during training, with part or all of crews and many civilians. Two examples of these losses are the USS Thresher SSN 593 in 1963 with 129 aboard including 15 civilians, and the USS Scorpion SSN 589 with 85 in 1968.

During the Cold War, nearly 45 years long, many subs were at sea at the same time, making sub-to-sub contact very probable. In 1996, the USS Voge frigate (ff-1047) was rammed by K-22 (Echo II class), a Russian submarine, in the Straits of Gibraltar on the surface in broad daylight. The Russian skipper clearly was frustrated by Voge shadowing K-22.

In February 1992, the Russian sub Barrakuda, diving near Severodvinsk, was being shadowed by a US sub Baton Rouge SSN 689. They lost track of each other underwater and bumped, damaging both boats, but both managed to make it back to their bases.

The USS George Washington SSN 598, the first Polaris boat, collided with a Japanese freighter, the 2,350-ton Nissho Maru. The Washington damaged her sail but the freighter sank in just 15 minutes. Two died on the Nissho Maru, 20 others survived.

Many other countries such as Pakistan, North Korea, and China have had submarine accidents like the US and

Russia, but don’t like to talk about them. It continues to amaze me that ships at sea with thousands and thousands of square miles of ocean to navigate, find themselves too close to each other. When we dive wrecks, we usually see one or two on top of, under or around each other, as in the case with the USS New Hampshire off of Graves Island, Manchester, MA.

The information gathered for this story comes from the book Submarine Disasters by David Miller, and from my personal experiences on submarines in the Navy. This and other information can be found at the Dive Locker, at the Heritage Center on Harbor Loop in Gloucester, MA, where we have over 450 books, tapes, and artifacts.

Jack Munro

The Bay State Council of Divers

Supporting and promoting the recreational diving community in Massachusetts.

The Bay State Council of Divers (BSC) is a diver’s advocacy group. The BSC monitors local, state and federal regulations that may affect the recreational diving community in Massachusetts. When required, the BSC represents the interests of the diving community in these matters.

The BSC serves as a liaison between dive clubs and dive stores to promote recreational diving activity in Massachusetts. All divers are encouraged to support the BSC with an annual contribution of $5. Your contribution will allow the BSC to continue to be a strong advocate for the recreational diving community in Massachusetts.

For more information see the new BSC website at

http://www.baystatecouncil.org

Your NSF Club Dues are now

DUE!!

Consider yourself notified.

42 Water St.

Beverly MA

978-927-9551

DIVE@underseadivers.com

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Tue-Fri 10-6, Sat 9-5, Sun 9-3

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