Peacock Slough 1973 "Body recovery"

We had spent the night behind Dale Stones Aqua Shack camping. Myself and a fellow Navy diver and our wife's. At this time it was not a State Park. We followed the directions on how to get there from a book we had bought from Dale's place. It read.

"From Mayo going north on S-51 travel 1.7 miles from the middle of the bridge over the Suwannee. Turn right on paved road across the highway from the Bay Service Station. (This is the second road on the right after leaving the bridge.) Travel 2.2 miles and turn right on second dirt road past the fence line. Go .4 mile to the springs which are located on your right.

As we pulled up to the springs there was already a couple of police cars and an ambulance parked there. It was around 10 or 11 am. My dive buddy ( Dave ) and I walked over to see what the problem was. There were three very somber divers sitting on the bank talking to the police.

It seems that four divers had entered Peacock early that morning. One whom had never dove anywhere before. The dive plan was to enter Peacock and swim over to Pot hole and surface. Things did not work out quite that well.

During the dive something went terribly wrong. The diver who had never dove before panicked for some reason. He left the other three divers in an attempt to reach the surface. His body was recovered a couple of hours later.

If you have never seen a diver with his fingers worn down to the bone from trying to dig his way out of a underwater cave. It is a sight you will not soon forget.

Dave and I had to wait untill they had finished with the recovery before we were able to make our dive. Both of our wife's were not at all happy about us going. We made it a short cavern dive.

So if you were ever wondering how people use to die in the caves around Branford. This is a fine example.

"Going berserk"

I remember reading in one of Sheck's books (I forget which one) that back in the early days when divers were going into caves without any real training or experience there were many incidences of what Sheck called "berserker" divers. ---- A frightening full blown panic attack. ----- Probably due to claustrophobia. When I was a kid, I had a friend who had a claustrophobic attack once when he got locked in a small room. I will NEVER forget it, it was as though he were not even human anymore - the brain's R-complex took over - all thoughts became animalistic and instinctual. It took 10 minutes to open the stuck door, when it opened, the look on my friends face was like he just went to hell and came back. I can't imagine good chances of survival if that same thing happened in a cave.

Very sad... Thankfully cave training has evolved. Most instructors would likely spot one of these types on the first few cave dives.

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We followed the directions on how to get there from a book we had bought from Dale's place. It read.

"From Mayo going north on S-51 travel 1.7 miles from the middle of the bridge over the Suwannee. Turn right on paved road across the highway from the Bay Service Station. (This is the second road on the right after leaving the bridge.) Travel 2.2 miles and turn right on second dirt road past the fence line. Go .4 mile to the springs which are located on your right.

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These directions (word-for-word) are in the 1975 version of Ned Deloach's "Diving Guide to Florida Springs." However, my handwritten notes in that book refer to a 1973 version of the book (which I had, but can't find), so I would expect that you were using that version of the book. It's interesting to read the old descriptions of these dive sites and see the advertisements for the old shops, some of which are still around. The oldest I have is a 1968 version of "Erving's World Wide Skindiver's Guide" (first published in 1960). It includes quite a few springs/sinks, and many of the contributors were some of the early pioneers in cave diving (e.g., Frank Martz, Dave DeSautels, Tom Mount, etc.). Tom Mount wrote a section called "Some Tips On Cave Diving." I could scan and post that section for historical purposes if it would be appropriate and of interest?

Donn

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Originally Posted by DKKearns

Tom Mount wrote a section called "Some Tips On Cave Diving." I could scan and post that section for historical purposes if it would be appropriate and of interest?

Donn

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Most definately

You know you guys make me sing when you post this stuff!

One of the Nurses I work with tells me the story of how Sheck recovered her parents best friends Son's body from Telford. She tells me that story ever time I see her. The man who died was not cave trained, you have to remember that many of those deaths occured before there WAS any training. That's why it all started. The Cave Diving Organizations forming a little over 30 years ago are why we are a sport and now as well as a tool of science, not just an activity. Don't quit watching. We are not perfect yet, it's an evolving sport and very young.

Cindy Butler Director, Cave Diving Museum and Library

www.overheadtimes.com

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You know you guys make me sing when you post this stuff!

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Cindy,

I can only hope that your singing is better than mine. I'll scan and post the article in the next couple days.

There is another set of posts on the forum concerning cave diving in the '70s and some of the postees (if that's as word) wanted old pictures of the springs. I've dug up some of L River, Troy, Osgood, etc, and will post them as well.

Any interest from the museum is copies of logbooks signed by Sheck? If so, I can scan one of those in as well.

Donn

I posted the article on cave diving from Erving's Worldwide Skindiver's guide in the historical photo section (http://cavediver.net/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=5439).

I included the cover of the book to give proper credit.

http://cavediver.net/photopost/data/...ave_Diving.jpg

Donn

Copies of log books seem to be of interest. Articles etc. I tend to not post things at the museum if it's on the web and available to people there. I feel like as long as it's saved and shared with others that's the main point. If you send things to the museum I can put it in the virtual museum and it can be shared that way. One way benefits the museum more as the virtual museum will have a small fee for people to pay to view it and that money will be used to keep the musuem going. Also I am not sure if the amount of room on a web site is infinate or not. TJ or someone can tell us that. I have around 800 old photos that need to be scanned. Moonfussy is helping with that now. If you decide to donate something to the museum please do not post it on the web. Our virtual museum will also have articles on gear and caves, stories, videos etc. We are building it now.
Thanks for helping to preserve the history of cave diving. However you decide to share this it needs to be done. Cindy Butler :D

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Originally Posted by scuppertrout

If you have never seen a diver with his fingers worn down to the bone from trying to dig his way out of a underwater cave. It is a sight you will not soon forget.

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I did a body recovery, in the mid 1970's where the newly certified open water diver ( a few hours certified)got lost in a shallow cave over near Mayo - he could see small shafts of light coming down from very small openings in the ground. These holes were maybe 6 inches wide.

He used his head as a battering ram to try and break through and also clawed at the holes. His head looked like a piece of raw hamburger meat and his hands were ripped to shreds. That vision has never left my mind even 30 years later.

Thankfully divers are more aware of the hazards of cave diving these days. Back in "the day" doing body recoveries from these springs was commonplace.....I don't even remember how many I did. I can think of 5 off of the top of my head.

:?

Yikes.