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Cave Diving Accident
If anyone has any information related to the accident that occurred with regards to my relative a long time ago I'd like to hear the story in a PM. I've been told very little about it but that he was a firefighter from Dauphin Island, AL and I'm not even sure what his first name was, but that he was distantly related to me and his last name was Dismukes.
Send it to me in a PM or to Tomeauburn@aol.com
Thanks
Tom Hundley
Any other information, like approximate year, cave name, etc?
Forest I wish I had them but I do not, only would say it was at least in the 80/s or 90's. I asked and did not find anything. I tried a search engine and spend a lot of wasted time last night.
Tom
The accident reports don't usually have names, so that would be a hard way to trace it. The only other chance would be newspaper accounts. A lot of the older ones aren't online anywhere.
Diver Drowns in Williston Spring
Friday, July 14, 1995
WILLISTON - A Mobile Ala., firefighter drowned while diving in Levy County on Thursday afternoon with another Mobile firefighter.
The drowning victim, identified by the Levy County Sheriff's Department as Steven Christopher Dismukes, 28, was pronounced dead after his body was recovered from Devil's Den at 8:30 pm Thursday. Devil's Den is a privately owned spring outside Williston on Levy County Road 505, a mile north of Alt. U.S. 27.
The man diving with Dismukes, Samuel Howard Williams, 35, told investigators that he noticed Dismukes was missing at about 3:30 pm. Williams went back to the surface to pick up a fresh tank of air, but was unable to find Dismukes when he returned to the opening of the cavern where the two had been diving, according to sheriff's spokesman Lt. Chuck Bastak.
Cave divers from the National Speleological Society -- Lamar Hires and Mark Leonard of Lake City and Woody Jasper of High Springs -- found Dismukes in about 35 feet of water Thursday evening.
A preliminary investigation showed that both Dismukes and Williams were certified as open-water divers, but it did not appear that either diver was certified for cave diving.
End of article
Additional Information: Apparently the divers decided to pull down the fence which blocks off the cave section at Devil's Den. They did not have the proper training or equipment to cave dive. On top of that, the cave system at Devil's Den is supposed to be very low flow and high silt, as well as a tight squeeze. The type of system that trained cave divers would probably say, "There's no way you're getting me into that hole".
I'm long over due to thank panout for first sending this info to me in a PM and also I'm thankful you also found it. It cleared up things for me and my family. This is not the easiest sport to sell to you family esspecially if they think someone who was trained died in the family already. While its sad that my distant relative died at all, it does clear the air with what happened and opened up a better understanding.
Tom Hundley
A TD friend of mine once described the system as "heavily laden with clay & silt......A humoungus underground pasture as large as a football field, once you reach the main ballroom"-! " not a good place to explore"-! I've seen the site a couple of times, & though it is spectacticular, I personally don't think pushing beyond 'gated' areas is a good idea. Often, we are intrigued by 'what-lays-beyond'-! Without considering the consequences of human error or failures. I'm saddened that you lost a distant relative there, Tom. It could have been anyone of us, out for adventure. The common ground rule here, again, is to explore with-in our limits, & safely. The gates at Ginnie's Ballroom, Devils Den, Morrison Spgs, & Vortex are there for a reason.Quote:
Originally Posted by gregfl
Just my own thoughts on this subject
je
Just for information only, is there a map of the system out there? I am collecting them for future display. Ken
Anyone here been beyond the gate in Ginnie, before the gate was installed? I'm curious as to what it's like back there. No intention of diving it, just curious. What was the reasoning behind installing the gate there? Other than hearing that a bunch of people died back there I have not really heard anything else about it....Quote:
Originally Posted by JE
Thanks!
Martin.
2nd that ... I'd love to hear what's back there or just see a map ...Quote:
Originally Posted by Chunky
Here's a map of the Ginnie cave:
http://www.floridacaves.com/jennycave.pdf
I heard it was grated because it's unstable. Too many bubbles on the ceiling could cause collapse.
I made a few dives back there before we installed the grate. It is low & tight for the most part. Lots of clay on the bottom as I recall. We always dived it backmount and were able to get around OK.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chunky
I do not recall any stability issues at all in there. I made probably at least 10-15 dives in there.Quote:
Originally Posted by rn1069
In Daniel Lenihan's book, Submerged, he writes about being part of a recovery at Ginnie in September 1973. After the description of the recovery, he writes:
"There had been many deaths in the popular Ginnie before, even an infamous one involving four victims, but this one did it - enough was enough. Three of our associates from Miami, Tom Mount, Paul DeLoach, and Jim Nangle, installed a grate in the spring, where the inviting open chamber narrowed to a conduit. This cavern was inviting to novices in the light-bathed mouth and lethal just a little way down its throat."
My instructor had a different view of it, however. When I took Cavern there in the mid 1990s, this is how he explained it:
In the seventies Ginnie Springs was becoming a commercial success, with two distinct systems on the property: Ginnie Spring and the Devil System. But the growing number of deaths was getting serious. Open water divers were their bread and butter, so they decided to sacrifice one system to save the other. Since the Devil System was a much nicer system, and with the huge ballroom at Ginnie Spring so conducive to open water divers, it was decided that Ginnie Spring would be the one to be sacrificed.
I'm not stating this as actual fact - it's simply my interpretation of my instructor's opinion.
Russell