Florida Diving History of 60's and 70's: The Tusk Recovery Trip early 70’s

[CaveDiver1932]

The Tusk Recovery Trip early 70’s
Narrated Video: http://www.vimeo.com/8122389

As normal, the weekend dive trip started out very early in the famous TV repair van. With my father driving, they headed to the Kissimmee river to recover a prehistoric elephant tusk.


When they got there, they unloaded the fancy john boat and powerful motor to take them to the site:


This shot was taken on the way up to the site. Nice scenery.


The tusk was located just about the middle of the river in the picture:


Underwater recovery of the prehistoric elephant tusk artifact:
Here they are removing the river bottom dirt and debris from around the tusk. About two inches of the tip of the tusk was sticking out of the river bottom. The rest was buried in the mud and sand. Most divers would have swam right by the tusk thinking it was just an old log.


While removing the mud and sand away from the tusk, it became difficult to take photographs due to the debris clouding up the water.

Off to the left of the tusk, they found a mammoth hip bone. Don’s Rolex watch is sitting on it to give some contrast and reference to the size of the hip bone.


Back to the tusk - the tusk is starting to come out. Notice the color and erosion on the tip that was sticking up out of the river bottom.



Using his body and his Rolex watch as a reference, my father shows the size of the tusk. The tip of the tusk is off to the left. The tusk is over nine feet from tip to the nerve end.


They were unable to get the whole tusk in a photo because if they backed-up too far, the silt in the water would block out the tusk. This is the best they could do:


They took off all their life vests and wrapped them around the tusk.
They then filled-up their life vests with air and lifted the tusk off the bottom to the surface of the river.



Here are a couple of photographs of my father with the tusk on the bank:



Here is the tusk sitting wrapped behind an old truck and sitting on the base of the frame they made for it:


Once they got it back to the shop, they made a case and plaster of Paris mold for it to sit. Here is a picture of my father with the tusk at the shop:


Don with the tusk:


Not sure where the tusk ended up. Hopefully it is on display some place for all to see.
One of the few artifacts I actually saw in person. I believe The Shop was a no kid zone.

Hope you enjoy.

[murfef]

That's amazing, thanks for sharing!!

[Randy Thornton]

Awesome pictures! Thanks for sharing these! I always love to see early pictures of the cave community and hear of their exploits!

[CaveDiver1932]

Diving Don Serbousek passed away. Now he can join my father and dive the deepest caves and clearest waters. Rest in peace.
http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/east-volusia/2010/08/05/amateur-paleontologist-don-serbousek-dies.html

[Cindy]

Great photos! Interesting stuff.

[Huntingbigun]

Great Story, where on the river was that, I airboat all up & down that river or ditch as most of it was destroyed by the Corp of Army Engineers into a dang ditch

[AB8CD]

A very nice article and tribute to Don. If we don't tell the stories... history just slips away. Thank's for the post.

[CaveDiver1932]

Great Story, where on the river was that, I airboat all up & down that river or ditch as most of it was destroyed by the Corp of Army Engineers into a dang ditch

Unfortunately I do not know the exact location. My father did talk about the big foo bar the Corp of Army Engineers did to the river. This recovery was done in the early 70’s and I suspect after 72 going by the date of my father’s watch. It is apparent that this part of the river was unmolested at the time of the recovery. Are there any areas that were not touched by the Corp?

[Huntingbigun]

Only small sections that were the old bends, they have back filled the ditch down by by Lake O, be really cool if it was still in one of th old bends that still are around. you can goggle earth and see what is left. Thanks for posting the story

here is a link that tells the story about Corps boo boo

http://www.audubonofflorida.org/PDFs/LOKissRestore.pdf