Johnson Sea Link accident

The Johnson Sea Link was the successor to Edwin Link's previous submersible, Deep Diver, the first small submersible designed for lockout diving. In 1968 the Bureau of Ships determined that Deep Diver was unsafe for use at great depths or in extremely cold temperatures because of the substitution of the wrong kind of steel, which became brittle in cold water, in some parts of the submersible. Link proceeded to design a new lockout submersible with a distinctive acrylic bubble as the forward pilot/observer compartment. In January 1971 the new submersible was launched and commissioned to the Smithsonian Institution. It was named the Johnson Sea Link after its donors, Link and his friend John Seward Johnson I. An air conditioning unit was installed on the aft starboard side of the acrylic sphere, creating a blind spot for the pilot. == The accident ==

After two years of successful operations, on June 17, 1973, the Johnson Sea Link was launched from Edwin Link's research ship, the Sea Diver, out from Key West, Florida. The objective of the mission was to recover a fish trap from the destroyer , which had been sunk to create an artificial reef. According to the subsequent United States Coast Guard report on the accident, Menzies, Link, and Stover "displayed an incredible casualness in their preparations for Dive 130, considering the inherent hazards of their operation." Because Link and Stover were not planning to perform a lockout dive, they were dressed in shorts and T-shirts. Prior to entering the submersible, Meek noticed Link and Stover's clothing and commented to them that it was cold "down there". The attempt to retrieve the fish trap failed. Shortly after 9:45a.m., the Sea Link became entangled on a cable in the Fred T. Berry wreckage while moving away from the sunken ship, below the ocean surface. The Navy dispatched the submarine rescue ship from Key West. == Rescue attempts ==

The Sea Link and Sea Diver crews considered whether to use the submersible's lockout capacity to allow one of the men in the diving compartment to exit the submersible and attempt to free it from the cable. This plan was abandoned because it posed a danger of oxygen toxicity to Link and Stover in the diving chamber. The Sea Link crew and Edwin Link, who was in overall charge of the situation, agreed to await the Tringa arrival. The Tringa arrived on scene at about 4:15 p.m. and proceeded to make a four-point moor above the Sea Link. On the afternoon of June 18, the commercial salvage vessel A.B. Wood II (O.N. 501922) arrived on the scene carrying an underwater television camera with a maneuverable platform, After the camera was used to locate the Sea Link, a grappling hook was attached to the camera and used to engage one of the Sea Link propeller shrouds and bring it to the surface. The Sea Link surfaced at 4:53 p.m. on June 18. == Aftermath ==

The Johnson Sea Link accident was investigated by the United States Coast Guard. The investigators concluded that the accident was caused by pilot error, possibly due to distraction, and by the hull shape of the Sea Link. The 1974 television movie Trapped Beneath the Sea, starring Lee J. Cobb, was loosely based on the Johnson Sea Link accident. The Link Foundation established the Albert D. Stover/E. Clayton Link Fund, used to support scholarships and oceanographic research, in 1973. In 1978, Compass Publications established the National Ocean Industries Association Safety in Seas Award, partly in memory of Link and Stover. == References ==