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SeaLab III was a 1968 Navy experiment in which 5 diving teams of 8 aquanauts lived for a 12-day period in a sea-floor habitat placed at a depth of 620 feet off San Clemente Island, #California. This experiment was also called the Deep Submergence Systems Project. This film describes the SeaLab III project. It includes footage of the SeaLab habitat being lifted from the deck of a ship and deployed at sea. It shows divers working underwater during the deployment of the habitat. It includes footage of SeaLab III aquanauts working with navy-trained porpoises. The film ends with a statement by Captain William Nicholson, Project Manager of the Deep Submergence Systems Project.
Collection - Lawrence W. Hallanger Films, 1968-1971
Digitized by the California Audiovisual Preservation Project (CAVPP).
Date - 1971
Author - U.S Navy/Robert H White
www.eonsofawe.com
Collection - Lawrence W. Hallanger Films, 1968-1971
Digitized by the California Audiovisual Preservation Project (CAVPP).
Date - 1971
Author - U.S Navy/Robert H White
www.eonsofawe.com
Category
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TechTranscript
00:00Here at the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard, workers prepare Sea Lab 3, a special habitat for
00:19ocean floor dwelling, to be used by the aquanauts of the Navy's most ambitious undersea experiment
00:25to date. Already used in Sea Lab 2, major modifications to the cylindrical habitat were the addition
00:32of two rooms to the ends of the central section and an anchor ballast tank which would allow
00:36the habitat to remain level on the sloping ocean floor. Once all systems had been successfully
00:49tested in the dry environment, a dry dock is flooded for the evaluation of submerged tests
00:54of safety, reliability, and performance needed for the life support of the men who would live
01:01and work in and out of Sea Lab during the deep ocean experiment in the Pacific. By nightfall,
01:07Sea Lab was almost completely submerged, enabling an aquanaut to exit from the diving station and
01:13check out his semi-closed breathing apparatus, or if man is to effectively explore his new frontier,
01:19he must have ample mobility. Primary objective of the Sea Lab 3 program is to evaluate techniques and
01:30equipment being developed and to extend man's capabilities to the limits of the continental
01:35shells. Essential to this capability is a deep diving system for eventual use by the fleet.
01:49The prototype of such a deep diving system was built into the support ship, Elk River. A vital part of
01:56this system is the PTC, or personnel transfer capsule, a pressurized elevator needed to transport divers to
02:03and from the ocean floor.
02:24Dress rehearsal site for the evaluation of special tools and equipment used by the salvage and construction teams, in their parts of the ocean floor program, is held near the
02:33Anacapa Island, California. Like a couple of ocean astronauts, the divers don special headgear that provides protection,
02:44two-way communications, and a breathing system for life support.
02:53At 600 feet, his breathing gas of helium and oxygen, in correct mixture, is supplied by an umbilical from the habitat.
03:02Fully dressed, the aquanaut must carry 140 pounds of equipment.
03:06Their first task on entering the water is to check out each other's life support system.
03:14Their first task on entering the water is to check out each other's life support system.
03:28The 60-day ocean floor program will consist of experiments in physiology, oceanography, construction, search recovery, use of marine mammals, and salvage.
03:44In this experiment, aquanauts use a zipper to adjust the amount of lift desired in a variable buoyancy lift system.
03:50Since salvage work demands heavy heaving and hauling, this portable crane can lessen their burden.
04:07Because the cold water is numbing and saps his energy, special tools such as this must be designed for the diver and are evaluated in the actual ocean environment.
04:16A diver tool test stand serves as a workbench where the performance of tools is actually tested.
04:24One of these is an explosive stud driver, using gunpowder as a source of energy to drive studs through one-inch armor plate.
04:32A human factors expert notes the time needed to complete each task, comparing their reactions to other environments like outer space.
04:40A restraining belt is worn by the aquanaut since buoyed weightlessness complicates his work.
04:44He tends to turn along with the drill, and if he hammers something, the reaction pushes him away.
04:47Put him in the water.
04:48Who's going in first?
04:49At the same time, members of the construction team were about to practice their part in the ocean floor program.
04:50To build a 15-foot-tall house on the sea bottom.
04:53A restraining belt is worn by the aquanaut since buoyed weightlessness complicates his work.
04:59He tends to turn along with the drill, and if he hammers something, the reaction pushes him away.
05:05At the same time, members of the construction team were about to practice their part in the ocean floor program.
05:17To build a 15-foot-tall house on the sea bottom.
05:20Using special lift devices and equipment, they will assemble three large concentric iron rings into a dry storage and repair facility.
05:28All right, I'm at the control console.
05:34Okay.
05:35All right.
05:36Get ready to operate the winch.
05:38Okay, down on the winch.
05:41Down on the winch, all right.
05:43Two sign in the flow.
05:45The lower ring is lifting off the bottom.
05:47The ring is lifting off the bottom.
05:49Lower ring, coming off the bottom.
05:51Hey, Larry.
05:54All right, tough sign.
05:56This is red diver.
05:58Could you turn the volume up between diver to diver?
06:02I'll give you some more volume, Blue.
06:07Looking good, Larry.
06:11Just watch the picture story.
06:13Now, Larry, I'll say is the trolley line flat yet?
06:18Is the trolley line flat yet?
06:19Techniques learned in this experiment can lead to construction of other, larger structures,
06:23and will eventually be the forerunner of major industrial and research complexes on the continental shelves of the world.
06:30At Point Magoo, California, another part of the ocean floor program is in progress.
06:36Three aquanauts are introduced to a sea lion named Gympie.
06:42She is one of five marine mammals trained to assist man in his research in the depths.
06:48Each underwater mammal has its own talents.
06:51The sea lion can streak from the surface to 600 feet in less than 30 seconds.
06:57Homing on a portable buzzer, Gympie is rewarded and patiently waits for the aquanaut to transfer a buoy from one part of her harness to another.
07:13This training helps the mammal accept tools, mail, and geological samples when she eventually acts as a messenger from the surface to the aquanauts below.
07:28Also in training is a porpoise named Tuffy.
07:31Porpoises are the brightest of the marine mammals,
07:34and Tuffy proved during the previous Sea Lab 2 experiment that he could act like a seagoing St. Bernard,
07:40taking a life-saving line from a rescue team to a lost aquanaut.
07:49With all modifications completed, the habitat is placed on a barge and towed from the naval shipyard at San Francisco
07:56to its next stop, Long Beach, California.
08:06During its brief stay at the shipyard, the underwater capsule is loaded with all the special equipment needed to make a habitat a home.
08:14Personal items.
08:18Consumables.
08:20Towels.
08:21And dry provisions.
08:26Meanwhile, the surface support vessel, Elk River, was departing from the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard
08:38and heading to the experiment site, an ocean engineering range on the leeward side of San Clemente Island.
08:45Once positioned in a five-point moor, the Elk River begins final testing of the deep diving system installed during its conversion.
08:52A large gantry crane lifts the pressurized elevator and moves it forward for lowering through the center well.
09:04The PTC must be closely controlled and monitored, for during the upcoming experiment, if the capsule loses its pressure,
09:10the aquanauts inside could suffer fatal explosive decompression.
09:21Use of these capsules allows quick, safe transfer of aquanauts to and from the ocean floor.
09:27Helium and oxygen flasks mounted on the outside contain the proper mixture of gases the diver breathes during transit and while making excursions from the PTC.
09:36Once saturated with this inert gas, the aquanaut cannot return to the surface.
09:43To do so would mean certain death.
09:47He moves from his dry capsule to the wet ocean surrounding it, able to come and go freely through an invisible curtain.
09:53No intermediate lock is required because the pressure within the PTC is the same as the surrounding water.
10:23The salvage ship, USNS Gear, tows the fully loaded habitat on the last leg of its journey from the shipyard at Long Beach.
10:38Arriving at the experiment site, it awaits offloading by the large floating crane, the marine boss.
10:56As the habitat is pushed to the offloading site, aquanauts make final preparations.
11:06Diver umbilicals are tied together and then wrapped securely around special storage racks near the diving station.
11:13Heavy wire slings are prepared for the marine boss lifting bridle.
11:19Now the large crane must lift more than 300 tons of ocean floor dwelling.
11:29The sea lab, resembling a railroad tank car, is almost 70 feet long and is painted a bright yellow for underwater visibility.
11:37The conning tower gives access while on the surface.
11:46When submerged, sea lab measures 50 feet from the top of the conning tower to the bottom of its central anchor clump.
11:53The special support barge has been pulled away and sea lab is lowered into the ocean.
12:00Marine boss has done its job and the final countdown begins.
12:07The habitat is gently towed to its lowering position near the support ship, Elk River.
12:16There it is moored for installation of the habitat umbilical and support equipment.
12:26Divers inspect the habitat as it rests in its moor.
12:30Cables and fittings are carefully checked.
12:32Divers inspectors are carefully checked.
12:33Divers inspectors are easily assembled.
12:34With down day approaching, aquanauts and support personnel complete final
13:03inspection of all deep diving system components. Inside a personnel transfer capsule mated to
13:10its accompanying deck decompression chamber, an aquanaut checks the gas monitoring panel
13:15and communications with other elements of the system.
13:22Monitor control, this is capsule two for communications check.
13:25Below him, similar tests are being made between the deck decompression chamber and the main control
13:31console, which is the nerve center for the exacting process of careful decompression,
13:36needed to bring men back to surface pressure from their saturated dye.
14:01Monitor control. The next morning everything is in readiness for the lowering procedure.
14:14The helium barge is alongside and the YSD-60 is hooked up and ready to lower.
14:21Flooding of a ballast tank beneath the conning tower is the first step for lowering the habitat.
14:26Now almost awash, divers secure the hatch of the conning tower, second of three ballast tanks.
14:35The upper two tanks provide 9,000 pounds of negative weight, allowing the unmanned Sea Lab to begin its
14:41descent. The third ballast tank is in the anchor clump and will be flooded as part of the habitat
14:47opening procedure once it is safely on the ocean floor. Divers enter the water while Sea Lab is held
14:56at 25 feet for a final visual check before the lowering continues. Pressure of the gas within the
15:03habitat is kept slightly greater than that of the surrounding ocean to prevent flooding.
15:07As the habitat is slowly lowered, personnel on the Westinghouse support ship Searchtide ready their dry
15:23submersible Deep Star for its first observation dive.
15:26Once in the water, she will descend to 600 feet permitting her Sea Lab passengers to observe the
15:36final stages of the lowering and actual touchdown.
15:44Bottoms in sight.
15:45Elk River, this is deep storm. The lab appears that she's going to make a beautiful landing.
15:56Now that is controlled. Go ahead and pan the panning pan and tilt one time to a final position.
16:13During the night, a remote-controlled camera system monitored the habitat, while closed-circuit
16:19television cameras provided a close watch on the pressure balance within Sea Lab.
16:26Early the next morning, pressure begins to drop. Gas is somehow leaking from the habitat.
16:36Immediately, a conference is held. The only way to stop a leak is from inside.
16:42The decision is made to compress four of the nine men more rapidly than planned,
16:46so the unbuttoning crew can get into the habitat ahead of schedule.
16:49The aquanauts are given the go-ahead.
16:53Okay, I'd like to get all members of team one over here.
17:05Arriving at the deck decompression station, the four aquanauts discuss the unbuttoning procedure
17:11and receive their final instructions from the diving officer.
17:26They enter the chamber for compression to 600 feet at the rate of four feet per minute.
17:31It will take two and one-half hours for their bodies to be equal to the same pressure they will experience on the ocean floor.
17:37The remaining five members of team one enter the other chamber for the planned 15-hour saturation to depth
17:57and to undergo physiological baseline studies.
18:12In the interim, Deep Star is requested to make another descent to the sea floor
18:17to try and accurately locate the leak and report back.
18:21This information is given to the four aquanauts preparing to descend.
18:27Personnel in the main control console area ensure mixes of gas during saturation are correct
18:36and keep track of the pressure within the leaking habitat.
18:48The five men undergoing standard pressurization busy themselves reviewing their assigned tasks
18:54and discussing the problem facing their teammates in the other chamber.
18:58By late afternoon, pressure is equalized between the decompression chamber
19:02and its mated personnel transfer capsule.
19:05The last-minute details for the dive are completed.
19:08The four aquanauts check their pressurized elevator before entering
19:12for the long ride to the ocean floor on the main deck of the support vessel.
19:27The gantry prepares to separate the capsule from the deck decompression chamber
19:31for this is no practice dive.
19:42The seal on the hatch of the capsule must hold,
19:45as the aquanauts are living at the same ambient pressure as that of the ocean floor,
19:50almost 280 pounds per square inch, 19 times greater than at sea level.
20:03Carefully, the capsule is swung over the center well for the strenuous job of attaching the downhaul winch,
20:09which also serves as a platform for the aquanauts when they exit at 600 feet.
20:15Mann's maximum working depth in the sea, until recently, was considered to be 380 feet for 30 minutes
20:22with hardhat diving equipment. The Mark II system is designed to more than double that depth.
20:39The capsule then transfers to handling davits, used with the main strength power communications cable,
20:46which is the aquanauts lifeline to the surface.
21:09As they descend slowly toward the habitat, the aquanauts report on their progress.
21:23Because of changes in resonance brought about by the helium in their synthetic atmosphere,
21:28their voices sound garbled and unearthly.
21:30And we're trying to remember about the Hoffanauts,
21:35their pockets have for air,
21:37air, air, air, air, air.
21:44And we're on the ground, air.
21:5149.
21:5250.
21:5550.
21:5650.
21:5750.
21:5750.
21:5950.
21:5950.
22:00The leaks in the habitat are visible to the aquanauts as they approach the ocean floor.
22:20Gas is escaping through penetration fittings in Sealab's hull and more gas must be pumped
22:25down from the surface to keep the habitat from flooding.
22:30With their elevator on the ocean floor, aquanauts Barth and Cannon hook up their umbilicals
22:35and head for the habitat.
22:37They must flood the anchor clump ballast tank, ensure the habitat is level, and release gas
22:43to blow out the skirt or area beneath the entrance to the diving station before opening
22:48the hatch.
22:50Ballast tank number three has been flooded and the skirt has been blown.
22:55Many personnel watch Bob Barth through closed circuit TV.
23:00He should now be able to open the hatch, but is having trouble with his breathing and must
23:05hit a bypass on his rig to increase gas flow.
23:09Tired, cold and breathing heavily, Barth decides to head back to the capsule.
23:14Barry Cannon had already returned.
23:19The capsule is hauled to the surface and the aquanauts gratefully entered the warm decompression
23:24chamber.
23:25But the problem has not been solved.
23:36In the predawn darkness of the following morning, the decision is made to send the men down on
23:41a second dive.
23:43The leakage is worse and must either be stopped or the experiment aborted.
23:48The aquanauts return to the personnel transfer capsule for a second journey to the Hundred
23:53Fathom death.
23:55Barth and Cannon again head for the troubled habitat.
24:20The problem is apparent to them as they approach.
24:24The light helium-oxygen atmosphere of Sealab is bubbling out into the sea.
24:32For a second time, Barth's attempt to enter the door of his underwater home is foiled.
24:37Water has seeped back under the diving station skirt and the hatch won't budge.
24:42Cold and frustrated, Barth swims for a crowbar position nearby, which can assist him in forcing
24:48to open the hatch.
24:54Returning he sees his partner Barry Cannon in trouble on the ocean floor.
24:59Dropping the crowbar, he rushes to Barry's aid.
25:02Cannon is shaking.
25:04His mouthpiece has come loose, allowing his vital breathing gas to escape.
25:09Struggling with the now unconscious body of his friend, Barth carries Barry to the diving
25:13station ladder.
25:15Clasping Barry up, Barth tries desperately to give him breathing gas through the buddy
25:19breather regulator carried for just such an emergency.
25:23Again he tries.
25:25Still again, he tries to force the mouthpiece with vital gas into Barry's mouth.
25:31Suddenly Barth himself begins having trouble breathing.
25:33His ears ringing, he feels as though he is going to pass out.
25:38Following Barry, he heads for the capsule and help.
25:41But he and his teammates' heroic efforts were to prove futile.
25:45Barry Cannon was pronounced dead on arrival at the deck decompression chamber.
25:50All right.
25:58What are you doing tomorrow?
26:03And that's when he writes down!
26:08You keep 20 seconds ago, you'll see him and in the back.
26:09You'll see him again.
26:10You'll see him again.
26:11Here he is.
26:11You'll see him again.
26:13He he is.
26:14He's walking away.
26:16Diving operations have been suspended and the on-scene commander is faced with a real
26:27dilemma. How was he to get the habitat back to the surface? It is still leaking badly
26:33and has the added weight of 17 tons of seawater in ballast tank number three.
26:38Aboard the YSD-60, engineers prepared to make modifications to the counterweight system in
26:45order to handle the additional 17 tons of weight. To do this 20,000 pounds of additional weight is
26:52added to the counterweight bringing its total to about 35,000 pounds and the weaker points in
26:59the raising system are either bypassed or strengthened by on-the-spot bracing to prevent
27:04buckling. The crane boom and the midship pulley were bypassed by cutting the aft I-beam to permit
27:12the actual lift from this corner of the ship. With the lifting problem solved, the helium barge was
27:18running out of gas. The air compressors on the support vessel couldn't keep ahead of
27:23the leaks. An urgent call for help was sent to a submarine with powerful air compressors.
27:28The question was, could she arrive in time to help? By nightfall, the lift had begun and the
27:37submarine diodon had arrived to handle a pressure problem. When the habitat was at 100 feet, divers
27:45entered the water to blow the ballast from number three tank and to attach nylon lines to guide sea
27:50lab into a clear area for surfacing.
27:57Crews took up slack on the guidelines while support divers manned small boats. Then, suddenly, gurgling and
28:06gushing, the habitat surged to the surface, safe after engineers gave her a thousand to one chance of
28:12ever getting off the bottom.
28:19Recovery of the habitat under emergency conditions was a truly outstanding performance. It will, in due time,
28:25enable us to complete all of the goals of Sea Lab 3 program.
28:30While the unfortunate accident stopped the experiment far short of the goal, we were able to learn a great deal from this initial major step.
28:39In particular, we identified several areas which require detailed investigation before we can consider
28:46the first hundred fathoms to have been mastered.
28:48We planned to go ahead with a series of special dives using this system, using the Mark II diving system,
28:55without the habitat, in order to solve these problems and get some exact data.
28:59We will do this while the habitat is being modified and repaired from its short excursion into the depths,
29:05while it's being refurbished with a particular aim of making it resistant to the high-pressure helium
29:11and the low temperatures to which it's exposed.
29:13Actually, the Sea Lab 3 experiment will mark a major milestone in our progress into the deep ocean.
29:20It must be recognized, however, that this is not the end.
29:23Both industry and the Navy must continue to seek the means of diving deeper and longer and in safety.
29:29These are goals to which Barry Cannon devoted his life.
29:33It's up to us to make them reality.
29:35The End
29:37The End
29:39The End
29:41The End
29:43The End
29:49The End
29:54The End
29:59The End
30:01The End
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