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The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is located at a depth of 530 feet (162 meters) below the surface of Lake Superior. That's an extremely risky technical deep d

The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is located at a depth of 530 feet (162 meters) below the surface of Lake Superior. That's an extremely risky technical deep dive. There were probably more people in space than non-saturation diving at this depth.

blutack 11mo ago
Presumably also open circuit not rebreather given this was mid 90s. It's a pity the article doesn't detail their dive plan, the gas quantities must have been staggering. Nowadays this type of diving would be done using an eCCR (and backup open circuit), where some software on a microcontroller controls the amount of oxygen in a breathing loop. A scrubber (hopefully) removes the CO2. Changing the gas mixture as you go is required to reach these sorts of depths because oxygen becomes toxic at pressure, and gas density itself can cause issues with breathing.
- mi100hael 11mo ago
  There's more detail on the dive in this account: https://cambrianfoundation.org/2000/02/28/1995-expedition/ https://cambrianfoundation.org/2000/02/28/1995-expedition/
  - eszed 11mo ago
    This one says twelve minutes of exploration at the bottom.
- nradov 11mo ago
  Right, Terrence Tysall and Mike Zlatopolsky (Zee) dove the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1995 using open circuit gear. This article by Tysall gives some details of their dive plan. https://advanceddivermagazine.com/articles/fitz/fitz.html https://advanceddivermagazine.com/articles/fitz/fitz.html
danielbln 11mo ago
Good lord, ascent must've taken hours at that depth. I felt daring going down 40 meters in Belize, 164 in pitch black ice cold water, trimix and hours of deco gass on the way up? No thanks.
- gausswho 11mo ago
  According to TFA they had 15 minutes at the wreck, 4.5 hours of ascent. At about 34 degrees water temp.
  - marze 11mo ago
    It may have been 15 minutes to both go down and explore, it mentioned 4 minutes at the bottom. The quote: "15-minute descent and exploration"
sandworm101 11mo ago
500-foot waters but the ship was 700+ long. The size of cargo ships boggles the mind. The largest space rockets are toys compared to any modern cargo ship.
- shagie 11mo ago
  The relevant xkcd - https://xkcd.com/1040/ https://xkcd.com/1040/ (there's a large version of it too) There's a mentioned fun fact that is what reminded me of this: The Edmund Fitzgerald, the Kursk, and the Lusitania all sank in water shallower than they were long. Elsecomment there was a mention of diving, there are lines for diving records too.
  - emptybits 11mo ago
    And thank you for this tidbit, down there at the bottom of the Marianas Trench: "MYSTERIOUS DOOR WHICH JAMES CAMERON BUILT HIS SUB TO REACH AND OPEN. HE WILL NOT SAY WHAT HE FOUND WITHIN." o_O

blutack 11mo ago

Presumably also open circuit not rebreather given this was mid 90s. It's a pity the article doesn't detail their dive plan, the gas quantities must have been staggering. Nowadays this type of diving would be done using an eCCR (and backup open circuit), where some software on a microcontroller controls the amount of oxygen in a breathing loop. A scrubber (hopefully) removes the CO2. Changing the gas mixture as you go is required to reach these sorts of depths because oxygen becomes toxic at pressure, and gas density itself can cause issues with breathing.

mi100hael 11mo ago
There's more detail on the dive in this account: https://cambrianfoundation.org/2000/02/28/1995-expedition/ https://cambrianfoundation.org/2000/02/28/1995-expedition/
- eszed 11mo ago
  This one says twelve minutes of exploration at the bottom.
nradov 11mo ago
Right, Terrence Tysall and Mike Zlatopolsky (Zee) dove the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1995 using open circuit gear. This article by Tysall gives some details of their dive plan. https://advanceddivermagazine.com/articles/fitz/fitz.html https://advanceddivermagazine.com/articles/fitz/fitz.html

danielbln 11mo ago

Good lord, ascent must've taken hours at that depth. I felt daring going down 40 meters in Belize, 164 in pitch black ice cold water, trimix and hours of deco gass on the way up? No thanks.

gausswho 11mo ago
According to TFA they had 15 minutes at the wreck, 4.5 hours of ascent. At about 34 degrees water temp.
- marze 11mo ago
  It may have been 15 minutes to both go down and explore, it mentioned 4 minutes at the bottom. The quote: "15-minute descent and exploration"

sandworm101 11mo ago

500-foot waters but the ship was 700+ long. The size of cargo ships boggles the mind. The largest space rockets are toys compared to any modern cargo ship.

shagie 11mo ago
The relevant xkcd - https://xkcd.com/1040/ https://xkcd.com/1040/ (there's a large version of it too) There's a mentioned fun fact that is what reminded me of this: The Edmund Fitzgerald, the Kursk, and the Lusitania all sank in water shallower than they were long. Elsecomment there was a mention of diving, there are lines for diving records too.
- emptybits 11mo ago
  And thank you for this tidbit, down there at the bottom of the Marianas Trench: "MYSTERIOUS DOOR WHICH JAMES CAMERON BUILT HIS SUB TO REACH AND OPEN. HE WILL NOT SAY WHAT HE FOUND WITHIN." o_O