I'm a Sat Diver or the story of my first offshore work

December 1974, it had been three years now that I had worked as a diver for the small diving company in Antwerp (see: Stupid Diver). We were only five divers there, the boss included plus two tenders, which meant many dives a week during which I have learned quite a lot of things.

In those days, there were very few companies specialized in this type of activity, and only two or three of them had a staff of full-time divers, the company in Brussels where I had started my commercial diving career and the one where I worked today.

These two companies were specialized in civil engineering works and most Belgian divers were very well-accustomed to this type of work. However, for the last two or three years offshore diving demand had growing and many divers were leaving the Brussels firm to try this adventure.

This situation made my boss smile, because indirectly, this brought us back a few contracts that our competitor could no longer honor due to lack of staff.

On Tuesday, December 25, Christmas Day, I received a phone call around three o'clock in the afternoon from a guy who introduced himself as the Director of a recruitment company. He was looking for experienced commercial divers for offshore projects, and that as such, he absolutely wanted to see me the same day.

Kindly, I replied that today was a holiday, but he didn't care and wanted to see me immediately. As a result, an hour later I was in his office on the ninth floor of a building on Avenue Louise. There I came nose to nose with René, one of my colleagues who was actually also working for the same company as me.

A few minutes later the office door opened and a guy around forty made us enter in his office. He introduced himself as being Michel G. Director of the FLADAS Company.

After the usual banalities he got immediately in the heart of the subject, and explained us that he had himself been diving for COMEX, but that he very quickly had discovered that the European offshore diving world sorely lacked experienced divers who knew how to work under water in difficult conditions. And thus he had made up his mind to recruit as many divers as possible from the Belgian and French civil engineering diving companies, for which these working conditions were commonplace.

As a result in his quest for skilled workers he had found us through other co-workers.

During our interview, he explained us what offshore diving was.

Everything he told us about this job fascinated me because like many young divers, I was attracted by deep diving. On the other hand, what bothered me a bit in its description was the length of the projects which as Michel said were a month in the North Sea, and two months in the other parts of the world.

At the time I still was relatively newly married, and was therefore quite worried about leaving my little young and pretty woman at the hands of all these males looking for a prey. Seeing my embarrassment, Michel trying to persuade me, started immediately on the financial aspect of this kind of work and asked me.

- How much do you earn at the moment?

- So much! I replied.

He looked at me and said:

- Good for your first trip I offer this much, then a 50% increase over the three following jobs.

- Oops! I swallowed hard because even for a first job the sum he proposed was more than triple my current salary.

- In addition to this, he said you can still add saturation premiums plus some tax benefits if you spend more than six months of the year abroad.

- All this is very tempting I told him, but I can't commit myself without first talking to my wife.

- No problem, do call me back in two hours, I’ll wait here.

Once home, the discussion was very lively. My wife knew I was attracted by this type of diving but she also was afraid they would send me in Africa or elsewhere for two months and was afraid of not being able to withstand such a long absence.

- And one month I asked her?

- That, I should be able to handle she said.

Ten minutes later, I Michel back on the end of the line.

- Good I told him, I want to go for you, but only for periods not exceeding one month.

- Perfect, you'll work in the North Sea, and then immediately added:

- Now you know what you have to do.

- Uh, what?

- Give your resignation and be ready to go on January 5.

What?! Already, this left me less than ten days to prepare my mind and announce my decision to quit to my boss.

The next evening we just had our year-end meal in the little Chinese restaurant where all the staff of the company dined together once a year. That evening, everyone was seemingly happy and the atmosphere was warm. Only René and I were not really in the mood.

Of course, this was because we had decided to announce the news during the evening. The meal was excellent, and then came the time when our boss began his little speech to thank us for the quality of work we had provided during the year.

Now, he starts speaking of the future and began to philosophize about the dedication of his men to be always available and to the great things that we would accomplish together next year.

Stealthily I glanced at René. Here we go; it's time to tell him.

As René is more direct than me, he intervened:

- Boss, I have something painful to announce.

Ouch! The boss's expression changed.

- Yes what is it René?

- Well, I have some bad news; I'm resigning because I'm going offshore.

Damn, the boss needed to sit down. A big discussion ensued between my colleague and him in an attempt to convince him to stay but nothing helped, René stucked to his decision.

Result, a few minutes later he was resigned to losing his best diver, but he immediately added:

- OK my dear René, no problem it’s your choice and I can’t stop you but fortunately, I still have Francis who will now take your place.

I knew no more where to put myself. And then shyly I said to him:

- Boss, I too have bad news, I'm leaving with René and I too is giving my resignation.

That was too much, two back-to-back resignations, the party was ruined.

Over the next few days, I did some shopping because I was told that the North Sea was very cold in the winter and so I needed some warm clothing.

Saturday 5 January eleven o'clock in the morning, the phone rings. At the other end of the line it’s my new boss Michel.

- Hi Francis, I'm calling to announce that you leave this afternoon, I have found you a job in the North Sea on the Jet barge 4.

- Be at the airport at three o’clock.

Shit, it left only four hours to spend with my family.

At two o'clock, as my wife Michelle could not yet drive, it was my parents who took me to the airport. The small hall was crowded, but very quickly I spotted Michel who was waiting for me anxiously.

- Hi! Here is your ticket to Aberdeen via London, quick go register your luggage at counter N° 3.

- Wait! But I have two large suitcases and one bag.

Michel looked at me in a dumbfounded manner:

- What have you got in there?

- But Michel I was told that I had to equip myself against the cold.

- Quick! Open them we’ll make a selection.

Result, in the middle of the airport and under the anxious eyes of my family, my new boss threw away all the clothes he judged unnecessary to take with me. Once this little technical detail set, I quickly went to register my luggage and finally was ready to move to the security desk.

So far, I had been so busy with my departure that I did not really realize what was happening but suddenly, seeing that the time of separation had come, a ball of anxiety formed at the back of my throat.

- It is time my loves, I must say goodbye.

Not easy all this, especially for my four-year-old kid who did not understand well why his dad was leaving him for so long.

Here I was on the plane to London. During my youth I had already done some flying in small aircraft, but I had never taken a commercial plane and I must say that I enjoyed this first flight.

At the London terminal, I was a little bit confused. Knowing nothing about airports,  I virtually stopped at every panel displaying messages to check if one of them applied to a flight to Aberdeen.

Probably seeing that I was a little lost, a stewardess approached me and offered her help. Thus, thanks to her, I found myself quickly in the terminal where my next flight was due to leave.

At 8:15 PM, new departure for the Scottish city where I arrived an hour and a half later. For the umpteenth time I reread the roadmap that Michel had given me:

«At Aberdeen airport take a bus and go to the George Hotel on Union Street. ''

Take a bus alright, but which one among all those waiting in the parking lot? Actually I just asked a driver. As I had revised my English with the Assimil method during the last few days, I proudly asked the first driver:

- Do you go center?

Nice, the guy seemed to have understood because he immediately replied:

- No, yourrrrr arrrrrrrre wrrrrrrong, you etc etc etc. In brief I could only hear a set of words containing only RRRRR consonants that I was not able to understand. Once again I asked him the same question resulting in  the same incomprehensible response.

Odd I thought I've revised my English. In my opinion this must be an alien.

Unfortunately not, because apparently everyone here spoke this same strange language. Seeing that I did not understand, the driver showed me another bus telling me:

- Take that bus.

I followed his recommendation and an hour later I was at the front desk of the hotel. Apparently the room had been reserved because as soon as I gave my name, the receptionist handed me a key indicating that the room was on the third floor plus a message telling me that someone would contact me during the morning.

Arrived at the door, I opened it, turned on the light and...

- Oh excuse me Sir.

There was a guy in the bed who turned himself over, grumbling. I quickly went back to the reception and told the lady that she had given me the wrong room because it was occupied. Well no, the receptionist explained to me that it was another diver and that we must share the room.

Result, back in the room, where I now tried to carefully store my suitcase without disturbing my new colleague too much. In vain, because of all my racket he opened one eye, then the second.

- Sorry.

- OK No. problem!

- Hello, I'm Francis and I come from Brussels.

- Hi, I'm John and I'm from London.

Phew, John spoke English that I could more or less understand and thus I could start a small conversation with him explaining what I came to do here. From what I could understand, he also had just arrived and was in bed early because someone would pick him up early the next day. Indeed, on the stroke of five o'clock in the morning, I heard John leave the room in silence.

10 o’clock in the morning, I received a phone call from a guy speaking French, it was Yves. He told me that my departure to the barge was only planned for the next day and that I could have the day for myself. As a result, I undertook a walk in the city.

But it was Sunday and Sunday’s in Aberdeen mean that everything is closed, not a soul on the streets, a dead city and even to make matters worse, the weather was really bad.

- Damn, what am I doing here? I was depressed and feeling blue thinking of the ones I had left behind me. I decided  it was better for me to return to the hotel, there at least it was warm.

At 6:00 PM, a new guy entered the room.

- Hello! I told him I thinking it was a new English diver. In response, I got a “Bonjour” with a strong accent from Marseille. It was Maurice, a French diver from COMEX who told me that he was also going to JB4. Suddenly my mood was much better.

Next morning after a hearty breakfast, we departed by taxi to Peterhead, a small port located some 50 km north of Aberdeen where a supply boat awaited us together with a few other workers who had to go to work at sea.

By mid-morning, the supply boat left its berth. It was barely out of the Harbor when it quickly started to move in all directions due to a severe gale.

For me, it had been eight years now since I had last set a foot on a ship, but very quickly, I could feel the symptoms that I feared: seasickness. We were barely at sea for less than half an hour before my breakfast was already coming out.

In the galley, despite the fact that it was virtually impossible to stand, the Cook was preparing lunch for the crew and the few guys who remained in the mess. For me, there was no question to swallow anything because the mere smell of the frying food made me run to the toilets.

Due to the bad weather, the captain had banned access to the outside to avoid anyone falling overboard, As a result, there was no question of getting some fresh air. The only thing to do was to lock myself as best I could in the bunk.

The next few hours, were among the most difficult of my life. The storm had gotten worse and I needed to wedge myself in very strongly to avoid being ejected from my bed. I didn’t stop to drinking and vomiting, I felt so bad that wanted to die.

I told myself that if THAT was offshore, then they could get fucked because I would not spend a month being as seasick as a dog.

The more time passed the more I convinced myself that I would return ashore immediately.

Finally, after thirty six hours of an interminable trip during which the boat had supplied various oil platforms, Jet Barge 4 was in sight and the seaman on watch came to inform us that we had to prepare ourselves for the transfer.

As I was in agony, I told Maurice that I had decided to stay on board to return to Belgium and never again in my life put my feet on a boat. Maurice replied with a smile that I was wrong to do this, because on the barge it would move significantly less.

- I don't care, I'm not moving from my bunk.

A ten minute later, the supply was alongside the barge. To facilitate the transfer of personnel, the boat moored downwind thus reducing somewhat the pitching and rolling. Result, I decided anyway to get up to go and see to what this installation on which I would have to go looked like. What I saw there before my eyes, was a huge pontoon kept in position by a series of large cables that went to the bottom.

It was fully illuminated and a terrible noise came out of it. Yet, as my colleague had said, the barge didn’t seem to move much. Maybe that after all it would be better to go there and so I immediately returned to the cabin to fetch my luggage.

Back on the afterdeck, I could see that the transfer had begun. The passage between the boat and the barge was made with a personnel basket in which we had to throw our suitcases, and then somehow try to cling to the side and remain there until the moment that the crane operator estimated to be able to pick up the basket without too much risk.

It was now my turn to try my hand at this rodeo.

Due to the unsynchronized  movements of the boat and barge, it was not easy to get in position. Sometimes I fell in the basket, and then a few moments later, I was pushed back and fell outside.

A veritable obstacle course. Then without warning, the basket lifted off from the deck and I found myself quickly to ten meters in height.

Once landed on board of the barge, it didn’t take me long to feel that she actually moved far less than that fucking tub and I felt immediately better.

My mood also quickly returned when I saw Luc a colleague that I had already met on a project in Belgium. After rapid greetings, he told me that I looked like "death warmed up" and had a complexion that looked pretty much like the green color of the barge.

No "wonder" I said "with the infernal trip I'd just suffered". Then after a few usual banalities, he grabbed my suitcase and led us Maurice and me to the clerk that had to register our arrival.

Once these formalities were completed, he led us to our room to drop our luggage, showed us the various locations of the barge that were important to identify immediately and then finally presented us to a few divers who were doing the night shift.

As it had been several dozen hours since I had swallowed anything I suddenly felt hungry. Luc invited me to go to the mess where for the first time in my life I tasted delicious pancakes with maple syrup. While I was eating, my buddy explained that because of the storm, the barge had been on standby for several days and the divers were free to do what they wanted.

Of course, very quickly I turned the conversion toward life on board and the kind of work that was expecting me here.

- Well, spirit here isn’t high because a few days ago we had a fatality and you are here to replace him.

Shit, my new work was starting well.

- Actually he to continued, the barge on which we work is called a Jet barge.

- You should know that here in the North Sea as well as in many other parts of the world, nothing may protude from the bottom of the sea and this means that all the pipelines that are currently laid must be buried before entering in production and this is where we come into action.

- As you can imagine, these kinds of deep trenches are not dug with a Galeazzi water lance.

- Here on the barge we use a huge machine, you will see it tomorrow, which is pulled over the pipe.

- This machine is equipped at the front with a multitude of high pressure lances that disintegrate the soil during progress, while at the rear of the machine; there is a huge pumping system that sends the sludge out of the trench.

- A few days ago, we reached the end of a section where an 8 inch valve was installed and it was expected that the Americans would stop the pulling of the jet at about five meters from this valve.

- Like usual we’ve started the inspection of the trench and the pipe.

- It was John our English diver who was in the water and everything was going well until the moment where he informed us that he had passed to the other side of the tube.

- Then all of a sudden, we‘ve heard a horrible scream on the radio and then nothing, no sound of breathing, total silence.

- Immediately, the supervisor has sent the bellman to his rescue.

- The visibility was still extremely reduced and the bellman had to follow the diver’s umbilical to reach him.

- Once there, he tried to take his colleague in his arms to bring him back to the bell, but the diver was stuck on the pipe and he couldn't pull him off.

- As time went on, the water cleared up and finally, the bellman was able to see that the diver’s arm was inside the tube.

- It’s then that we understood that the claw had been pulled too far and had snatched the small valve and a part of the pipeline on which it was welded.

- As the pipe was on air, the breach created a strong differential pressure (Delta P) at the level of the opening and it's while passing over the pipe that the poor man had his arm sucked in.

- No need to say how difficult it was to take him away from there.

- As the bottom was only thirty-five meters deep, the recovery intervention was made from the surface because the bellman was too shocked to continue.

- It took us not less than eight hours to free him and to be able to do it we were obliged to fill the pipe with water to equalyze the pressure.

- When his arm was finally removed from the pipe, all that remained was the bone. All the rest from the shoulder to the hand had been sucked into the tube.

- It was not nice to see, so you understand why the guys on board have felt a little depressed these last few days.

Obviously, there was an atmosphere on board.

- And now, what will the next operation be, I asked him?

- For now we are waiting for a lull because there is still a dive to do on the pipe , then the barge will lift her anchors to go to another site where we have to dig a new 36 inches stretch of tube. Finally, after having chatted some 10 minutes more with my colleague, I left him and decided to go to bed for a few hours.

Despite the travel fatigue, I did not sleep much. It was probably due in part to the stress of this first mission, but also because of the infernal noise caused by the machinery of the barge that could be heard even inside the cabins.

As a result, I got up at nine o'clock, dressed myself warmly and went out on the deck to look at where I had landed.

Outside, it was broad daylight. It was bitterly cold and the wind was still blowing very hard.

After having wandered everywhere to discover the various parts of this huge floating pontoon, I then walked to the back of the barge where  the command and diving post was established.

Luc was still there and was busy adjusting the regulator a diving helmet.

Another diver was putting a coat of paint on the ceiling of the room and two others had their noses stuck inside a playboy magazine.

- Hi, slept well?

- Not too well, I find there is quite a lot of noise.

- Don’t worry, you‘ll get used to it quickly.

- Come on, I'll introduce you to the superintendent; he is precisely in the control room. I followed him. On our way we walked through a room where I could see a huge orange decompression chamber.

- That’s our 2500 chamber he told me it’s in there that we make our saturations, we will show you the installation later.

At the end of the room, a small staircase led to the control room. There Yann the life support technician (LST) and Jacques the diving superintendent were busy summing up the status of the diving gases.

- Hi, Francis, you’re the new one?

During our interview, he inquired a little about my diving experience, and then at the end he added:

- This afternoon, we will try a dive to sling the pipe, will you do it?

Of course, I was there to dive and thus accepted with enthusiasm.

- Well, it is foreseen around 2:00 PM the dive supervisor will tell you what there is to do.

- In the meantime you can already choose yourself a diving suit.

At shift change, I met the other members of the day’s dive team. Then the team leader whose name I have forgotten led me to the rear starboard side of the barge and began to brief me on my future dive.

- You see, here we have a downline that is still moored around the pipe at the level of the valve which was torn off.

- So, you are going to follow it.

- Once on the bottom, you disconnect the line and you go to your left.

- Make sure that your umbilical is behind you; otherwise you'd go in the wrong direction.

- At approximately twenty meters from the valve you'll arrive at the end of the pipe on which there is a pulling head.

- There you fasten the guideline on the ring.

- After that we will send you a steel wire with a three-pieces shackle.

- Once you have recovered it, give enough slack to the cable to not be bothered by the swell, then you remove the pinad put the shackle over the ring.

- After, you set the pin of the shackle in place, you tighten the nut very hard and you don't forget to set the security pin in place.

- And please be careful nt to lose the nut.

- Once this is done, you will have to go to the equalization valve which is located on the other side of the pulling head and close it.

While he was describing what I would have to do, I thought that he was taking me for an idiot who had never slung anything in his life. But very quickly during my other offshore jobs I was going to realize that unlike civil engineering diving it was always like that in offshore: Divers can only take little initiative.

- As you can see he continued; there is still too much swell to do the decompression stops in the water so you'll do surface decompression.

- Uh! What’s that I asked a little intrigued?

- It means that you will come up directly to the surface where we will rapidly take off your gear and then put you in the chamber where you'll be recompressed to twelve meters while breathing pure oxygen.

- Be careful, because once you are out of the water, you must not hang around because you only have three minutes to return to the treatment pressure.

Shortly after, the time for intervention came. Maurice was going to be my standby diver.

Dutifully, I dressed in with an Unisuit dry suit and then for the first time in my life put a bandmask on my head.

It was an orange KMB 9 band mask equipped with communications with the surface.

This also was a change from my dives in the ports and channels where so far with the exception of some special works I only used pull signals to communicate.

Everything was ready. In the earphones I could hear the supervisor tell me that I could go.

I went to the edge of the barge waited a few moments for the top of a wave and jumped.

Once in the water, I seized the downline and immediately began to heave myself towards the bottom. The band mask was equipped with a nose block device to facilitate the balancing of my ears but I didn't need it because since always I had always learned to clear my ears by swallowing.

The only thing I had to think about during the descent was to regularly send some air in my dry suit to prevent it from squeezing. In less than two minutes I was some thirty-five meters down.

There, the visibility was good and I could see that the downline was where the supervisor had said.

The dive took place without any difficulty, in accordance with the instructions I had received. Result, twenty minutes after my departure, I could announce:

- Surface job completed !

On the surface, the supervisor appeared surprised because he asked me to confirm.

- Are you sure you have correctly put everything in place?

- Affirmative, everything is in place, tight and secured, and the valve is closed.

- Good in that case you can drop the guideline and come up slowly to the surface and be careful not to get tangled in the sling.

Slowly, I began my ascent. Around twelve meters, the effects of swell could be felt strongly. The cable where I was ascending did not stop tightening and slacking and when I looked toward the surface, I could see the bottom of the diving ladder in the splash of the waves.

Fortunately I did not have to make my decompression in the water; otherwise I could have had nausea again.

I arrived at the bottom of the ladder which sometimes was at six meters, and then the next moment at three meters. I clung to the steps to remove my fins but it was really not easy.

Now, it's done. Immediately I climbed up on deck. Once on it, three colleagues threw themselves upon me to remove my diving gear then promptly directed me to the deck decompression chamber (DDC). Quickly, I settled down in the entry lock, seized the oxygen mask and began to deeply breathe this pure gas that should prevent me from getting a bend.

A few seconds later the door of the chamber closed while that via the intercom the LST informed me that he would begin to pressurize. Immediately, the air started to hizz in the lock and in less than a minute, the door to the main chamber opened.

Whew !, my surface interval lasted less than three minutes. I was inside the procedure prescribed by the decompression table and could now enter into the chamber to lie down on the bunk while continuing to breathe O2. I was in for ten minutes.

Not bad at all,this method of decompression, I thought. It allowed me to decompress in the dry and protected from the swell. But what I was unaware at the time, it is that this technique is not without risk for the diver because during the surface interval the tissues are in a state of supersaturation and the risk of a decompression accident is real.

Moreover it is often said that surface decompression procedures are semi-controlled decompression accidents which are treated immediately and even a study has even proved that Sur-D tends to produce ten times more TYPE II (neurological) DCS than in-water decompression.

Beside, in the long term, this practice also has serious consequences on the health of divers who have during their careers intensely done this type of decompression and many of them are today highly disabled or even invalid.

Fortunately, Comex was aware of these risks and practiced the surface decompression only in exceptional circumstances such as for instance today.

My dive had apparently met the requirements of the Supt because as soon as I stepped out of the chamber, he told me that I would be part of the next saturation which should take place in a few days if the weather calmed down.

He then asked the dive supervisor to show me the complete deep diving installation during the next few hours and brief me on the various ongoing work procedures for the setting of the jet and the inspections.

Super, my first project and I could already go into 'sat'. Other divers did not have this chance and many of them would sometimes have to wait long before living this experience.

As the work was entirely finished on this site two tugs had begun to recover the anchors.

This maneuver lasted a dozen hours during which we could hear the haunting sound of the twelve winches that were returning the kilometers of cable. Once the last anchor on board, the barge was taken in tow and moved to its new destination.

During the towing, at the exception of a few deck hands, the barge was living in idle. In the gangways, some Americans with a stinking cigar in their mouth had installed games tables around which they spent long hours playing poker accompanied by large glasses of whiskey.

As a result a thick smoke cloud and a smell of cold tobacco was floating in the cabins, decaying the atmosphere.

Twenty-four hours later, we were on site but due to the bad weather, the barge still remained in standby for several days. I used that period to spend a maximum time to study all the facilities and equipment I didn't know.

I looked everything:

The diving bell into which I did spend a few hours studying the various gas circuits that were in it so that I got able to identify them in case of problems and eventually could isolate them in the dark.

The huge claw that was actually hanging at the surface and around which I would have to move without any visibility.

The chamber, in which I was going to live for the next few days.

I also spent a lot of hours with the chamber operators who taught me how to make breathing mixtures. In short everything I saw, passionated me.

Then finally, on January 17 the weather calmed and for the first time in my career I went into saturation.

The three colleagues who accompanied me were Maurice, the one with which I was going to do team up, Alain the Tahitian and a Canadian diver whose name I have unfortunately forgotten. At 2:00 PM, the start of the pressurization began.

The chamber was compressed with air up to ten meters to bring the partial pressure of oxygen to 420 mb.

- Everything Ok guys? Yann asked.

- Yes everything is alright.

- OK, I'm sending the helium.

Slowly, pure helium was released into the chamber atmosphere. Very quickly, my voice changed and I started to talk like Donald Duck.

Ten minutes later, we had reached the living depth of sixty-five meters.

The supervisor informed us that the deck crew was ready to lower the jet and that Maurice and I could start to prepare ourselves for the dive.

As I had never be in a diving bell, the diving Supt decided that for safety reasons Maurice had to be the bellman and therefore it was up to him to complete the bell checklist.

I decided however to watch him so I would know how to do it for the next dive.

Once in the bell, my colleague tided up a few things and then informed the surface:

- Surface I'm ready for the checklist.

- Ok Maurice, we start with the communications.

- Bell communication

- Ok

- Diver helmet

- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 how do you read me?

- Five on five

- Bellman Mask

- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 how do you read me?

- Five on five

- Auto-generator

- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 how do you read me?

- Five on five

- Let’s skip to the electricity.

- Inner light?

- Ok

- Outdoor light?

- Ok

- Scrubber?

- Ok

- Heating?

- Ok

- It's good Maurice, one passes to the valves

- Inflation by umbilical?

- Closed, I do a test

- Arrival bellman?

- Open

- Umbilical arrival?

- Open

………And so on

- Alright Maurice, checklist complete, you can call your diver in the bell.

Excitedly I went into the bell and settled on the small seat while the bellman closed the lateral door. The surface decompressed the trunk then a moment later we could hear that one of the divers was disconnecting the bell with great blows of a sledgehammer. Here it is, the bell moved to the end of its portico, rose a little, and then slowly started to descend.

Through the porthole one could see that the night had already fallen.

The passage through the splash zone is pretty hectic and the bell moved violently in all directions. Maurice told me to hold on well.

Then very quickly the rodeo calmed and the bell went down into the abyss.

Sixty-five meters, the bottom door opened slightly under the effect of the pressure and a trickle of water filled the bottom of the bell.

Immediately, Maurice announced:

- Surface door open stop the descent.

Through the halo of light from the external projectors I could now see the bottom of the sea where many cods were swimming.

I dipped my hand in water: Brrr! it was cold. Fortunately, Maurice had already connected the hot water hose to my diving suit and so I would warm up a bit before I immersed.

The supervisor called me:

- Ok Francis the jet is about five meters from the bottom.

- How is it going, not too nervous for your first dive?

- No problem I’m fine.

Here it is. I am now fully equipped and after a communication test with the surface, I make an OK sign at my colleague and let myself gently slide into the icy water.

Immediately I felt the pleasant warm water circulation in my suit. Super, I had the impression of being in a warm bath.

I went down onto the bell counterweights and turned completely around to see what is around me. It was dark and I couldn’t see anything beyond the beam of the projectors.

A little on the starboard side of the bell I could see the jet that was dangling a few meters over the bottom.

A call coming from the surface reminded me to order.

- Francis, are you ready?

- Yes surface , I’ve seen the jet.

- Okay, first thing to do is to search the pipe.

- In principle you should find it if you go at 3 O’clock.

- Understood surface.

I let myself fall on the bottom which is located some five metres below, and then displace myself in the said direction. I'm moving slowly on the sea floor. The more I go away from the bell the more it starts to get dark. But despite all the visibility remains good.

In the distance, I begin to see a dark mass. It must be the pipe. Actually, a few metres farther the 36-inch pipeline is there resting on the sandy bottom.

- Surface! That's it, I found it!

- Ok Francis, sits you on the pipe, I'll ask at the bellman to look of how far you’re out.

- Maurice, can you tell me how many meters the diver is out?

- More or less thirty meters.

- Thirty metres, thanks.

- Ok divers, we'll make a move of twenty meters to starboard with the barge.

- Maurice, you take care of the umbilical.

- Understood, you move the barge.

Slowly the barge winches started to turn. Some gave slack on the port cables while others picked up the slack on starboard. Slowly, the bell came closer to me.

- Surface!

- Yes Francis.

- Here it is I'm starting to see the Jet.

- Ok, we have nearly completed the move.

Some instant later, the supervisor Announced:

- Twenty meters, movement is finished.

- Can you tell me how far we are from the pipe?

I looked a little upwards and could now see this enormous mass of dozens of tons of steel swinging around in all directions at the mercy of the swell.

- The jet is about five to six meters on the port side of the pipe.

- Ok Francis, now it's up to you to play.

- You first bring the machine above the pipe.

- Ok well understood.

- Can you still move the barge three meters to starboard.

- Let’s go for three meters.

At the end of two or three small additional displacements, the jet was finally over the pipeline. Still sitting on it, I took a few minutes to study its behaviour. It had a vertical movement of about two to three meters, while it oscillated laterally for a good meter. As a result, I was a little stressed because with these random movements, I did not have much room for maneuvre.

At the surface, the supervisor (probably pushed by the client) asked me to act.

- Yes, do not worry, it comes, I just do not want to crush the pipe.

I made a last control to make sure that my umbilical was runing well behind me to make sure it could not pas under the machine, then anounced:

- Surface easy down on the jet until I say STOP

- Down to the stop.

The ramp with the injection nozzles are approaching dangerously from the pipe.

- STOP the descent.

- It is stopped.

Because of the swell, the huge mass of steel moved up and down above the top of the tube.

- OK, be ready to drop the jet.

I did wait for a few seconds then finding the right moment I shouted:

- DOWN! DOWN! DOWN!

Immediately, the machine began to descend quickly over the pipe until it stopped on the sea bed.

Moments later, the surface informs me that weight gauge indicates that the machine is standing.

Phew!, I thought that I hadn’t broken anything.

The installation of the claw had generated a sand cloud but rapidly a small current sweeped the cloud away and I could now clearly see that the jet overlaped the pipeline but wasn't yet buried deep enough .

- Surface!

- Yes Francis I listen.

- Ok, the jet is standing correctly, but it has to come down for more than one meter until the sled touches the bottom.

- Well received, go and put yourself on the counterweight, we'll start the pump to let it go down.

- Maurice, pick up diver slack diver returns to the counterweight.

- Ok I do.

I was now under the bell since two or three minutes, when all of a sudden a huge racket began to be heard. These were the high pressure nozzles and pumps being set in action. The acute whistling became stronger and stronger, I felt as if I was next to a jet plane that was taking off.

The noise was so loud that all of a sudden I was afraid that everything would explode.

Around the claw a thick cloud of sand began to reduce visibility. Then finally after a few minutes the noise decreased a little.

The supervisor called me:

- Okay, Francis, we have stopped the jetting and pumping, and open the internal circuit.

- Can you go and look if the sleds are now resting properly on the bottom?

- Uh ! are you sure that I can go because I can hear that the jet is still running.

- Don’t be afraid it makes noise, but the pumps are shut down and you risk nothing.

- Ok, if you say so I’ll go.

On the bottom the visibility was nil. Fortunately the jet was only located at a few metres from the bell and I found it easily.

The big machine had effectively come down and the two skates were now on the bottom.

- Surface the jet is in position.

- Perfect Francis, you worked well, you can go back to the bell, the dive is complete.

I returned to the diving bell quite happy to have successfully completed my first deep dive.

During the next two days, we performed some inspection dives. Then in the late afternoon Jacques came on the radio to inform us that a new storm was forecast and that the barge was lifting anchors to seek shelter. As a result, we had to be decompressed.

- What already! I said to my diving buddies.

- Well Yes, Alain told me it's always like that here in the North Sea during winter time, a few days work and then standby weather.

Our decompression lasted for nearly seventy hours.

As the barge was again under tow, we could feel that she was moving a lot. Maybe it was due to the pressure or because I had gotten my sea legs again, but I did not have the slightest nausea.

On Tuesday the 21 st, the door of our recompression chamber opened in the early afternoon and I could again breathe the fresh air of the North Sea.

The rest of the work took place as it had started by a long period of stand-by. Then at the end of the month the bad weather ceased and a new team could again enter in saturation.

For me the end of my first trip was close because my replacement was scheduled in the coming days. Finally, on February 2nd, I made the return voyage and was back two days later with my small family and in the arms of my little darling,who had missed me so much.