10/31/2024
I'm sorry this is several days late. On October 28, 1998 at approximately 1300 hours off the coast of Long Island 2 dear friends had lost their lives on the ship wreck USS San Diego. Jeff Springer of Boyertown and Greg Bryson, I believe Exeter. The San lays upside down in 130' of water and was sunk on July 22, 1918 but a German U-boat. It was a beautiful sunny day. Not a cloud in the sky. No wind, no waves. Not even a ripple on the water. I was diving with Bill Bangs and Shelly Mihalcik. It was the second dive of the day. As like any other dive we were smiling and laughing and having a great time. Myself and Bill Bangs were one of the last divers in the water on the second dive. Greg and Jeff were already in and on the wreck. As we dropped below the surface we did all our normal things...we got to the wreck and Bill and I went to where we were on the first dive. Went into the forward gun turret to retrieve the gun power canisters we got the dive before and bring them to the surface. We only had maybe 10 minutes No decompression time..we knew we would be going into deco...nothing out of the norm. Bill took the first one up and out and I was finishing the other 2. Secured them ton lift bags and raised them out and up of the wreck. I worked my way back to the anchor line and made my accent. Made my first deco stop at 30' for about 5 minutes or so...don't remember...35 years ago...then stopped again at 15'. Visability was very good. I waved to Captain Howard Kline. Of the EAGLES NEST dive boat. He's the reason I became a Captain. As I broke the surface and gave him the OK sign he asked me if anyone else was on the line? Meaning the anchor line. I said no I was the last one. He said ok come in up...I had this feeling of something wrong...maybe it was the look on his face. I climbed back on the boat and was asking what was wrong...there was a sense of tension or doom on the boat. I asked what was going on. See I was the Dive Master in charge that day. It was part of my training as a Dive Master. Mark Stitzer of Scuba Venture was the actual dive leader for the group. But we all were a team and a club. Diver Down Scuba Club. Well I'll never forget Captain Howard asking me if I saw Jeff and Greg down there or on the hang line? I said they should have been up 30 minutes ago and no I didn't see anyone. There were two other dive boat also on the wreck that day. I said maybe they came up on one of the other anchor line. Radio over to the other vessels. Of course being the great and seasoned Captain as he is he already had done that. Two of the crew had gotten dressed and dove ton the wreck to see if they can find them. They could not. After being released from the USCG. We went back ton the dock without our two friends. The next day the crew of the eagles nest and two other dive boats, who canceled their trips that day, went out to find our friends. Several hours later we got the call that Jeff and Greg were found and are being brought home. My you rest in peace my friends. You are not forgotten.
