Talked to an old saturation diver in Port Arthur last week and it hit different

I was grabbing lunch at this little spot near the docks and this guy who must have been 70 starts talking to me about his time on rigs in the North Sea. He said in his day they didn't have any of the mixed gas computers we use now, just tables and gut feelings. Made me wonder if we rely too much on all this tech instead of actually learning the basics. Has anyone else run into old timers that made you rethink your whole approach?

2 comments

2 Comments

dylanh9719d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah but also those old timers would tell you they had to learn the hard way because the computer wasn't there to save them when they miscalculated by a few feet. I mean sure, gut feelings are great until your gut says "yeah 300 feet is fine" and your lungs say "actually no". Honestly though, those dive tables were basically just paper calculators with extra steps. The guy probably had a stack of them worn down to confetti from flipping through so much. Bet he still carries a printed one in his wallet just in case the battery dies on his smartwatch.

lane.angela20d ago

Read a book once about those early saturation divers. They had crazy instincts from just feeling the pressure changes.