Carl Spencer, a highly regarded British diver, has died after suffering severe decompression sickness after a dive on the Britannic. He had been leading a National Geographic Society expedition to film the wreck. Apparently witnesses saw him suffering convulsions while filming the Britannic’s bow, before rapidly ascending to the surface missing decompression stops. He was flown by helicopter to Athens Naval Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The Britannic was the sister ship of the Titanic, and she sank in 57 minutes after hitting a mine in 1916 while acting as a hospital ship. The wreck lies in approximately 120 metres of water off Greece.
There is more information in the Times Online from where the above photo comes. There is also a thread on Rebreather World.
Tragic diver, Carl Spencer to be honoured by New York based Explorers Club
In a statement issued yesterday the Explorers Club, of which Mr Spencer was a respected and enthusiastic member, confirmed that he is to be formally recognised for his lifetime achievements. It reads;
“Carl Spencer was a highly regarded member of The Explorers Club, an international society of professional explorers founded in 1904 and based in New York City. The Club’s members have been responsible for an illustrious series of famous firsts – first to the North Pole, first to the South Pole, first to the summit of Mount Everest, first to the deepest point in the ocean, first to the surface of the Moon – often carrying one of 202 specially numbered Club flags, each with its own unique history. As recognition for his significant accomplishments as an explorer and the extreme difficulty of his expedition, Carl had been awarded the privilege of carrying The Explorers Club Flag to HMHS Britannic. Now the Club is considering an appropriate way to permanently pay tribute to Carl’s outstanding achievements and his substantial contributions to exploration”.
In a later statement it was confirmed that flag number #68, which began its career in 1937 and has twice voyaged aboard the Space Shuttle, traveled with Carl and his team to HMHS Britannic and will now be retired permanently and enshrined in his name at the Explorer’s Club headquarters in New York. A fitting tribute to a genuinely world-class explorer.
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