Army Divers Examine BAYLAB in Milford Haven

Original Article by Sherry Hammond, Gloucester-Mathews Gazette Journal, October 3, 2002.

Reprinted by Permission of Editor, Gloucester-Mathews Gazette Journal

14 Members of Fort Eustis's U.S. Army Dive Company spent last Thursday on Gwynn's Island with Morgan Wells of North, taking turns diving down to BAYLAB, a research facility developed by the Undersea Research Foundation that Wells co-founded.

Dive Team Leader, SGT Tracy Bower, said he and his team were both there to get some exposure to the civilian diving world and to have an opportunity to work with Wells.

"This gives people in our unit a chance to see what's happening in the dive community," said Bower.  "And Morgan has probably forgotten more about diving than I'll ever learn.  Being around someone who has so much experience gives everybody a lot of motivation."

The dive team and its gear, including two inflatable rafts, arrived at the public landing on Gwynn's Island in two Army trucks and a retinue of private vehicles.  After eating breakfast at The Seabreeze Restaurant, team members, working in a misty rain, unloaded their rafts, attached a motor to one and loaded it with dive gear, and tied the second raft to the first.  They then donned their diving suits, climbed into the rafts, and set off for the nearby site in 15 feet of water in Milford Haven.

At the site, Wells dove down to BAYLAB, while Undersea Research Foundation co-founders Jim Devereux,  a retired Orthopedic Surgeon, and Charlie Depping, who retired from the fiber manufacturing industry, waited in a 26 foot diesel cruiser, ready to offer support and assistance, if necessary.  The newest member of the team, former U.S. Marine, Rex Rexroat was there as well.

Once the divers arrived at the site, Bower dove first, along with SGT Mark Claudio, and the two opened the BAYLAB hatch and attached a line to the facility for the other divers to follow.  The remaining men took turns, two at a time, diving down to the lab, circling the perimeter and examining the exterior.  They then entered the facility to observe first-hand what life is like for scientists living undersea in cramped quarters.

Bower said that diving on BAYLAB was like diving on a reef.  "It's really neat,"  he said.  "There's so much growth that... when you're inside, it's like looking out of the inside of a reef, and you can see the activities of the fish."

Wells said that the growth on the lab was intentional.  No anti-fouling paint was used because he wanted the facility to become completely overgrown with barnacles, sponges, sea squirts, and other marine life.

"We've turned barren bottom into a thriving artificial reef," he said.  "Basically, we live inside that artificial reef, with a window box under the window that grows oysters instead of flowers."

The experience gave the army divers both a glimpse of what it's like to live underwater and an idea of whether they might like to be part of such an underwater research team.

"It's really a confined space," said Bower. "Some of us would like to try it, while others were, like, 'no way'."

Wells said some of the divers have agreed to put in volunteer hours on BAYLAB, performing such routine maintenance as drilling holes for new anti-corrosion zincs and removing and replacing the hatch cover.  He hopes they'll also get involved in his oyster growing project by helping create new habitat and cleaning, counting, and measuring the oysters.  

Army Dive Teams are comprised of some of the finest recruits, said Wells.  A highly competitive field, diving is both physically and intellectually challenging, and a lot of those who want to be divers fail to make the grade.

Bower said his group, which is a "heavy" team,  is charged with such jobs as clearing obstructed channels and harbors, salvaging boats, cleaning up sunken objects, and building and repairing docks and other underwater structures.  When they're not working on jobs, the men spend their time training for dives; repairing, testing and maintaining equipment; training in combat tactics; and pulling post maintenance duty, such as cutting grass.

"Sometimes we get so focused on the job, that we forget to take a look at what else is happening," he said.  "We have so much mission requirement that we get all the opportunity in the world to work, but this is an opportunity to have a little fun, and to see some of what Morgan's doing".

Wells, along with Devereux and Depping, invited the Army divers to get some dive time in on their facility to say thanks to Fort Eustis for providing space for Wells's research for several years after his retirement.

"They're a fine bunch of young men," said Wells.  "They're enthusiastic and want to learn about new things.  We enjoy working with them".

Bower said he and his team enjoyed the day away from the base.  "It's a really cool experience," he said.  "We're glad we got to do it."

WELLS'S RESEARCH

According to an article by dive instructor John Wosny in a 1993 "Sources" article, Wells knows what it takes to be a good diver.  The former director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Experimental Diving Unit and Dive Programs at Fort Eustis, and an award winning researcher.  Wells began diving at the age of 14, after making his own surface-supplied diving system out of a paint sprayer  and a motor scooter engine. Two years later, he made an oxygen rebreather from war surplus parts by following diagrams in the U.S. Navy Diving Manual, and by the age of 19, he was teaching scuba classes at the college level.  During his 30 + career, he worked as a medical school professor and research physiologist, as science coordinator for NOAA's Manned Underwater Science and Technology office, as director of NOAA Diving Programs, and finally as the director of NOAA's EDU and Dive Programs.

Wells is known for having lived on the ocean floor in saturation habitats longer and in more different systems than any other diver, said Wozny's article, and he has dived in numerous locations from the Pacific to the Artic.  He has designed and developed underwater diving systems and researched and published tables that can be used to determine gas mixtures for people using diving equipment.

Wells said BAYLAB was created two years ago with the idea that undersea labs shouldn't have to be large and expensive.  Sealab II, on which Wells worked in the 1960's, was 57 feet long and 12 feet in diameter, with enough space for a crew of 10.  Transporting and operating the unit proved to be costly because of its size, said Wells.  In contrast, BAYLAB, which is only 13 feet long and 5.5 feet in diameter, can be transported in three pieces with a pick-up truck, launched and towed to the worksite with a small boat, and operated on the power supplied by two deep-cycled storage batteries.