In 1972, a diver named Bret Gilliam survived the longest free ascent without air from a depth of 400 feet following a shark attack that killed his dive buddy

Did you know that, in 1972, a diver named Bret Gilliam survived the longest free ascent without air from a depth of 400 feet following a shark attack that killed his dive buddy

 

Rod Temple and Robbie McIlvaine were waiting for me when I drove up

to the beach at Cane Bay on St. Croix’s north shore. This area of the

Virgin Islands had some of the best wall diving in the eastern

Caribbean and the drop off was an easy swim from shore eliminating a

long boat ride from Christiansted. We unloaded our gear and began to

dress under the shade of the palms while a dozen or so tourists

watched with interest. Diving was still not an every day sport for

most people and the double tanks and underwater camera equipment we

dragged into place and began to assemble held a certain fascination.

We were setting off to recover some samples from a collecting

experiment we have placed on the wall for a local marine science lab.

Six days before we had positioned our large support float right over

the drop off with the research vessel and carefully loaded our

sediment traps, nets and lines so they’d be ready for positioning in

various locations in the shallow patch reef and the deep wall. Today

we planned to inspect one project at 210 feet and shoot some

photography of the area. Rod transferred the dive profile and

decompression information to his slate as Robbie and I rounded up the

remainder of the equipment and walked into the warm ocean to begin

our leisurely surface swim to the float station about 300 yards

offshore.

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In 1972, a diver named Bret Gilliam survived the longest free ascent without air from a depth of 400 feet following a shark attack that killed his dive buddy