7
Killed My Best Friend
T he loudspeaker is booming, “DIVER OUT OF AIR, DIVER OUT OF AIR, JUMP EMERGENCY DIVER!”
The standby diver is supposed to be sitting in a chair on the back of the barge, with all his gear on and his dive helmet in his lap, ready to be in the water and to the bottom within a few short minutes. Our emergency diver was sitting in the dive shack, hanging out in street clothes, shooting the breeze with the tenders.
Workers begin gathering at the back of the barge, staring over the edge not saying much, some mumbling, “I wonder if he’s still alive.”
Two of the dive tenders grab hold of Chado Cole’s dive line and begin pulling as fast as possible, commanding some of the nearby riggers to join in. “Hey, you guys grab hold and y’all pull and pull hard, he’s out, he’s out of air!”
Matt and a co-worker are still jacking with the chamber trying to get a seal on the inner door. From the loud noise of the air blowing inside the chamber, they can hear the intercom but can’t make out what they’re saying.
As he shut off the valve, Matt complains, “This junky equipment, we need to let the air build back up, this electric compressor is a piece of crap, they should know one compressor can’t keep up.” The diver helping Matt holds his hand up, “Hey… hush up for a second, there’s something going on upstairs. What are they saying on the com?”
They both quickly step away from the noisy compressor. Now standing near the stairwell, they can hear the loudspeaker, “Jump diver, EMT to dive shack, diver out of air.”
Fear pours over Matt as he shouts to the other diver, “That’s my buddy; he’s still on the bottom!” He quickly runs back to the compressor, looks at the air gauge and it had built back up to a lousy 43 psi. Wasting no time, Matt takes off running toward the dive shack, repeating over and over, “Oh my God, oh my God, I’ve killed my best friend, oh my God!”
When Matt reaches, the shack, he begins shouting in a frantic tone, “Is he ok? Is he ok?”
At this point, the dive supervisor, Captain Lee, was on the scene and had taken over the dive operation. Matt enters the shack continuing to shout, “Is he alive?”
Lee responds, “Be quiet! I can’t hear!”
Jimmy, the guy originally running the dive, passes Matt on his way out. Without saying a word, the look on his face tells Matt, this is bad. Curious workers add to the confusion as they poke their heads in the door asking stupid questions. Showing aggravation, Lee’s face turns blood red, “Okay that’s enough!” He turns to Matt and shouts again “Get them out of here, now!”
Lee orders the crew over the intercom to stop pulling Chado up. At about the same time a tender rushes into the shack and announces, “He’s hung up! We can’t pull him up!”
Lee turns to Matt, “If they had pulled him to the surface as fast as they were going it would kill him.”
While staring through the shack window Lee asks, “What in the world is wrong with our compressors?”
Matt looks down at the floor and mumbles, “I didn’t mean to. ”
Lee responds, “What in the heck are you talking about?”
Matt explains, “Captain, I unintentionally drained the system trying to get the chamber ready for the next run. We lost all of our air pressure trying to get that inner door to seal. I didn’t realize…”
“Okay, okay, I get the picture.” Lee begins mumbling, “I knew we should have shut this whole operation down until we got some decent equipment!”
Matt sighs, “Captain, let’s just hope he’s got enough air in his bailout to hold him until the emergency diver gets down there.”
Captain Lee keys the radio, “Hey Chado, can you hear me? Talk to me son. Hey bud, are you there? Let me hear you ole buddy. Are you okay?”
Chado with a quivering voice, “I’m here. I’m here. It isn’t good Captain. My bailout’s gone.”
“Roger that. We’re jumping the emergency diver now. Where are you?”
“The sled, I’m at the sled.”
“Roger that Chado. Stay calm. We’re on our way.”
* * *
Continuing to struggle for air and only a few feet from reaching the top of the sled, Chado Cole is now delirious, with the onset of death. Having a strong heart, desiring to hang onto the last fragment of life, he begins whispering to himself.
Somewhere behind me, my dive line has fouled. I’m pulling as hard as I can. It’s no good. My line is tangled somewhere below. Why is this deep sense of fear coming over me? God, is this how it ends?
Suddenly out of nowhere, a sort of peace begins to push the fear away. I’m not afraid anymore. I believe I’ll let go of this rope .
Chado loosens his grip and let’s go. He slowly drifts with the ocean current, down and away from the jet sled. As he’s falling, with a soft voice he says, “God, I guess you’ve got me.”
Captain Lee responds, “Hey Chado, what did you say? Come back son, please repeat. Come back Chado, repeat.”
The motionless diver lands on his back, gently touching down on the soft muddy bottom. Dizzy and very weak, he can now feel cold water slowly seeping into his helmet, forcing its way in from lack of pressure.
Knowing at this very moment his life is almost over. He opens his eyes to this cold dark world and enjoys one last surprise on Earth. He begins to smile as watches the millions of phosphorus particles glowing against the darkness.
At this moment, a peace beyond all understanding or comprehension floods over Chado. He closes his eyes for what seems to be an eternity but is actually only a few seconds.
To Chado’s surprise, he feels a slight tug on his right arm and then the left. Could this be two divers coming to rescue me? When he opens his eyes expecting to see divers coming to pull him out of this dark tomb, it wasn’t divers at all.
* * *
Matt is now standing on the back of the barge. He is slumped over, with what looked like a half a can of snuff in his lip. He shakes his head as he looks over into the water wondering, what the hell just happened?
Captain Lee walks up and tells Matt, “Hey bud, the rescue diver is almost on bottom looking for Chado. Come on back to the shack and let’s listen in.”
They walk in the shack and hear the chatter back and forth. “ Roger that, I’m almost to the sled.”
“Okay, Nate; how’s your visibility?”
“Vis is good, no muddy water here. All the silt has cleared away. Dang!”
“Nate, what’s wrong?”
“Ah, it’s my light blinking on and off.”
“Roger that, just when you need them, they take a crap,” chuckle, “Roger that.”
“Okay, I’m coming up on the sled.”
“Roger, you see Chado?”
“Negative Sir. He’s not on the sled.”
“How’s the current?”
“Moderate.”
“Roger that. Is it enough to wash him away?”
“Maybe so sir; can’t tell yet.”
“Hey, Nate, this is Lee.”
“Hey, Captain.”
“Look, the last time I heard Chado on the com, he said he had made it to the sled.”
“Roger that Captain.”
“Nate.”
“Yeah, Captain?”
“Nate, I believe I heard him talking to God.”
“Captain Lee.”
“Yeah, Nate go ahead.”
“Ahhh, come back on that last transmission.”
“I said he was talking to God.”
“Roger that Captain. Hey, Captain Lee, you mind telling me what they were talking about?”
“Roger that, I think I heard him tell God, ‘God, I guess you’ve got me .’ ”
“Roger that Captain. Wait… I found his dive line!”
“We copy you Nate.”
“Following his dive line.”
“Roger that, Nate.”
“Hey Captain, I see why the tenders couldn’t pull him up.”
“We copy; what’s it hung on?”
“All the slack he had out when he was at the end of the last pipe joint looped around when he was on his way back and must have hung on the bottom of the sled.”
“We read you bud; he’s got to be close.”
“Roger that Captain, I’m continuing to follow his line...Dang!”
“What’s wrong Nate?”
“My light, it went out again and it’s dark as a sack of black cats down here.”
“We read you, don’t waste time trying to fix it, follow his dive line.”
“Wow, what the heck is that?”
“Come back Nate, we didn’t read you, come back, what are you seeing?”
“I can’t believe.”
“We read you. Talk to us son. What are you seeing?”
“Ahhh, Captain I don’t need a light anymore.”
“Repeat last transmission, you say your light is back on?”
“Negative Sir, I don’t need a light, I can see. Captain, you said Chado was talking to God?”
“Roger that.”
“Well I believe God is down here right now.”
“Come back Nate, what are you talking about?”
“Captain, you know the phosphorus that the jet sled stirs up out of the mud of the Gulf floor?”
“You bet; it’s usually scattered all over the place! ”
“Well, Captain it’s not scattered, it’s all in one place.”
“Come back Nate, did you say it’s in one place? Didn’t you say you had moderate current?”
“Roger Captain, I don’t see how this is possible.”
“Okay Nate, just let me know what you’re seeing.”
“Captain, I’m looking at a mass of what looks to be, millions of glowing particles that seem to be hovering in one place. Oh, Captain?”
“Yeah, go ahead Nate.”
“His dive line is leading me right to the glowing ball of phosphorus.”
“Hey bud, nobody here in the dive shack has ever seen or heard of anything like you’re describing. Proceed with caution.”
“Roger that. Hey, I found him Sir! I found him! He’s lying flat on the bottom with these glowing particles all around him. This is freaky… Hey Captain; it doesn’t look good. Y’all get ready on the pneumo.”
“Roger, we are standing by on pneumo.”
“I can see his face, his helmet’s full of seawater. I’m sticking the pneumo underneath his neck dam now.”
“Roger that, we’re ready.”
“Shoot the pneumo! Send it Captain, send it! Ok I’m getting air Sir, it’s working. It’s pushing out the water, almost there.”
“Roger Nate, hook on to his harness.”
“Yes Sir, hooking up. Okay, I’ve got it.”
“Okay Nate it looks like the tenders have all the slack out; you should feel a tug at any second.”
“I’m ready Captain Lee. Y’all pull like hell!”
The captain announces over the barge intercom, “Pull them up.” He immediately turns and instructs two divers standing near the shack, “You guys get both chambers ready for emergency decompression. Blow the inner chambers down another 80 feet and be ready to get Chado and Nate down to emergency depth at 160. Let’s go boys, make it happen.”
“You got it Captain, we’re on it!”
“Boys at the rate we’re bringing them up, they’ll have an arterial embolism if we’re not careful. Let’s don’t screw it up!”
“Yes Sir.”
“Come in Nate.”
“Go ahead Captain.”
“Hold on, we’ve got several people pulling y’all up and it’s going to be one hell of a ride. Nate?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Blow out, try to keep your lungs as empty as possible.”
“Captain they’re dragging us along the bottom, hope we don’t hit the sled.”
“Roger Nate, you should miss it; the tenders are pulling y’all to the east side of the barge so the crane can reach you with the personnel basket.”
“Okay, we just left the bottom, we are coming up. God let us survive this.”
“What was that Nate?”
“Oh, nothing sir, just saying a little prayer.”
“Yes, we could use God about right now.”
“Okay Captain, looks like we are clear of the jet sled.”
The barge intercom blasts off again, “Bring them up! Let’s go! Let’s go!” The old man that operated the crane was still in his pajamas. He had gotten up because he knew his skills were needed; he had been down this road in past emergencies.
The old operator immediately fired up the diesel engine, causing black smoke to drift across the deck. He raised the boom of the crane up and over, dropping the headache ball directly over the personnel basket with exact precision. Captain Lee continued to direct the men on deck, shouting at a couple riggers, “Hey you guys! Hook that personnel basket up to the crane! Hurry up!”
“Nate, is he responding?”
“Negative Captain, he’s pale Sir.”
“Roger, keep forcing air in his helmet.”
“Will do Captain.”
* * *
They explode out of the water like a great white coming up after a seal. Two standby divers, already in the water, help roll Nate and Chado into the basket. The crane operator, not even waiting for a signal, starts picking them up and swinging the boom at the same time. With the crane operator moving so quickly, it causes the basket to start twisting and twirling around, almost out of control as he swings them over the deck. Several riggers tackle the basket to bring it back under control, and finally the crane operator gently sets the basket down right next to where the EMT’s have a stretcher waiting.
Captain Lee starts yelling. “Go, go, go! Get them to the chamber before they have an embolism!”
As soon as Nate stands up and gets out of the personnel basket he collapses. A huge 6’4” tender immediately picks up Nate and starts heading for the chamber. Nate had already taken his helmet off but still had his dive lines attached to his harness. This big tender was dragging his helmet and hoses as he was attempting to get Nate to the chamber when he falls, because the dive line is snagged on a pipe roller. Someone quickly unhooks his harness, tosses it to the side and the same guy arms him back up and continues on to the chamber .
Matt and Lee watch from a short distance away when a diver takes Chado's helmet and neck dam off. He steps back a couple feet when the EMT’s immediately start working on Chado Cole. Another diver steps back in and unhooks his weight belt and harness, while a greenhorn tender is trying to get his boots off. An EMT lady with a stern voice tells them both, “Get back! Don’t worry about his boots.” As she is pulling out a blade of some sort, ripping open his wet suit.
They have a defibrillator unit charged and ready, “CLEAR!” Bang! They hit him several times and in between each charge they are doing CPR.
This is all taking place as they are walking beside his stretcher on the way to a secondary decompression chamber only a short distance across the deck.
All of a sudden, the EMTs look at each other. One of the ladies shakes her head and turns to the guys carrying the stretcher. “Hey guys, stop, set him down.”
Someone in the crowd mumbles under his breath, “He’s gone.”
Matt stutters, “That’s it. It’s over.”
Lee looks over at Matt and sees tears running down his cheeks. He reaches out with a rough calloused hand and gently places it on the side of Matt’s face. With a soft voice, “Hey bud, I know y’all were like brothers. We all loved Chado. How could you not?”
Matt turns his head and looks down, and Lee continues speaking softly. “Let me tell you this, you can’t live blaming yourself. We were all to blame. We shouldn’t have allowed anyone to be in the water with all the crap that was screwed up on this project to begin with.”
“Captain, if I had just paid more attention to the pressure.”
“Matt, I said don’t you go there.”
With a few moments of silence both Matt and Lee now staring out across the Gulf of Mexico, Lee breaks the silence with a prayer: “ God, we hope Chado Cole didn’t suffer too much when you took him and we pray he’s in a better place now, Amen.”
Both Matt and Lee turn at the same time and watch as an EMT tucks one of his arms underneath the sheet while slowly covering his head.
Captain Lee with his voice quivering, “Hey bud, you want to know something?”
“Sure Captain.”
“There is something I came to know about Chado. He loved God and didn’t mind telling you about it. He’s with God right now as we speak. He’s seeing stuff we could only imagine. Chado talked about a daughter he lost several years back. I guarantee it won’t take him long until he gets to see her. The Bible says that God numbers our days. This is just the day Chado Cole went home.”
“Captain, you know Chado would talk about things in the Bible sometimes and compare stories in the Bible with things that would happen in our own lives. It was pretty interesting, but I never believed any of it. I believe he knew I didn’t think any of it was real, but you know, he would always still talk about it and tell me, “Little buddy, you might want to get you a relationship with Jesus. The clock is ticking.”
“I would laugh and then change the subject, and he would give me that funny look of his, and then grin from ear to ear. I guess, thinking back, he was just letting me know he cared. I wish he was standing here right now telling me one of his Bible stories.”
“Roger that bud, Roger that. Matt, you know I believe in God too. I know, I know, I might drop a few curse words every now and then and I wasn’t as open with my beliefs as Chado Cole, but when I’m home me and my wife go to church on Sunday. You know, it might be time to be a bit more open with my walk with God. This whole big screw up tonight makes you think… that could have been me. ”
“Captain Lee you’re killing me. I don’t really want to talk about walks with God and dying.”
“Okay, ok Matt. I understand. Oh, by the way, the company has some kind of counseling program for this kind of event, if you think it might do you some good.”
“Counseling… I don’t need some pinhead telling me about my inner thoughts. I appreciate it Cap, but when I hit the shore after this hitch, I’ve been saving for a brand spanking new Harley Davidson, and a good cold beer will be all the counseling I’ll need.”
“Okay Matt, just keep me in mind if you ever need to talk, and Matt, you know God is always there if you ever want to talk to Him.”
“Thanks Cap.”