| On May 15, 1969, the incorporation papers for the
National Association for Cave Diving (NACD) were submitted, just
before the Second Annual Seminar on Cave Diving was held on May 29,
1969. The second seminar was an attempt to involve lawmakers and law
enforcment officers in open discussions with cave divers in an effort
to find a solution to the still increasing demand for anti-cave diving
legislation. Following on the heels of our greatest battle for
survival in the Suwannee River Valley, this seminar included the
Secretary of State, all the sheriffs along the Suwannee River, and
several anti-cave diving judges. Although the seminar was poorly
attended by cave divers (only 41), the divers who did attend gained
the respect of the law makers attending and in that regard the seminar
was a great success. In the meantime, on July 2, 1969, the National
Association for Cave Diving was officially incorporated by David
Desautels and Larry Briel with officers Tom Mount, Dale Malloy, Gil
Milner, M.D., Jim Sweeney, Ron Wahl, and Hal Watts, signing the
papers.
International attention was centered on cave diving when Jacques
Cousteau brought his ship, Calypso, to Andros and the Blue
Holes of the Bahamas to film Secrets of the Sunken Caves,
which aired on television around the world in 1970.
Pursuing its goals, the NACD officially began its instruction
program on May 29, 1970, when Larry Briel, David Desautels, Dale
Malloy, Gilbert Milner, Tom Mount, and Hal Watts subjected each other
to an intense weekend of training and instruction. These were the
first six cave diving instructors of the NACD. It was also at this
time that other efforts were intensified to curb cave-related
accidents. Signs and permanent lines were placed underwater in the
more popular spring locations, educational publications were
distributed, a speakers' manual was developed and published. However,
seminars continued to be the major thrust of the organization's
attempts to educate both the cave diver and non-cave diver alike.
Then tragically, one of the members of the NACD died. In September
1971, Frank Martz drowned at 325 feet in Blue Hole No. 4, South Bite,
Andros. He and his buddy had entered a constricted area at 280 feet
that was too narrow for turning around. They continued on to a larger
opening but kicked up too much silt. Martz's buddy managed to escape
but Frank Martz was never seen again (his body was never recovered).
In December of 1971, a scientific project was started by Carl
Clausen (State Archaeologist), Drs. Kelly Brooks (Geologist), Deevey
(Limnologist), and Sublett (Human Physical Anthropologist) along with
NACD divers led by Bob Friedman. They explored the far reaches of Warm
Mineral Springs and Little Salt Springs for human evidence. This was
the first of many scientific projects NACD divers were to participate
in over the coming years. The next was a cooperative effort with the
National Underwater Accident Data Center (NUADC) begun at the
University of Rhode Island through support by NOAA and the US Coast
Guard. Because cave diving represented such a large percentage of the
total number of scuba-related deaths, it was important that cave
divers be involved. Collecting scuba-related fatal accident data since
1960, David Desautels had much information that would be useful to the
new center.
Cave diving developed quickly in its early years. Much like the
conquest of space, intelligent exploration of an underwater frontier
is vital. Steps taken by responsible divers to establish Standards of
Conduct published for cave diving which describe a safe, sane
philosophy for the advancement of cave diving, have allowed the sport
to survive without being legislated out of existence. A safe,
conservative progression is how cave diving will survive in the
future. Too many ill equipped, inexperienced divers have already lost
their lives. |
