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On September 3rd, 2021, a routine dive on the HMS Scylla artificial reef turned into one of the UK's most tragic diving incidents. Three experienced divers entered the complex engine room of the wreck. Only one made it back to the surface.
In this exclusive interview, sole survivor Adam Dent breaks his silence on the events that claimed the lives of Andrew Harman and Mark Gallant. He details the silt-out, the disorientation, and the critical life-or-death decisions he made in the pitch black of the wreck's interior.
This is not just a story of a diving accident; it is a vital lesson in survival, risk management, and the unforgiving nature of overhead environments.
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*Thanks*
Thank you to Bryan Boldt for the Insta360 footage used in this dive
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*Contents*
00:00 Introduction
03:36 HMS Scylla
05:42 Separation
08:07 The trapdoor
12:24 Fighting my body
14:17 Running out of gas
17:07 The escape
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
That was the point I'd kind of accepted I was going to die. On the 3rd of September 2021,
0:08
three experienced divers descended onto the wreck of HMS Silla off the coast of
0:14
Cornwall. They entered the wreck, penetrating deep into the engine room on deck 3.
0:21
But inside the silty, confusing corridors of the artificial reef,
0:27
something went wrong. After 10 minutes, we kind of got an actual issue now and we need to start
0:34
figuring it out properly. Two of those divers tragically never
0:39
made it out. The third diver, Adam Dent, managed to escape by the narrowest of
0:46
margins. Forced to remove his equipment and squeeze through a tight gap as his air
0:53
ran out. Today, for the first time, Adam sits
0:58
down with me to break down exactly what happened in the dark, the decisions that
1:04
saved his life, and the warning he wants every diver to hear. This is his story.
1:11
That is a horrendous thing to happen to anybody, Adam, and I'm really grateful
1:16
that you are here today to tell me and everybody else about, you know, this. So
1:23
I started off in an evening dive and three of us known each other quite a few
1:29
years at this point. Planned to go do some penetration on the cylinder. Nothing specific in terms of
1:35
what we was going to do. Just we was going to go look around and go inside it. Mark and me were both inside mount.
1:42
Andy was in twin set and them two were in dry suits and I was in a wet suit.
1:48
And you were the kind of senior staff from the from the dive center. Really, weren't you? pretty much all instructors, Mark being a dive master,
1:55
but we'd worked a fair fair bit and we was all confident in each other's abilities. Like I trusted them. I knew I
2:02
could leave them to do their own thing and it not be a problem. So yeah, so went out on the evening dive, got to got
2:08
to the cellar after the like half an hour boat ride. Got in, went down the line as usual and first 10 minutes,
2:15
pretty uneventful. uh went in level two, had a look around and then at the end of
2:21
level two went down the stairs into level three and after that another few
2:27
minutes looking around. Then we went inside the bulkhead for level inside level three. So that's when we went
2:33
inside the I think it was the engine room it ended up being but didn't know that at the time. And so I went in
2:39
there. Um Andy at the front, then Mark, then me went in few corners, basically
2:45
got to a dead end, turned around, and then as I'm going the way that I think
2:50
is the exit, wherever that be, it just wasn't there. Like
2:56
whether I'd taken a wrong turn or whatever down the line, it just it wasn't there. So that was a problem I
3:02
was facing at that point. 10 minutes of like us all looking around together. It's pretty pretty uneventful.
3:10
I was kind of a little bit in denial in terms of yeah, it's not going to be a
3:15
problem. We'll have a joke about it when we get back up on top like tell the other people like you know just be like
3:22
oh if we do a really stupid thing like and that was that was pretty much it. But after 10 minutes, that was kind of
3:29
when it dawned on me. I was like, "Okay, we kind of got an actual issue now and we need to actually like start figuring
3:36
it out properly." I mean, I guess with people who haven't dived the siller, it's probably worth making the point, isn't it, that the
3:42
siller is has been sunk for divers. So, there is big cutouts, the vast majority
3:47
of it, and therefore people routinely go into it Yeah. in the expectation they're just going to
3:52
come around the corner and find one of these massive cutouts. And and I guess that's where you were.
3:57
I'll be honest, I wouldn't really say that because I I was very much aware at level one and two. Fantastic. Fantastic
4:03
wreck. It's pretty much that you can't get lost essentially. And if you do get lost, you will always find a cut out
4:08
somewhere in there. And I was aware of level three. Like I'd
4:14
never been in there personally before, but I don't know. I guess for me it was
4:20
complacency. I thought, you know, I was pretty experienced. I was pretty young at the time kind of a thing of well like
4:28
at that age you do think you're invincible really and I didn't really appreciate how that situation could
4:36
evolve like I obviously I'm aware I was aware of it but if you'd have said to me before before that dive or like before
4:44
that day like oh you'd get in that situation I'd be like no you're an idiot
4:49
like I would never do that like and I think it's very Easy to fall into that trap of thinking it will happen to me.
4:56
Yeah, for c absolute certain. So, so you're in the wreck. In the wreck.
5:01
You've been in there for 10 minutes. You've kind of got this dawning realization that you don't know how to
5:07
get out. Yeah. Probably look around for about 5 more minutes. Came to a hole in the
5:12
ceiling literally head size. Poked my head through and I could see one of the
5:18
big cutouts mentioned in level two. Obviously very
5:24
demoralizing seeing an exit and not being able to actually get to it like
5:29
but you I just kind of put you put out your mind cuz there's no physical way that I could squeeze through that like
5:35
not a chance. So I had to go back down and think okay we got to find somewhere else cuz that
5:41
is not an option. Are you still with the other two at this point? Yeah at that point it was all sort after that is when I separated from them.
5:48
Okay. Uh that was a a conscious choice to do that because in my head I was like, well, we're
5:55
already lost. I can't get any more lost. Might as well have everyone like I
6:02
regardless of what them two was doing. I thought if I can look as well, it's another pair of eyes like going
6:09
somewhere else rather than just following each other. So that's when I made the decision. I went the opposite way. had a look around
6:17
searching for quite a while. Didn't really find anything new that could use, but it made me feel better actively
6:28
pursuing an exit rather than just kind of being a I don't know how you describe
6:34
passive. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I was being the head of my own
6:40
rescue rather than relying on anyone else. I guess in control of your own destiny
6:46
such as it was. Yeah, absolutely. Um, yeah. So, probably another 10 minutes of
6:52
looking around like doing that by myself. I came back across them. Um,
6:59
they clearly hadn't found an exit either, seeing as they were still in there with me. Um, I did have a reel on
7:05
me. So, my my thinking was that like if I did find an exit, I could tie on and
7:14
then go back in and try and find them if the situation allowed. Obviously, that again didn't happen, but
7:21
that was that was the thinking behind behind it. Yeah. So, carried on carried on um after after
7:29
I came across them and I just carried on searching. They went their way and that was that was the last time that I saw
7:34
them. Probably another 10 minutes after that. I' I'd love to
7:41
tell you what happened in between the 10 minutes, but it's really hard. It just kind of merges into one. Like it's just
7:47
looking it's just metal metal metal metal. Yeah. And there's not really much in between.
7:53
So it kind of it does blend a lot. There are like little bits that like stick out to me. up. So, searching and then I come
8:02
across uh I don't know what you call them in ships, you just a trap door or
8:08
trap door. Yeah. Kind of thing. Um went down into that and that just led to a I
8:14
assume was a old cargo room. Okay. That had kind been emptied when the cellar was gutted out and stuff. So, it
8:21
was just an empty room full of silt, but I knew no one else had been in there because it was completely undisturbed.
8:27
So I was like, "Okay, I'm the first one in here." Looked around cuz when you're going around the outside of the silla,
8:34
you can There are there are cutouts on level three. Not not very many and four, I assume.
8:39
Yeah, there's not very many, but I dived it enough to know there were some. Yeah. So I was like, "Okay, well, I'll take my
8:46
chance." And and literally like anything at that point was
8:52
an option, you know. went in there there's absolutely nothing which was again like it's it was quite
8:59
hard to kind of put your hope in something didn't work out
9:04
and I think that was a point where in my head I'd kind of accepted I was going to
9:10
die like I was I was I I was very I was moniing my hair the entire time and like I think at that
9:16
point what oh the 70minute dive I probably was like
9:22
40 minutes into watch it very very conscious in my air of course
9:28
and that was a point where I was like yeah Jesus I mean that is a that is an awful
9:35
to to have that kind of realization you know and what were you 20 21
9:40
24 at the time only 24 at the time yeah but I mean still incredibly young really um yeah
9:46
that is a horrendous thing for anybody to have to and again like like I said like I'd
9:54
accepted that yeah I probably I like I'd accepted like going through the stages
10:00
what was it stages of grief like I was in denial then acceptance
10:05
and although I accepted it I still wanted to
10:10
carry on like I I thought to myself I mean I've got two options here I can either
10:16
sit somewhere nice and just run out of air or I can carry on searching and one of
10:23
them options is going to at least give me a chance. Yeah. Um regardless of how slim I felt it was at
10:30
the time. I was like when I do run out of air when I run out of air and it
10:37
comes to that that point in the dive, I'd rather go out knowing I tried
10:43
everything like Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know exactly what you mean. you
10:49
want to go out kicking and screaming rather than passively. And yeah, now we got to get there.
10:54
So, when I was in that room as well, I I hadn't landed into that room either cuz
11:00
I was like, well, I'm already lost. But trying to get back out of that room cuz
11:06
because of how the bubbles had gone onto the roof, it was like reflecting a lot. So, it actually made it quite hard to
11:11
find that exit as well, which sucked. But after like a minute, I found it.
11:18
came out of that one and at that point it was like a full brown out within the
11:24
actual compartment was in beforehand. I've I've got my umbilical kill in one
11:29
hand and I'm literally just touch feeling along. I can only see what my hand is touching with the torch.
11:36
So So the impact of you and the other people has just kicked up the so badly. It was Yeah, it was so small in there
11:44
like no matter how careful he was, it was going to happen. Like
11:49
wasn't to do with like bad technique or people being like panicking or anything like that. It was just the sheer fact of
11:55
like three human beings being in that tight of a space. Yeah, it it was going to happen. And anyway,
12:02
so that was crawling along and I didn't have any gloves on at the time and it absolutely
12:07
shredded my hands which was very much not really thinking about at the time
12:13
but what first dive it came in it was a weird like reminder kind of like for a
12:19
week afterwards. See, I'm like feeling along, feeling along. And that was
12:24
probably So I came out the room and I did that for like 10 minutes of just pure touch trying to find anything. I
12:33
was again looking at my hair, watching it go down and down and down. At this at this point, I had probably like 20 bar
12:41
in each cylinder. Um, and I I was constantly trying to fight my body with
12:49
the adrenaline. because your body wants to breathe it quickly. My heart like trying to keep my like
12:56
it was like there was a battle between my brain and my body cuz I was so aware of it but obviously the physiological
13:01
reaction was going to happen regardless. So I I was just trying to stay so
13:09
mindful of it because the minute with task loading I I'd look I concentrated
13:14
on anything for a split second I I but as soon as I went back to concentrating
13:19
on my breathing I'd be like and then you have to catch yourself
13:24
really really slow deep breath in ultra ultra slow deep breath out and that yeah
13:32
it it was hard it was hard to like Yeah, keep your composers. But like I was so aware that like if I didn't keep the
13:40
comp my composers, that's when I would die. Like cuz time time was buying me
13:48
the ability to look more like Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So constantly fighting that like
13:56
the mental battle in your head and just trying to carry on doing that. So yeah,
14:02
at a certain point SPGs were read the air that's left in the cylinder. So I
14:08
knew, right, I've got a couple of breaths left in here. And with side
14:13
mount, you change every roughly 20 bar. So I was like, okay, switch over to my
14:18
left one. And just didn't look at it cuz I didn't want to know how much was left in there.
14:24
So my my thinking was, okay, I'll keep breathing off this one until it goes,
14:29
switch back to this one for the remaining few breaths that are in there. And then once that's gone, I'll breathe
14:37
my wing and just get CO2 hit and pass out rather than drown cuz I I didn't
14:43
really fancy that to be honest. It was it was a weird thing in my mind as well where I I said about like you
14:51
know wanting to look at myself rather than you know being with everyone else.
14:56
There's also like a thought back like a thought in the back of my mind that I didn't really want to be with anyone if
15:02
I drown. Like I kind of wanted to be on my own which is weird but
15:08
I don't know like I just I just didn't want to share that experience almost. I I I just
15:16
rather deal with it by myself rather than obviously like if you run out of
15:21
air then makes it a question of like you have to share their air and then are you
15:27
taking away their time that they could have potentially done something else with.
15:32
Okay. So I was like okay I'm just going to deal with this on my own and I'll be fine.
15:39
Interesting you know the kind of thoughts that go through your head when you're in this situation. I mean, it
15:45
seems like you you approached it in an incredibly rational way, which which is
15:50
kind of, you know, odd. Uh, not odd, but but kind of maybe not odd, maybe that's the wrong word. Maybe kind of, I don't
15:56
know, unusual. I'm not sure everybody would have respect reacted in that way. I agree. I think one of my I'll talk
16:04
about afterwards, but like one of my friends like said like, you know, like
16:09
you did everything for you, correct? because you're still here.
16:15
Like if I if I hadn't have thought rationally about it, then well, we probably wouldn't be having this
16:20
conversation for Yeah. It'll go through your head when you've got 40 minutes by yourself
16:26
underwater in a wreck. Yeah. Yeah. Um so yeah, so
16:33
that Yeah. So I'd switched over to the other one and was like carrying on. And
16:40
so did you have a particular strategy at this point? Were you just continuing to feel against the wall? Yeah, pretty much. If I was feeling
16:46
against the wall, I remember I was I was on the left hand side of the wall heading down and I don't really know
16:53
where I was inside. I was just like, I'm just going to keep feeling until I find maybe like some
17:00
somewhere like I I didn't have a particular plan to what I was looking
17:05
for. Just looking for anything. Yeah. And at that point, all the the silt
17:11
around me is like just refracting. So, it just looks like a whole lot of brown around me, apart from what I can see in
17:17
my hand. But for whatever reason, I noticed like a like a essentially a black blob above me. Okay.
17:23
So, I looked up and I was like, "What's that?" So, I sh my torch and where
17:30
essentially what it was was a like a manhole cover sized hole that had been cut out but with two bars put across it.
17:37
Okay. And I think that was either to deter people going in or it was like
17:43
an access point used for gutting out the silla and then that was welded up and being like okay that's just that's just
17:48
there. It was just something I don't think it was part of the original ship. Okay. And I looked at it and I was like that's
17:55
weird. So I went up to it poke my head through and then it was an extremely
18:00
similar cut out that I of level two that I had seen earlier. Whether it's the
18:06
same one or not, I have absolutely no idea. But they all look exactly the same
18:11
regardless. And with it being at the point it was, I
18:18
was like, "Well, I've literally got nothing left to lose." So, I uncip my cylinders,
18:24
push pushed both of them up, and then just started climbing through it as best
18:30
I could. Um, I mean, you're quite, you know, you don't mind me saying, you're quite a, you know, well-built lad and, uh, I I've
18:37
seen similar things on the sill and they're not particularly wide, so I can only imagine what it was like
18:43
trying to get through. Yeah, it was. As I was going through as well, I'd forgot to take like just
18:49
obviously stress of it like clearly, but like I I still had my necklace on. Okay. Um, the necklace of the regulator. of my
18:57
other regulator was still around my neck and I'd forgotten to take it off to obviously
19:03
get get a smaller profile and as I was going through that got caught and I was like what what am I getting stuck on and
19:11
it took me like it felt like ages but it probably like 2 seconds to be like okay that's fine I'll just go back down take
19:18
it off go back through but it felt an absolute eternity got got to waist
19:24
height managed to get like there and then like push out. At that point, I was
19:31
like, "Okay, I'm out. I still need to get to the surface cuz I
19:36
do not have any clue how long I've got left here." So, I I as quickly as I could, didn't bother restrapping them to
19:42
me. The only thing I did was plug the um inflation cylinder into my wing. That
19:48
was the only thing that I did. Scooped them up and just made for the exit as fast as I could. And then once I got
19:55
clear enough from the wreck, just fully inflated. I was like, "You you could
20:01
like one of my old instructors who was teaching me like my open water and stuff, she always said, you can you can
20:07
fix Ben, you can't fix dead." So I was like, I've been at that point, I've been at 20 m constantly flat for 73 minutes.
20:16
And I was like, I I don't I don't care about getting a bend. Like way better chance. So, fully inflated, shot up.
20:24
Just trying to make sure I'm breathing out as much as possible. Like while I'm going up, like breathing out, breathing
20:31
out, like the smallest little breath in, breathing out, breathing out. Got to the surface
20:38
and then immediately like looking for the the boat cuz I knew we was past the
20:43
1 hour limit. So, like they would have known something was wrong. So, look
20:48
looking for that. Looking for the boat. saw it. Obviously trying to hold the cylinders in one hand, waving with the
20:54
other to try and get like distress must have been less than 10 seconds
21:00
easy. But it again felt like an eternity like trying to get their attention. It
21:05
just felt like I don't know just like they just wouldn't see me. Obviously that not the truth but like in the
21:11
moment that is Yeah. So, so tell me what what what does it
21:17
feel like that moment when you hit the surface for the f when you hit the surface and you've got yourself out and
21:24
you know I guess at this point you know you're going to live. Honestly, I my brain wasn't thinking at
21:32
that point still. It was still purely going on reactions like it I didn't feel
21:38
any relief. I didn't feel like
21:43
it was it was still so in like fight or flight mode that it so you just the adrenaline still going.
21:50
You're just in that sequence of things rather than think things are just happening to me. It's not like at that point it was also
21:57
felt very much out of my control like everything as soon as the lift I had the
22:03
other divers that were there in the day obviously I wasn't diving with us they they didn't know what had happened
22:09
either so as soon as I get on the boat people like taking my kit off me like getting me sat down like
22:16
like do you know what I mean and like I mean I remember coming up the lift and then like trying to shout to them like
22:21
what had happened like oh they're still down Uh um and then like the skipper put in the
22:28
mday call and and like everything else like that. I don't obviously I don't know what happened on the boat beforehand as well.
22:33
Yeah. But from yeah from that like from my point of view like immediately got on
22:38
there told him what happened and then that was kind of when like everything kind of just
22:45
it wasn't down to me anymore. Like you kind of handed responsibility over. Yeah. And then we was was
22:55
I think we was looking for the bubbles. We found the bubbles. Okay. Um that went on for about 10 more
23:01
minutes. Um it was it was just like circling around the bubbles and waiting for the
23:07
lifeguard to come. But obviously the lifeguard like Yeah. It was just like they they they knew it was a missing person, but I think the
23:13
doll had been told that this diver as well, but I don't think they was aware either. What what can the lifeguard do?
23:20
You know what I mean? Like yeah, the life they're in there like Yeah, the lifeboat doesn't have the capacity or the training or whatever. I
23:27
mean, was there any suggestion anybody on the boat was going to go back in? Um, someone actually did go back in to
23:32
try try and look for them, but I I Well, yeah, they didn't they couldn't find them. And they
23:39
was also was like that was after a dive, so there's limited on air. There wasn't wreck trained whatsoever.
23:44
There was very little unfortunately they would have been able to do. Yeah.
23:50
But I think at least they tried like you know I I think that made everyone feel like they was at least trying to
23:55
contribute to something. Yeah. Um Yeah. Wow. Okay.
24:03
And then I mean I guess on the boat you go through this process of kind of like
24:09
hope that that they're going to pop up and kind of realization. Yeah. watching the Wubbles and just kind
24:15
of hoping like there's a surface and like they managed to find somewhere out some somewhere like me.
24:20
Yeah. And then seeing that not happen was pretty like I
24:27
don't know how to describe it to be honest. Yeah. I mean I don't think anybody's vocabulary is is kind of equipped to
24:34
deal with you know those those kind of things but I can I can imagine that it would kind of
24:40
it would all of a sudden get very very somber on the boat. Yeah. And I guess, you know, I think it's useful
24:47
to know what happens in these situations. So, you put somebody else back in who went down with whatever 70
24:53
or 80 bar or however much they had left to to have a look. They obviously couldn't find anything. Came up
24:59
um with the lifeboat arrive shortly afterwards. Yeah. One of the medics jumped on board
25:05
um cuz they knew that probably well I didn't have end up having any DCS
25:11
symptoms. Yeah. Thankfully. Um, had you missed any stops? Well, my computer was screaming at me on
25:17
the way up. So, but for a rapid ascent or for missco or both? Both. I was well into deco at that
25:24
point. I can't really remember how much, but I I was very much in there. And yeah, rapid ascent as well. So,
25:30
yeah, they they got me on oxygen. Um, the lifeguard medic.
25:38
Yeah. Came on board, went back with us into the harbor. Um, I you went through the
25:44
entire like six liter cylinder on the way back in. I felt fine like as in
25:51
physically like I wasn't having any like joint pains or nausea or any of the usual symptoms you'd imagine having. So
25:58
that was at least one good thing that I was like, "Okay, like maybe I'm not too
26:03
too bad." Um got there, police were there, some of the other people,
26:10
government agencies were there. It was a bit of a blur to be honest. Just people talking at me, you know, like
26:17
um got taken into the dive center. The police took a extremely quick statement from me like as in just kind of
26:25
I was diving. Two people are there that Yeah. um got driven to DDRC which is the
26:33
chamber up in Darford. They was basically did an assessment on
26:38
me and said look it's up to you if you if you want to go back home monitor
26:43
symptoms and if you feel anything come back in or we can just put you in the chamber for good measure and do that.
26:51
And I was like yeah put me in the chamber. Okay. Yeah. Um, I'd rather not take any risk with it. Like regardless of whether
26:57
I felt okay or not, I'd rather No. Yeah. You know, so I went in there, did a
27:03
two-hour profile, dry dive, just 18 18 m on helium and oxygen, coming back up,
27:10
the usual um kind of stuff you'd imagine with a dry chamber. And yeah, and then got sent home. And
27:18
yeah. What's that like when you get home? It's a bit unreal to be honest. like
27:23
everything just kind of I don't know it's really hard to describe but
27:29
yeah it was it was like just things happening to me.
27:34
I wasn't I I just kind of I was just still being in shock at this point. I
27:40
would have thought I don't know if shock would be the right word but it was more just like I'd say disbelief more than anything else. And
27:46
like everyone was doing everything for me. So like I got driven. I got given
27:53
some food got put to bed essentially like
27:59
and then yeah it just kind of just stuff was happening to me and I was just along for the ride.
28:05
So it kind of was on like an out of body type. Yeah. Kind of you just you still I think just processing in your head like
28:11
Yeah. Um yeah. Wow. Okay. And you know, I guess what
28:20
happened, you know, what what where kind of where did things go from there, you know?
28:27
It's give me a second. I'm just going to collect my thought thoughts on it.
28:33
But yeah, it was it was really strange. Oh, man. I can imagine. I've I've been in not the same, but I've been involved in similar things where you have all
28:39
this stuff happening, then all of a sudden stuff stops happening. Yeah. And it's like
28:44
Yeah. Yeah. It's really weird. Guess I did. Yeah.
28:49
So, from there, I was I don't I can't It's really hard to try and think back specifically to what happened cuz again,
28:57
like if it was quite a drawn out period between unfortunately recovering the bodies.
29:03
Yeah. Um that took a while. When did you when were you aware that they were dead? When did you know they
29:10
were dead? How so? Sorry. Like so, so obviously you know I guess
29:15
you were in the wreck. You thought you were going to die. Yeah. And then all of a sudden you were
29:21
survivor but and you must have had the hope that the guys were going to be able to come out and everything but at some
29:26
point you must have realized that that hope had finished. Well when bubble stopped that's when that's when I knew like
29:33
I'd love I'd love to imagine that like you know Yeah. It it was hard to like you got
29:40
that hurt but also the re like the realistic side of it like
29:47
Yeah. Yeah. Okay man that is a that is a that's a tough
29:53
thing to to to have to go through for for anybody. Um
29:59
so so I guess if we I mean I know this is a difficult thing to do but the
30:07
looking at that incident and what happened to you know if you were to say to some people out there who are
30:13
watching this you know these are the things that I wish I'd done or I wish I'd known before that dive and if I was
30:19
doing it again these are the things that I would maybe do a bit differently you know what are those things
30:25
I would just say complacency like it It can happen to literally anyone. Um, no
30:30
matter how experienced you think you are, like the minute you
30:36
relax or don't take everything quite seriously, maybe you should, that's when things start going wrong. Like people
30:43
know the Swiss cheese model. like a million. Like just cuz on the last dive
30:48
you did something stupid and nothing bad happened doesn't mean the next dive or 10 dives or 100 dives after that you do
30:55
a similar thing and like all the holes lined up and then something happens.
31:01
I'd also say like just keeping fit is like a genuine thing for divers that I think is quite underemphasized. Okay.
31:08
Like the only reason I could have a good amount of air consumption was cuz I kept
31:13
myself fit. like if I was any less fit than I was, then I don't think that I
31:19
would have played into how things turned out um and just staying calm when [ __ ] does
31:27
hit the fan. Like it it really is important and it can be you you go you aggress your level
31:32
of training. You never you never rise to the event. Yeah. Okay. So yeah, that's a really
31:38
it's a really interesting point. I think you know nothing is ever improved really by panicking is it? So and I think you
31:45
know listening to your story something that comes away from me is is you know you seem to have been even though you
31:50
were in this horrendous situation you seem to have continued to act rationally and you were making decisions that that
31:57
were going to try and help you. You know it you know and obviously it worked out really well for you and we don't know
32:03
what the other guys were doing but it does seem that that is something that helped you. I mean, the big thing that
32:09
people will obviously focus on in this incident is, you know, do you think you should have lined in and lined out?
32:15
Yeah, absolutely. Like, but it's so easy to say that now. Oh, for certain. I mean, I've I've I've
32:20
been inside the cellar in I've not been in the in in that deck, but I have been in other bits of the cellar and you
32:26
know, it is there are parts where you can line out and there's parts where you need to, there's parts where you don't
32:32
need to. So, yeah. So easy to go. I mean, I said to myself afterwards when I was like
32:38
thinking about it after it happened, I was like, why why didn't I? Yeah. Like, and that's always something I'll
32:44
like play in my mind like if I done that, it probably wouldn't have happened. Yeah.
32:49
But there's a million one things that I could say if I did this, if I did that,
32:55
and I've just I've tried to accept the situation for what it was. Um,
33:02
like post incident it was I I had quite a lot of survivors guilt I would say.
33:08
Okay. It was it was quite hard to deal with. I'd say that like for a week I really beat myself up for it.
33:13
Okay. Like it was pretty hard. I had some pretty horrendous thoughts to be honest. I was like why did I get to
33:22
get to survive when they didn't? Yeah. Yeah. No. as my understanding is that's a really common thing and you
33:28
know it's completely rational obviously but it is you know it's also totally natural I think um
33:36
I mean one of the family members Mark's wife like she sent me a message afterwards and that actually helped loads
33:41
okay um she said you know like they wouldn't want you beating yourself up like it's
33:46
just they did they did they loved doing what they did you know and I don't hopefully don't think they would have
33:52
any regrets But yeah, she she took like when she sent me that message, she took
33:57
a massive weight off my shoulders like cuz yeah, I I very much did blow myself.
34:03
Yeah. No, that's a a really selfless thing for her to do, I think. And it must have been quite difficult for her
34:09
as well. Um but nice and, you know, good for you that she did. So, yeah.
34:14
Yes. I think it's really important as well to mention like I had a really good support network. like I had a lot of friends and
34:20
like the entire kind of diving community at the time kind of like really came
34:26
showed up for me. Um yeah, like there like three very
34:31
specific people I'd like to like say thank you to which is like Addy, Sam, and Beth. Like they were just there for
34:37
me in like a massive crisis. They just let me talk and like you know they asked
34:43
like questions and stuff like that but they kind of let me process it at my own
34:48
speed which I think really really helped cuz I think without that I probably would have had massive like a lot of
34:54
PTSD. Okay. like and I was I was looking into it kind of afterwards like trying to
35:01
understand like what causes PTSD and what doesn't and I think there's some
35:07
study that said like you know the more that people talk by open with it the less likely you are to develop it like
35:14
it can still happen obviously not saying if you get PTSD then you've done something wrong but it
35:22
being able to express that to people who know diving didn't have to like explain
35:27
everything to them. They already kind of had a base understanding that I could I could just talk about the situation and it was just there to listen.
35:34
Yeah. Okay. And that massively helped with me. Okay. For sure. Yeah. No. Well,
35:40
it is good that you have those support networks around you. And for for people who don't necessarily know who those three people you just
35:47
uh you know well and you know well done to all of them, you know, they'll they'll probably you know, they may listen to this. they may, you know,
35:53
hopefully they'll appreciate how much of a difference that that you they they made to you. And I guess, you know, I
35:59
think one of the uh so so let's look at kit as well. You know, I'm not a side man diver. I've always been a little bit
36:05
rude about cyan divers if I'm honest. But it strikes strikes me that this is one of the, you know, an example of
36:12
where that is a super Yeah. Like like you said with the the milling one things I could have changed.
36:18
I think if I wasn't in a wet suit, I wouldn't have been able to squeeze through that gap for sure. Okay. Like I I had quite a few tears in my wet
36:24
suit and I was like with an undersuit on and a dry suit, I I'd reckon I'd have
36:29
been able to fit. Okay. Um the fact that I was in a side mount, I could push it through quite easily.
36:34
Massive like benefit to that. like it. In fact, I had an umbilical with me and
36:41
it wasn't going to die like after a lot of high intensity use like it.
36:47
Yeah. Yeah. The milling one things for sure. It's interesting. So, um yeah, those
36:53
kind of things are, you know, I guess things that you start to think about uh later on. So, moving forward now though,
37:01
you know, a lot of people I think would have given up diving at this point. Um,
37:07
but you you still dive, don't you? Yeah, when I can. Like, it's not too often these days because I'm quite busy
37:12
with work, but yeah, I still I still love it. I still do it as much as I can.
37:18
I kind of view it like diving isn't what killed them. Like, it sure was diving
37:26
when it happened, but it was a lot of other factors. It's like I guess if you
37:31
witnessed in a car crash like hopefully you won't give up driving necessarily. Like
37:37
yeah, I don't know. I don't know if that's right to explain it, but I guess that's how I kind of view it really. Um and I
37:45
don't think they necessarily want me to give up diving like just do you know what I mean? Like
37:50
Yeah. No, I I get that. Um have you gone back and dived the sill? Would you dive?
37:56
I haven't. I would. Okay. But I haven't I just haven't had a chance yet. Okay. Um I think that would be a a weird dive,
38:03
but maybe cathartic like
38:08
um I don't know. I mean, different people respond to things in different ways, don't they? You seem really rational and logical and, you know, not
38:16
necessarily as emotional maybe as some people would be. So, I don't know. It's kind of interesting. I I guess is there
38:24
uh anything else that you think is worth kind of you know you'd either like to tell people or something. In fact, I
38:31
tell you what, I've got one thing that I think is worth mentioning, which is that I didn't know you at the time of the incident, but I um had the opportunity
38:40
to read the um letter that you wrote or the account that you wrote shortly
38:45
afterwards. And um I I got somebody showed me that to me at the time and
38:50
actually I'm sure that isn't why you did it, but it does seem to me like a really
38:56
useful thing to do to actually Yeah. So one of my friends, he actually told me like write it as soon as you
39:03
can. Yeah. Because you'll either start mis misremembering your brain will fill in the blanks and
39:10
the longer that you wait, the less you can kind of rely on the information your brain's telling you. So I think it is
39:16
very like it's really beneficial like if something anything like that dramatic
39:22
does happen to you like you can like write it down kind of like the next day when it happens
39:30
whenever just kind of as soon as possible because your brain will play tricks on you 100%. Yeah, absolutely. I mean I have the same
39:38
thing with things that you know happened to me. It's difficult to remember. So really good advice and really, you know,
39:44
impressive that you did that. Complete aside, would you mind if I publish it?
39:49
Yeah, sure. Okay, cool. Adam, I'd just like to say thank you on behalf of everybody who is who is going
39:56
to listen to this because it's been absolutely um incredible and horrifying and useful
40:07
as well I think to hear your kind to hear what happened to you and the takeaways that you've had from it and all those kind of things. I got to say I
40:13
was dubious about doing this, but then I thought to myself like if it saves even like one person or like stops one
40:20
accident happening then it's worth it in it. Yeah, I think that's a really important point is that people don't talk about
40:26
stuff that happens to them. Maybe they know and a small number of people know actually the community benefits if
40:33
people share this. So, you know, I can't imagine it's a particularly easy thing for you to do. So, I would just like to
40:39
thank you for for coming on here and doing that. Thank you very much. No worries.