January 4, 2024 • 11 mins
Considered one of the most tragic and deadliest cave diving disasters. Nine cave divers entered the Shaft sinkhole, but not all came out.
The 1973 Mount Gambier cave diving disaster is a tragic reminder of the dangers of cave diving and the risk involved when safety procedures aren't followed.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tatiana (00:00):
A group of eight recreational divers entered a sinkhole in the
ground, but only four would return.
Their lives forever changed.
Out of the divers that surfaced,one would experience the pain
of losing four family members.
This disaster was so tragic,it changed cave diving forever.
This is the story of the MountGambier Cave Diving Disaster.
(00:21):
I'm Tatiana, and this is Occurrence.
On May 28, 1973, a group of nine diversplanned a two day dive at Mount Gambier
at the Shaft Sinkhole in South Australia.
(00:42):
Within this group were someexperienced open water divers.
Christine, Stephen, and Glenn weresiblings and were all experienced divers.
They had all achieved the highestqualification available for
diving at the time, and theywere all diving instructors.
And Christine was the NewSouth Wales title holder.
Her father said at the age of19, she had already been scuba
(01:05):
diving for about 15 years.
They were all raised by their father,who was also an experienced diver,
and raised them to love diving too.
A cousin to the siblings, named John,was on this trip too, and he had about
four years of experience himself.
So, this family in general was veryexperienced in open water diving, but
(01:25):
the allure of the shaft sinkhole wasthe hole in the ceiling that was an
entrance to the clear water below.
The grassy hole is 3 feet wide anddivers had to be lowered in with a
rope to the lake about 20 feet below.
It opens to a huge cave aboutthe size of a football field.
It's like 360 feet by 164 feet.
(01:46):
When it's sunny, a brightbeam of light shines down and
hits a rock pile in the lake.
The light is used for guidance,so divers know where they are.
As divers get disoriented when cavediving since it's dark and they can
only use the lights they have on them.
This would be attractive toopen water divers that are
used to clear bright water.
Being able to see the light on sunny andeven cloudy days is extremely helpful
(02:10):
with orientation and just generallybeing able to know where the entrance is.
As long as you're in the maincave and not one of the tunnels
that branch off from either side.
You'll understand why soon.
The first day's dive was successful.
They extended a shot line 150 feetinto the water to the rock pile and
quickly explored the area around therock pile before ending the dive.
(02:32):
Their shot line was already inplace, so the plan was for them to
come back the following morning anddo more or less of the same thing.
Robert, who was the president of thedive club for the group, had dived at
the sinkhole a number of times beforeand had created most of the dive plan.
There wasn't a specific system orboundaries laid out, but he just generally
(02:52):
expected everyone would stay in themain chamber to stay within the max
depth range of 200 feet and explore.
After all, they only had the main shotline from the surface to the rock pile.
There were no other guidelines laid out.
He never imagined whatwould happen the next day.
When they returned to the cave theywere exploring, at first things
(03:13):
were going according to plan.
Only eight of the divers actuallywent into the cave that day.
Joan stayed on the surface and preparedfood and helped the group in other ways.
But, at the perimeter of the rockpile, Robert began to feel strange.
He was feeling lightheaded, and his depthgauge told him he was 180 feet deep.
Since he was an experienced diver,familiar with the symptoms of nitrogen
(03:35):
narcosis, he realized what was happening.
It's 1973, and scuba divers at thistime are using regular air cylinders
filled with only oxygen and nitrogen.
This type of air supply limitsthe max depth a diver can
reach before narcosis sets in.
Mixed gases that would have alloweddeeper diving aren't available for
recreational divers yet and technicaldiving science wasn't established.
(03:59):
So Robert signaled to his group thathe was returning to the top of the
rock pile and everyone else signaledthey were going to continue exploring.
Now, nitrogen narcosis can happen afterreaching 130 feet using normal air.
The deeper you go, without properequipment and procedures, the more
nitrogen is introduced to the bloodstream.
The effect it has on the person issimilar to extreme intoxication.
(04:23):
It impairs judgment and motor function.
At 185 feet, the air starts tobecome toxic, which could lead
to seizures and all kinds ofthings that would lead to death.
Now Robert did what he said, andhe continued circling the rock
pile for about 8 minutes whilesearching for animal bones.
During this time, Glenn continuedexploring around the rock pile, and Glenn
(04:45):
had been paying attention to the amountof air he had left, and knew that he was
running out of time to be in the water.
So, he attempted to tap hissister, Christine, on the arm to
remind her time was almost up.
She was following behind a few othersin the group that were breaking away
to swim down one of the tunnels thatbranched off from the main cave.
Before he could reach her, shequickly went over the ledge
(05:07):
that led out of the main room.
Glenn figured they just wantedto look around a bit more, but
would return and come back soon.
At this point, Robert was headedto the surface and could see the
light of Glenn returning from thedirection the others had gone.
Robert and Glenn surfaced prettymuch together and found that Larry
had already returned from his dive.
And less than a minute later, Petersurfaced with almost no air in his tank.
(05:32):
The group quickly realized that thosestill in the water would also have very
low air supply, and limited visibility dueto the clouds blocking the sun in the sky.
Peter had briefly struggled to findthe entrance due to silt being kicked
up by divers in the tunnel, and thelow light coming from the entrance.
What they didn't know at thetime was how chaotic things got
(05:52):
right when they all turned back.
So Gwen quickly put on a sparetank and got back in the water.
He went to a depth of 225 feet,where the cliff began to drop off.
And at the edge, he foundSteven's light and camera.
The visibility at this point waspractically non existent due to the huge
amount of silt that had been disturbed.
(06:13):
Now this is a dangerousenvironment for divers to be in.
It's way too deep andthere's no visibility.
And Glenn quickly realized this, sohe had no choice but to decompress
and return to the surface.
By the time he surfaced,an ambulance had arrived.
So Peter decided to check outthe cavern for one more look.
This was the last chance.
(06:33):
If the divers from their groupwere going to have any chance at
survival, they had to be found now.
He was hoping to find anyonein their group to save, but
unfortunately, he didn't find anyone.
And at that point, everyone knew theywere no longer looking for survivors.
They were looking for bodies.
So what happened that kept halfof the group from surfacing?
(06:54):
There was a little hope there wassome way someone survived using
an air pocket or something else.
So what happened?
When Christine, two of her brothers,and her cousin reached the ledge
that Glenn lost her at, they paused.
Christine was starting to feel thefirst signs of nitrogen narcosis
and knew she was limited on time.
But she had been divingfor 15 years at this point.
(07:16):
She knew how to combat the effectsby staying focused on what she was
doing and keeping controlled breaths.
But she had never beenat this step before.
She was heading towards being 250feet deep, but had to travel 300 feet
through the narrow tunnel to get there.
She wanted to see how deep shecould go and make a new record,
but she had less than fiveminutes of air and didn't know it.
(07:39):
At some point, she realized she wouldn'tbe able to make it to the end of the
tunnel and back, so she turned around,but this was not as simple as it sounded.
There were no guidelines laid, andwith four divers entering that narrow
tunnel, the amount of silt they kickedup meant there was zero visibility.
She couldn't tell up fromdown or left from right.
And when she reached out herhand and felt rocks, she couldn't
(08:02):
distinguish a rock from a dead end.
Christine knew her time was runningout, and it would be a long shot
to make it back to the surfacewith such little visibility.
So, in a desperate act, she shot uptowards the ceiling to try to get clear of
the silt, and Gordon did the same thing.
Their flashlights were sweepingall over the place, in every
direction, trying to find the wayout, trying to orient themselves.
(08:26):
The ceiling is rough with rocksjutting out and it's uneven.
It feels just like the juttingrocks all around the tunnel.
There wasn't some smooth surfacefor them to guide themselves
along using their hands.
Christina and Gordon were ina false dome in the tunnel.
They could only see their bubblescollecting on the surface and
nothing else around them withthe silt being so encompassing.
(08:48):
The bubbles created an effect on theceiling that made them believe they were
looking at the ceiling of the actualmain cave, trying to get to the entrance.
The frantic nature of their actions madeeverything worse and depleted all their
remaining air at a ridiculous speed.
They became hypoxic and sunkto the floor of the tunnel.
While that was happening, Johnwas swimming further down into
(09:10):
the tunnel at a rapid pace.
It's believed the nitrogen narcosiscaused him to think he was heading
back towards the entrance, eventhough he was swimming deeper.
Now Stephen was between where Johnwas and where Christina and Gordon
were, so when he went to turnaround, the silt was too thick for
him to figure out where he was at.
When he was found, his buoyancyvest was inflated, which means at
(09:33):
some point he was thinking clearlyenough to try a last ditch attempt
to get his body to the surface.
It may have worked, but he wascaught on the protruding rocks.
It would take 11 months to retrieve thebodies because the day after the accident,
the police underwater recovery squad wasunderprepared to dive in those conditions.
(09:54):
So much so that it was described asa quote, learn as you go exercise.
End quote.
The following day's attempt was thesame, and so they decided to postpone
until they could receive naval training,which would take several months.
In the meantime, the landowners ofthe property wanted the bodies out,
and eventually the police was sentin to recover Steven, who was closer
(10:17):
to the surface, in January of 1974to get Christine, Gordon, and John.
Due to how dangerous the depth andsilt conditions made the retrieval,
the team tried multiple times.
For several days in a row to get Christinaand Gordon that March they were able to
recover them But the nitrogen narcosisthe recovery team experienced required
(10:39):
a one month break for them to recoverin April after great effort Improved
equipment and a lot of planning.
John's remains were recovered.
Now, this disaster and recoveryobviously highlighted that
changes needed to be made.
And they were.
New regulations enforcing theeducation of divers wanting
(11:00):
to go cave diving was created.
They had to understand the differencebetween open water diving and cave diving.
It also included a new training andthree level certification system that
would place divers appropriately.
This tragedy paved the wayfor better safety regulations.
But, what do you think about theMount Gambier cave diving disaster?
Leave your thoughts in the commentsand follow for more stories like this.
(11:23):
All sources can be found at OccurrencePod.
com.
Stay safe and I'll see you next time.
A group of eight recreational divers entered a sinkhole in the
ground, but only four would return.
Their lives forever changed.
Out of the divers that surfaced,one would experience the pain
of losing four family members.
This disaster was so tragic,it changed cave diving forever.
This is the story of the MountGambier Cave Diving Disaster.
(00:21):
I'm Tatiana, and this is Occurrence.
On May 28, 1973, a group of nine diversplanned a two day dive at Mount Gambier
at the Shaft Sinkhole in South Australia.
(00:42):
Within this group were someexperienced open water divers.
Christine, Stephen, and Glenn weresiblings and were all experienced divers.
They had all achieved the highestqualification available for
diving at the time, and theywere all diving instructors.
And Christine was the NewSouth Wales title holder.
Her father said at the age of19, she had already been scuba
(01:05):
diving for about 15 years.
They were all raised by their father,who was also an experienced diver,
and raised them to love diving too.
A cousin to the siblings, named John,was on this trip too, and he had about
four years of experience himself.
So, this family in general was veryexperienced in open water diving, but
(01:25):
the allure of the shaft sinkhole wasthe hole in the ceiling that was an
entrance to the clear water below.
The grassy hole is 3 feet wide anddivers had to be lowered in with a
rope to the lake about 20 feet below.
It opens to a huge cave aboutthe size of a football field.
It's like 360 feet by 164 feet.
(01:46):
When it's sunny, a brightbeam of light shines down and
hits a rock pile in the lake.
The light is used for guidance,so divers know where they are.
As divers get disoriented when cavediving since it's dark and they can
only use the lights they have on them.
This would be attractive toopen water divers that are
used to clear bright water.
Being able to see the light on sunny andeven cloudy days is extremely helpful
(02:10):
with orientation and just generallybeing able to know where the entrance is.
As long as you're in the maincave and not one of the tunnels
that branch off from either side.
You'll understand why soon.
The first day's dive was successful.
They extended a shot line 150 feetinto the water to the rock pile and
quickly explored the area around therock pile before ending the dive.
(02:32):
Their shot line was already inplace, so the plan was for them to
come back the following morning anddo more or less of the same thing.
Robert, who was the president of thedive club for the group, had dived at
the sinkhole a number of times beforeand had created most of the dive plan.
There wasn't a specific system orboundaries laid out, but he just generally
(02:52):
expected everyone would stay in themain chamber to stay within the max
depth range of 200 feet and explore.
After all, they only had the main shotline from the surface to the rock pile.
There were no other guidelines laid out.
He never imagined whatwould happen the next day.
When they returned to the cave theywere exploring, at first things
(03:13):
were going according to plan.
Only eight of the divers actuallywent into the cave that day.
Joan stayed on the surface and preparedfood and helped the group in other ways.
But, at the perimeter of the rockpile, Robert began to feel strange.
He was feeling lightheaded, and his depthgauge told him he was 180 feet deep.
Since he was an experienced diver,familiar with the symptoms of nitrogen
(03:35):
narcosis, he realized what was happening.
It's 1973, and scuba divers at thistime are using regular air cylinders
filled with only oxygen and nitrogen.
This type of air supply limitsthe max depth a diver can
reach before narcosis sets in.
Mixed gases that would have alloweddeeper diving aren't available for
recreational divers yet and technicaldiving science wasn't established.
(03:59):
So Robert signaled to his group thathe was returning to the top of the
rock pile and everyone else signaledthey were going to continue exploring.
Now, nitrogen narcosis can happen afterreaching 130 feet using normal air.
The deeper you go, without properequipment and procedures, the more
nitrogen is introduced to the bloodstream.
The effect it has on the person issimilar to extreme intoxication.
(04:23):
It impairs judgment and motor function.
At 185 feet, the air starts tobecome toxic, which could lead
to seizures and all kinds ofthings that would lead to death.
Now Robert did what he said, andhe continued circling the rock
pile for about 8 minutes whilesearching for animal bones.
During this time, Glenn continuedexploring around the rock pile, and Glenn
(04:45):
had been paying attention to the amountof air he had left, and knew that he was
running out of time to be in the water.
So, he attempted to tap hissister, Christine, on the arm to
remind her time was almost up.
She was following behind a few othersin the group that were breaking away
to swim down one of the tunnels thatbranched off from the main cave.
Before he could reach her, shequickly went over the ledge
(05:07):
that led out of the main room.
Glenn figured they just wantedto look around a bit more, but
would return and come back soon.
At this point, Robert was headedto the surface and could see the
light of Glenn returning from thedirection the others had gone.
Robert and Glenn surfaced prettymuch together and found that Larry
had already returned from his dive.
And less than a minute later, Petersurfaced with almost no air in his tank.
(05:32):
The group quickly realized that thosestill in the water would also have very
low air supply, and limited visibility dueto the clouds blocking the sun in the sky.
Peter had briefly struggled to findthe entrance due to silt being kicked
up by divers in the tunnel, and thelow light coming from the entrance.
What they didn't know at thetime was how chaotic things got
(05:52):
right when they all turned back.
So Gwen quickly put on a sparetank and got back in the water.
He went to a depth of 225 feet,where the cliff began to drop off.
And at the edge, he foundSteven's light and camera.
The visibility at this point waspractically non existent due to the huge
amount of silt that had been disturbed.
(06:13):
Now this is a dangerousenvironment for divers to be in.
It's way too deep andthere's no visibility.
And Glenn quickly realized this, sohe had no choice but to decompress
and return to the surface.
By the time he surfaced,an ambulance had arrived.
So Peter decided to check outthe cavern for one more look.
This was the last chance.
(06:33):
If the divers from their groupwere going to have any chance at
survival, they had to be found now.
He was hoping to find anyonein their group to save, but
unfortunately, he didn't find anyone.
And at that point, everyone knew theywere no longer looking for survivors.
They were looking for bodies.
So what happened that kept halfof the group from surfacing?
(06:54):
There was a little hope there wassome way someone survived using
an air pocket or something else.
So what happened?
When Christine, two of her brothers,and her cousin reached the ledge
that Glenn lost her at, they paused.
Christine was starting to feel thefirst signs of nitrogen narcosis
and knew she was limited on time.
But she had been divingfor 15 years at this point.
(07:16):
She knew how to combat the effectsby staying focused on what she was
doing and keeping controlled breaths.
But she had never beenat this step before.
She was heading towards being 250feet deep, but had to travel 300 feet
through the narrow tunnel to get there.
She wanted to see how deep shecould go and make a new record,
but she had less than fiveminutes of air and didn't know it.
(07:39):
At some point, she realized she wouldn'tbe able to make it to the end of the
tunnel and back, so she turned around,but this was not as simple as it sounded.
There were no guidelines laid, andwith four divers entering that narrow
tunnel, the amount of silt they kickedup meant there was zero visibility.
She couldn't tell up fromdown or left from right.
And when she reached out herhand and felt rocks, she couldn't
(08:02):
distinguish a rock from a dead end.
Christine knew her time was runningout, and it would be a long shot
to make it back to the surfacewith such little visibility.
So, in a desperate act, she shot uptowards the ceiling to try to get clear of
the silt, and Gordon did the same thing.
Their flashlights were sweepingall over the place, in every
direction, trying to find the wayout, trying to orient themselves.
(08:26):
The ceiling is rough with rocksjutting out and it's uneven.
It feels just like the juttingrocks all around the tunnel.
There wasn't some smooth surfacefor them to guide themselves
along using their hands.
Christina and Gordon were ina false dome in the tunnel.
They could only see their bubblescollecting on the surface and
nothing else around them withthe silt being so encompassing.
(08:48):
The bubbles created an effect on theceiling that made them believe they were
looking at the ceiling of the actualmain cave, trying to get to the entrance.
The frantic nature of their actions madeeverything worse and depleted all their
remaining air at a ridiculous speed.
They became hypoxic and sunkto the floor of the tunnel.
While that was happening, Johnwas swimming further down into
(09:10):
the tunnel at a rapid pace.
It's believed the nitrogen narcosiscaused him to think he was heading
back towards the entrance, eventhough he was swimming deeper.
Now Stephen was between where Johnwas and where Christina and Gordon
were, so when he went to turnaround, the silt was too thick for
him to figure out where he was at.
When he was found, his buoyancyvest was inflated, which means at
(09:33):
some point he was thinking clearlyenough to try a last ditch attempt
to get his body to the surface.
It may have worked, but he wascaught on the protruding rocks.
It would take 11 months to retrieve thebodies because the day after the accident,
the police underwater recovery squad wasunderprepared to dive in those conditions.
(09:54):
So much so that it was described asa quote, learn as you go exercise.
End quote.
The following day's attempt was thesame, and so they decided to postpone
until they could receive naval training,which would take several months.
In the meantime, the landowners ofthe property wanted the bodies out,
and eventually the police was sentin to recover Steven, who was closer
(10:17):
to the surface, in January of 1974to get Christine, Gordon, and John.
Due to how dangerous the depth andsilt conditions made the retrieval,
the team tried multiple times.
For several days in a row to get Christinaand Gordon that March they were able to
recover them But the nitrogen narcosisthe recovery team experienced required
(10:39):
a one month break for them to recoverin April after great effort Improved
equipment and a lot of planning.
John's remains were recovered.
Now, this disaster and recoveryobviously highlighted that
changes needed to be made.
And they were.
New regulations enforcing theeducation of divers wanting
(11:00):
to go cave diving was created.
They had to understand the differencebetween open water diving and cave diving.
It also included a new training andthree level certification system that
would place divers appropriately.
This tragedy paved the wayfor better safety regulations.
But, what do you think about theMount Gambier cave diving disaster?
Leave your thoughts in the commentsand follow for more stories like this.
(11:23):
All sources can be found at OccurrencePod.
com.
Stay safe and I'll see you next time.
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