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ave
Science
The Transactions o the British Cave Research ssociation
BeR
[ Volume
14
Number
April 1987
I
Sediments and palynology in
Marble Arch Cave
Sump
Rescue Symposium
Caves
of
Jordhulef jel l Norway
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ave
Science
The Transact ions of the Br i t i sh Cave Research covers
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aveScience
TRANSACTIONS
OF
THE
BRITISH
CAVE
RESEARCH ASSOCIATION
Volume 14 Number
1 Apr i l 1987
Contents
The
Sedimentology
and Palynology o f some
Pos tg lac ia l
Deposi t s
from Marble
Arch
Cave
Co. Fermanagh
Gareth
LI
Jones
and
Madelaine
McKeever
The
F i r s t Br i t i s h Sump
Rescue Symposium
Proceedings
Caves o f
the Jordbrue lv
and
J o r dhu l e f j e l l
South
Nordland Norway
3
7
Trevor
Faulkner 31
Cover: The
Grand Gal le ry sec t ion o f the main stream passage
in
Marble Arch Cave
Co.
Fermanagh.
This
i s
now
seen
on the t ou r
in the
r ecen t
show
cave development
and
sediments in a t r i bu t a r y passage are the sub jec t o f a
paper
in
t h i s i s sue o f Cave
Science . By
Tony Waltham.
Edi tor :
Dr. T . D. Ford
Geology
Dept
. Leices te r
Univers i ty Le ices t e r LEI 7RH
Production
Edi tor
:
Dr.
A.
C.
Waltham
Civ
. Eng .
Dept .
Tren t Po ly techn ic
Nottingham NG
I
BU
Cave Science i s published by the Bri t i sh Cave Research Associa t ion and
is
i ssued to a l l
pa id up members
o f
the Associa t i on .
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Club
- E12.S0
Subsc r ip t ions
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8JD
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OLQ
Copyright the Br i t i sh Cave Research Assoc ia t ion
1987.
No
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ose
s without the pr ior wri t ten
consent of
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authors and of the Associa t ion.
ISSN 0263 - 760X
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CAVE
SCIENCE
Vol.
14 ,
No
.1
April
1987
Transact ions
of the
Bri t i sh Cave
Research
Associa t inn
The Sedimentology and Palynology
of some
Postglacial
Deposits
from Marble
Arch
Cave
Co.
Fermanagh
Gareth Ll JONES and Madelaine McKEEVER
Abstract
: Sediments
and
pol len
from
a sandbank in Marble
Arch
Fermanagh
,
suggest tha t they
may have been
deposi ted
between
3 , 500
years
BP
during
f lood events in a mature cave system .
Cave
,
7,500
Co.
and
INTRODUCTION
Two
organic r i ch bands in a sand
and
gravel
bank in the Skreen Hil l I passage
of Marble
Arch
Cave
were sampled
for
pol len in
1981
, and
suggested Postg lac ia l dates for
the
sediments .
Later tha t year
two shor t cores were taken
from
the sand bank
and
they are descr ibed here .
I t
was
not
possible
to t rench the bank ,
since
most of the
sect ion
was
below
water l eve l
.
The
Sample
Si te
The Marble
Arch Caves are par t
of
an
upland
kars t
system receiving
the dra inage from an
extens
iv e area
on the north
side of
Cuilcagh
Mountain
(J
ones 1974 .
I t
is a la rge mature
system with f ea tures suggest ing tha t it dates from
a g l ac i a l i f
not
pre - g l ac i a l per i od. These
inc lude the dr i f t -covered dol ines , descr ibed by
Ternan
(1 966 ) and exposed
during the
opening of
the new
show cave
en
t r
ance to Skreen Hil l I . The
Aghinrahan
i s
one of three major st reams which
s ink in to the l imestone . I t s
waters
flow
in to
Pol lasumera Cave (not shown ) ,
and
then through
Pollnagollum Cave
and
the Skreen Hil l Passages
of
Marble
Arch
Cave before jo in ing underground
with
the other st reams to form the Cladagh River , which
resurges a t the
Marble
Arch (Figure 1) .
The
sample
s i t e i s
a
sandbank s i tua ted
ha l f
way
up
the
Skreen
Hil l
I
passage
(Figure
2
,
a t
the point where the st ream eme rg es
from Lake
1 .
Immediately downstream a
minor
t r ibuta ry
emerges
from the smal l Crysta l Palace passage . Since the
cores
were
taken ,
Marble
Arch has become a
show
cave and the Moses Walk
has
been
contructed
through Lake
1;
the
sandbank
remains i n t ac t .
Core Al
was dr
illed in
the
cent re of
the
sand bank and penetra ted 72 mm of
sediment
. At
th i s depth the re was loss of
the f ina l
par t of
the
sample
and
the
hole was r ed r i l l ed (a s A2) and
taken
to a
f ina l depth
of 9
6 mm
.
Core Bl was
Cal',
Hole
Mlnastir
\
Wa y
I
•
3
dr i l l ed
close to
the
edge
of
the
sand
bank
upstream of Al and te rminated a t a depth of 72 mm
(s e e
Fig
.
3 .
SEDIMENTOLOGY
Both cores cons is t of
beds
of mostly
unconsolidated arenaceous mater ia l
varying
from
silt
, through f ine and medium to coarse quartz
sands, with some sca t te red quar tz pebbles near the
base
of
both holes
. Organic layers were present
in
both cores , but were th icker in hole
Bl
,
and
it
was
from t h i s
core
tha t
the pol len
samples
were
taken . Recovery was var i ab le in both boreholes ,
and sediment was e i ther l o s t through
compact i on
or
being washed out
(see
Fig .3 . Although
co
r r ela t ion
i s
poss ib le
between the
two
holes
,
the
var ia t ion over such a shor t d i s t ance bears out
the
I
N
I
etre
Bedrocic
Sendbe ni
o
A
S reen
Hill
I
pe eQe
\
Borehole
Figure 2.
Borehole
l o ca t i ons on the Skreen i l l l sandbank.
Figure 1. The MarLlc Arch Cave
System Co . Fe rmanagh .
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comments
of
Osborne
(1984)
with regards to the
preva l ence of rapid
l a t era l fac ies
changes in cave
depos i t s .
Se
dime
n
t s
elsewhere
in
the
Skreen Hil l
I
passage , both upst ream and downstream of th e
samp
le s i t e , includ e c las t i c mate r ia l
up
to la rge
boulder s ize .
Some of
th is
i s autochthonous,
derived from breakdown
of
passage walls and roof,
but a l a rg e propor t ion
i s al lochthonous and
cons i s t s of
sandstone c las t s up
to boulder s i ze
mb
Ib
mb
mb
b
Ib
mb
Ib
mb
l
Ib
mb
b
A1
11m
F. ; : ; : ; : ; : ;.j xbed
. .
w
.......... ......
.......
..... ..... ......... ..
B1
mb
b
mb
mg
mb
mg
mb
mb
mb
mb
mb
•
mb
mb
Ib
•
mb
mb
R b
ll
R b
ll
Ib
(grav)
720mm
~ ~ ~
mb
mbg 960mm
m
1XJ1len
sample
lam laminated
x bed cross beOl :rl
medium sand
grav
Tavel
lb
li(tlt brown
coarse sand
mb
ma:lium brown
wtf>hed
out
I J
d:lrk brown
or
com
pa:ted
t J
IiIrk
grey
Fi g
ur
e
3.
Cores
Al - 2
and
81,
Skreen Hil l .
4
which have
been
brought in through sinkholes and
t r an s por ted by the Aghinrahan River
,
probably
predominant ly under f lood
condi t ions
Ford
1975).
The f iner
grade
mater ia l i s
considered to
be
mostly
a l
lochthonous since t
is
composed larg e l y
of quar tz
gra ins .
I t i s considere
d
t ha t
the
l igh te r
elements of
the be d - l
oad were
deposi ted in
a
region
of
qu i e t e r
flow, and
tha t subsequent
erosion
by
the stream
has
l e f t
the
sandbank
in
i t s
present posi t ion and co n
di t ion .
A
lthough
the
sediments are current ly wi th in
a
f luvia l
regime,
t i s
p r
obable th
a t
the e a r l i e r s tage of the i r
his tory
was f lu
vio
-
g l ac i a l
as mel twater
s t r
ea
ms
car r ied
products
of g lac i a t i on
in to
the
cave
entrances , in the manner
suggested
by Ford
(197
5 .
The
core sediments cons is t mostly
of
s i l t s
through to coarse sands and f ining-up sequences
were no t evident .
They
may represent
episodes of
f looding
when turb id
waters
dropped
t he i r
lo ad in
quie t corners . Modern water l eve l
monitoring
shows
a r apid drop in water l evel
following
a
f lood
p
ulse in the se
passages
Show
Cave
Management
pers
.
comm
.
1985)
. Th
i s would not
al low
gradual se t t l i ng out to
produce
f in
i
ng
-
up
sequences but
the depos i t would
va
r y
wi
th
each
be d - l
oad
content . However the uppermost beds of
both
cores do show some laminat ion
and i t
i s
possib
l e
tha t
there
were prolonged s t i l lwa te r
condi t ions
in the
recent
pas t
,
perhaps caused
by
damming of th e
stream to form Lake
1 .
The
po
l l en
record
indica tes
tha t
the
upper
55 mm
of
the
deposi ts are
a t the most
7
,5
00
years
old
and perhaps much younge r , so
tha t
these
sands
and gravels
have
been reworked
by
the post -g l ac i a l
streams
running through
passages
t hat are p robabl y
much olde r .
The
basa
l
par
t
of Core
A- 2
i s poorly
represented ,
but the
upper
par t conta ined
gravel
and
coarse sand , whi l s t
the hole
bottomed in
p las t
ic g rey-brown clay . The gravel suggests
tha t
t
here
was an i n t e rva
l
when more turbulent
flow
occur
red
a t
t h i s
side of
the passage. The
c
la
y
in t
e r val
suggests
exac t ly the opposi te , though a
l a rge
input of c l ay in t o
the
system can not be
ruled out . Such an in pu t might have occur r ed
as
f resh glac ia
l
depos i t s
we
re being
reworked
a t the
end of a
per iod
of
glac ia t ion .
CAVE
BIOSTRATIGRAPHY
Most bios t ra t igraph i c records from cave
environments
tend
to be o f faunas,
and
there are
many papers
on
oss i
ferous
deposi
t s from f i s sur
e
f i l l s
and
cave she l te r s
. The l i t e r a t u r e
on
palynological s tudies
i s remarkably
scarce ,
perhaps due to the poor chances of pol len
surviving in the cave environment
,
but
a l so
to the
lack of
a
t t en t ion tha t
t hi s aspect
has rece
i ve d .
I t
i s hoped
t ha t t h i s paper wil l encourage
some
de ta i l ed
f lo ra l
s tudies .
PALYNOLOGY
In general th e pol l en
counts
a re low and th i s
pa r t l y
r e f l ec t s
the aggressive cave
environ
ment
which
eas
ly
de
s t
roys the f rag i le gra in
s .
However
some
t rends can be seen
which may
be s i gn i f i c an t ,
and
the y may
be
of
i n t e res t
in
future
yea
r s .
The
pol len
records
(see Table 1
and
Fig . 4) a r e
compared
with those
f rom the Li
ttl
e t
on
Bog ,
Co.
Tipperar
y (Mitchel l , 1981
emend
.
1965),
unless
s ta ted .
Hazel
i s the dominant pol len
recorded
and
t h i s
i s typica l for
the
per iod of Climax Woodlands
ILWC)
s t a r t ing
a t about 7,
500BP
up to the
s
t a r t
of in tens ive Farming
(I L
Wd2 )
a t about 1,7
00BP (se e
Table
2 . The la rge am ount of Alder in
the
sediments suggests tha t they are younger
than
abou
t
7,
500BP which
i s when
Al
de
r
f i r s t became
prominen t in
I re land. Pine
f lour i shed
during th
e
Beginning of the Wood l ands (ILWB), but
became
a
minor
cons t i tuen t
during the Climax Wood
l
an
d s
(7,500BP on) .
I t
pe r s i s t ed
a t
t
his l eve l unt
l
about 3,500BP
when t
became loca l
l y
ext inc t
.
At
Sl ish Wood , Co . Sl igo , Dodson
and
Bradshaw
(1985)
showed
tha t
pine d isappeared
a t
t wo l ocal
t
es
only
8
ki lometres
ap a
r t a t about 4000 year
s BP
and
a t
1850
years
BP .
Theref
o
re de
t a l
ed
l ocal
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Depths
550mm 400mm 360mm 255mm
Omm
TREES
:
Hazel Corylus)
Oak
Ouercus)
Alder Alnus)
Elm Ulmus)
B
ir
ch Betula)
P
ine
Pinus)
Ash
Fraxinus)
SHRUB
Holly 1Iex)
HEATHER
Cal/una)
HERBS
Grass Gramineff)
Sedge [,Vperaceff)
Compositae L igultflorre)
Plantain Plantago)
Fem Polypodium)
Moss
5pllagnum)
Unknown/corroded
Actual totals
39 .9
27
.8
5.2
0.9
4.3
1.7
21.7
6.1
13
.0
1.7
43
5.2
1.7
6.1
115
52
.5
32 .3
2.5
8.9
2.4
1.6
4.8
25 .0
24
24
40
11.2
24
124
42
.6 46 .6
27
.1 38 .9
14 0.5
71
24
1.4
0.5
2.8
1.9
2.8 1.9
0.5
14
30.0 28 .4
71 0.9
2.8 2.8
0.9
0.9
114
24
43 0.9
70
211
N.B. Yields from samples at 330mm , 100mm and 40mm were too
small
to
be significant.
Table 1
Po en
percentages
for
sa
mples from
core B1
U
IRISH
IRISH
WOODLAND
DEVELOPMENT PK .SES
STAOES
STAOES
Expansion of
1650
1 L Wd2
\ Woodland
by
Aff
orestat on
56
.6
37 .2
0.6
9.7
4.3
3.0
1.
2
0.6
0.6
32 .9
1.8
3.6
0.6
1.2
1.2
1.2
24
164
Advanced farming
1L Wdl
\ destroys woodlands
-
500
FLAND
LlTTLE-
PrImItIve farmIng
-RIAN
TONIAN
Damages
Woodlands
5000
Climax stage of
1 L WC
DecIduous Woodland
7500
Beginning and
I L WB
Immigrati on
of Woodland
10,000
DEVENS
MIDlAt )
I L
WA Absence
of Woodland
-IAN -I
AN
Open vegetation
after
Mitchell 19768.
1981
Table
2 Irish Woodland Development
phases
5
information
i s v i t a l to
the
accurate
in te rpre ta t ion
of
pol
l en diagrams
inc luding tha t
from the Marble Arch cores. Although Pine
was
l a t e r reint roduced to the area by man in the l a s t
few hundred years ) , the other pol len resu l t s are
more cons is tent with the
older
period
.
The appearance of
Ash a lbe i t a
very low
record) in
the l a t e r sediments
may
be
of
note
since t f lour ished from 4, 500BP
on
, whi l s t the
general decl ine in
the
Herbs f i t s in with
the
Woodlands per iods (ILWB
,
ILWC and perhaps
ILWdl) .
The
la rge
amount
of
heather i s notable
,
and
probably
r e l a t e s
to
th
e
mountainside
posi
t
on
of
the
cave entrances .
The Compositae are
a t a low
l eve l
which may
be s igni f i cant
-
a t
Red
Bog, Co.
Louth
they
did
not appears un t i l
abou t
2,800BP
Mitchel l 1981).
Taken
together we can
t en ta t ive ly assign
dates as fol lows :
T
op
255mm
550mm
Not
younger than
3 , 500BP
No
t older
than 4,500BP
Younger
than 7
,5
00BP
ILWd1 lower
ILWd1 lower
ILWC
The basa l s amples may have been depos i t ed dur ing
t
he Climax Woodlands
(ILWC) , and
the top during
the f i r s t par t o f the
Damaged
Woodlands
(ILWd1)
per iods . The
bottom
of
the
hole gave
no
information, but may represent a much older
period
according to the sedimentology.
4011-
TREES
JOlI-
Hazel
0IiI .
2l1-
Alder
Elm
4lI-
Blrt:h
4lI-
Ash
0.51-
Pine
4'
Holly
Il1-
:lOlI-
HE THER
HERBS
Gress
71 _
Sedge
131 _
Composltll 1-
PllOt.ln
4l1-
Fern
5l1-
Moss
Ill1
lInI:nown
c orroded
6
CTU L
115 124
TOT LS
70
211
164
DEPTHS
S50mm 400mm 360mm 255mm Omm
Figure
4
Hist
ogram o f pol lens for
samples
from core
Bl
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Although these sediments were probably
deposi ted
by f loods, and the poss ib le e f f ec t of
scouring
cannot
be
calcula ted ,
the resu l t s
represent a maximum sedimentat ion ra te of 55 mm
in
4000 years or
lmm
per 7.2 years .
I t
i s however
possible to
argue th a t the
above dates represent
the
widest parameters , and t ha t the sect ion was
deposi ted during
as
shor t a per iod
as
1000 ye a
r s ,
with
a sedimentat ion ra te of about lmm per 2
year s .
Most cave
sediments are
reworked
to some
degree,
but
the
c l ea r
bedding
inf luence ,
plus the
cor rec t ly sequenced bios t ra t igraphy suggest tha t
the sediments
were deposi ted a t
t h i s
loca t ion
separa te ly
and in
s t ra t igraphic
sequence .
The
presence
of man i s
recorded
in th e Bann
va l l ey
and the Shannon basln a t about 8 , 500BP, and
the impact
of
his farming i s
documented
by the
Woodlands
Damaged ILWdl)
period from 5,000BP
onwards Mitchel l
198
1 . His
presence i s
known
in
the
Marble Arch area Jones
1974) from
the human
sku l l s
found by the 1972 U
l s t e r
Museum dig in
Pol lnagol lum of
the
Boats
Cave
800m
southeas t ,
see
Fig . 2 . These skul l s were
radiocarbon dated
a t
4,500BP P. Doughty
, pers . comm . ) ,
and would
thus
have been contemporaneous with
the
ILWdl
per iod seen in the upper par t of the sec t ion .
Recent
work on clays from the shat te red terminal
aven
a t the south
end of Legnabrocky
Way
see
Fig
.1) has
revealed
the presence
of
charcoal
A.
Hamilton , Coleraine, pers . comm.
1986).
This may
also
r e l a t e
to the
Woodlands
Damaged per iod or
might simply be der ived from accidenta l f i r es .
CONCLUSIONS
This paper suggests t ha t the top hal f metre
of sands
sampled
in the Skreen Hi I passage
of
Marble
Arch
were deposi ted, by a
ser ies of flood
episodes
,
between 7,500 years BP
and 3,500 yea rs
BP.
This
i s imp
or tant in demonstrating
t ha t there
are
i den t i f
i able pol lens surviving
in
the cave
environment.
I t
i s hoped tha t fur ther sediments
can be
dated
and may
throw l i gh t on the previous
his tory of
the
cave .
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We
wish
to
thank
Prof. W
Watts
for hi s help
and
advice ,
Dr.
D Drew
and
Dr. P. Coxon for
constructive
cr it ic ism
and Mr
M Cairns
and Mr . D Berridge for
help
in sampling .
REFERENCES
Dods o n,
J . and Bradshaw,
R.
1985). Sl i sh
Wood - Pos t -
glac ia l
vegetat ion and
f ire
history
.
In
Thorn,
R H (Ed.)
Sligo and West Leitrim Field Guide No.8,
Ir.
Assoc. for
Quat.
Stud, 36 - 41.
Ford, T. O .
1975).
Sediments in Caves. Trans. Bri t . Cave
Res.
Assn
.
2,
41 -
46
Jones
, G.L. I .
1974).
The
Caves of
Fermanagh and
Cavan
.
Wat ergate Press, Enniski l len 117pp .
Mitchel l
,
G.F. 1976). The I r i sh Landscape. Col l in s ,
Glasgow,
240pp
.
Mitche l l , G. F
. 1981) . The
L i t t le tonian
Warm Stage - Pos t
lO.OOOBP. In
Holland
C.H. E
d .
A
Geology
of I r e l a nd .
Sc o t t i sh Academic Press ,
Edinburgh
,
259-272.
Osborne, R.A
.L. 1984).
Latera l
fac ies changes ,
unconformities and
stratigraphic
reversa ls :
the i r s i gn i f i cance
for
cave sediment s t ra t igraphy .
Trans .Br i t .Cave Re s
.
Assn. 11, 175-184.
Ternan, J .L . (1966). Geomorphological observat ions
on
the
karst of south Fermanagh.
Unpub .
B.A.
Thesis ,
Queen s
Uni v. Be l fa s t .
Received December 1986
G.
Ll.
Jones
Conodate
5 Kennington Crescent
Templeogue
Dublin 12
M McKeever
c /o Stanley
Hil l
Slane
Co. Meath
8/21/2019 BCRA 14-1-1987
9/52
CAVE SCIENCE
Vo l .
14,
N o . 1 , April 1987
Transact ions
of
the
Br i t i sh Cave Research
Associa t ion
The First
rit ish Sump
Rescue Symposium
Proceedings
of
the
Symposium
Organised
by the
Cave Diving Group
and
the Br i t i sh Cave Rescue Counci l
Cast le ton,
Derbyshire ,
June
7th
1986
CONTENTS
Preface
Openin
g Address
Safe
Cave Diving
Sump rescue
arrangements
in Bri tain
Northern
Derbyshire
Wales
Somerset
Bil l Whitehouse
Phil
Papard
Jul ian
Griff i ths
Richard Bartrop
John
Adams
Bob Drake
An
analysis of cave diving incidents John
Cordingley
A
review
of sump rescue types John
Cordingley
Rescue th r ough long and deep sumps Rob Palmer
Medical
aspects
of sump rescue
Dr
Peter
Glanvil l
The management of de co mpression
sickness
Dr Peter Glanvil l
Hospital isat ion
underground
Dr John
Frankland
The use of gas
mixtures
for cave diving
Through - sump and diver co
mmunications
Alter
natives
to
diving
Discussion
Closing
address
Appendi
ces
John
Cordingley
Bob Mackin
Terry Jackson
John Cordin
gley
Bill Whitehouse
1 The intern t ion l sump rescue symposium
Dijon
( France) 1985
2.
Notes
on a prac t i s e rescue through
Lake
Sump , Peak
avern by D RO
Eastern
team and diver s
3 . Not es on the of the Kirby Mor
gan
Band Mask
K
MM
)
4 Not
es
on
the f i lm on sump re s cue by the O
PREFACE
Anyone
who
has been
on
a
cave
rescue,
whether as
re scuer
or as
vic t im, wil l
apprecia te
jus t
how
d i f f i c u l t
they
can be . Any
cave,
even the eas i e s t ,
present s a se r i e s of obs tac le s seemingly
designed
to make t ranspor ta t ion of a he lple s s person
as
d i f f i c u l t
as
poss ib le . I t is probably t r ue t o
say
t ha t
a sump
is
the u l t ima te obs tac le
and
the re has
been little oppor tun i ty to eva lua te the multi tude
of
problems
associa ted
w
i th
rescue through one.
These problems
are not r e s t r i c t ed
to
Br i ta in
. In
1985 the Fren ch held
an
in te rna t ional
sump
rescue
symp
osium in order to bring toge the r leading
Eur opean dive r s t o discuss the problems involved.
John Cording
ley represented Bri ta in and
col l ec ted
a grea t
deal
of informat ion (see Appendix 1). The
French event ,
and
the
urgent need to d iscuss
sump
rescue problems
in
a Br i t i sh
con tex t
, provided
the impetus for a Br i t i sh sump
rescue
symposium
which
was
held in
Cas t le ton Vi l lage
Hall
on
June
7th 19 86. Cave Rescue
Organisat ion
personnel ,
cave
dive r s and othe r
in te re s ted
cavers
from
llover
7
the country at tended the meeting bo th t o hear
the various speakers and to con t r i bu t e information
of t he i r own.
In
the month before
the
meeting
a small
gr
oup of
dive r s
discussed
the
various
problems o f
sump
rescue and comp i l ed a l i s t of sub jec ts f o r
presenta t ion a t the symposium. Each sub jec t was
assigned t o an individual c aver
with known
expe r t i se in
the given f i
e
ld and
they
were
asked
to
presen t
a
t a l k
on the sub
j e c t
in
Castle ton .
These proceedings
rec
o rd
the
t a lk s given a t the
symposium and include some o ther re levant
informat ion . A br i e f review o f the da y s events
has
already
b
een
publ ished
by
the
Cave
Diving
Group
in
t he i r N
ewsle
t t e r
number 81.
Although very
few
o f the problems received
concrete
s o l u t i ons we n ow have a mu c h be t t e r
understanding o f what the
problems
a ctu a l ly are.
Meeti ngs of t h i s s o r t
should
be held from t ime to
t ime to
take s tock
o f
progress and
to
disseminate
the f indings
as w
ide ly
as p oss ible . Meetings
are
useful and informative
but it is impor tant t ha t
ca ve rescue organisa t ions and t he i r lo c a l
CDG
sec t ions
organise
prac t i s e rescues in t he i r
areas
;
and
t ha t
the f indings o f these are pub l ic i sed .
Only by ca r ry ing out p rac t i s e s in the
water
can
the rea l
na tu re
o f
any problem be ascer ta ined and
over co me.
Open ing
ddress
Bi l l W I TEHOUSE
I t
i s
appropr ia te t ha t Cas t le ton should have
been chosen as the
venue fo r
t oda y s
symposium
because l e s s
than
ba l f a
mile from
here the re
occu
rred
what was
probably
the f i r s t ever sump
rescue .
I t
happened
one
day in
1773
when a par ty
of
v i s i t o r s
being
guided round Peak Cavern
were
shown the
Buxton Water
sump . Suddenly one
of
the
par ty , a Mr . Day, plunged in to the
sump
and
vanished Afte r he had been gone some
t ime
. . .
the bystanders supp
ose
d
he
was drowned,
they
heard a voice
and then
a
plunging, upon which
Mr.
Daykin
, the guide" ( r ea l i s i ng of
course, t ha t
DCRO
was not
due
to
be
formed
for another
179
years)
. . .
ventured
as
fa r
as he
dared, and very
happily put his
hand
down
and
caught
hold
of Mr .
Day's arm
and
a man behind
Daykin
caught hold of
him and
saved the drowning man . Mr . Day," the
repor t
continues
"was
speechless
fo r some t ime.
(However) n o
sooner had
his senses r e t u r ned ,
but
he sa id he would t ake
another
plunge: but
those
presen t , f ind ing him disordered, prevented him "
I t wasn t only the f i r s t
sump
rescue, it was
probably the
f i r s t recorded
ca
ve
dive;
and
when
Mr
.
Daykin and the o the rs
s topped
the
"disordered"
Mr. Day
f r
om
making
a second dive, they ca r r i ed
out
the
f i r s t ever exerc ise in cave d iv ing
acc iden t prevention . I f
Mr.
Day
ha dn t
drowned
himself
a few
months l a t e r
t ry ing to
l ive on the
bottom
of Plymouth harbour wh o knows what he might
have done for e igh teen th
century
speleology
Now , why
have
a
sump
rescue symposium a t a l l ?
Afte r a l l ,
the incidence of sump rescue has n o t
been
inc reas ing
fas te r
than
cave
r escues
genera l ly. I t is
necessary
to
look a t what
has
been happening to cave diving in the l a s t few
8/21/2019 BCRA 14-1-1987
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years
and what is
l ike ly
to happen in the
near
fut
.ur-e .
Primar i l y t h e r e has been a r i s e in the
popu l a r i t y o f c ave diving. In 1975 the
CDG
newslet.
t e r s
repc.
r t ed
a t .()ta l of
270
dives
in
c
luding
t r a in ing dives .
In
1985 787 dives were
repeort
.
ed excluding
t r a in ing dives,
meaning t ha t
cave diving ha s in c reased fourfold
during
the
l a s t
dp c ade.
I t would
he ni ce
i f
the fac t tha t diving
ac c idents
have
not
a l so
increased f ourfold was
wholly a t t r
ibutable
to
the c
are
and ex p
e
r t i s e
of
th
os e
diving.
In fac t 1
am
s
ure tha t t h i s
,
t oge t.he r wi t .h improvements in equipment
and
tech
niques
, i s most of the answer ;
but
the
pess imis t (or
i s
t
r ea l i s t ? ) in me cannot help
b
u t a t t r ibu te
pa
r t
of the
reason
t o lu ck . And
luck,
so oner o r
la t.sr,
ha s a nas
ty
habi t. o f
running out
.
Mo re dive r s and more dive s ha ve meant the
explora t ion and, on many occa sions,
the
conquering
of
increas ingly
long ,
deep and
sometimes
horr ib le
sumps. Th
e l
on
gest ,
deepest and
most horr ib le have
inva r iably
been
pi()neered
by
well equipped and
very experien ced divers ,
but
in years to
come,
as
numbers in c re as e f u r ther , t hey wil l inevi tably be
f o
l l
owed by
the
l ess well
equipped,
l ess
experienced an d l ess
care
ful , while
the
sumps wil l
be
n o
shor ter , jus t as
deep and, in
a l l
probabi l i ty ,
no
l ess ho
r r ib le
At a
gra t i fy ing
ra te cave dive r s are discover ing
and
expl or ing more and more
dry
passage beyond
s umps. Many l on g extensions
have
been made
throughout
the co
untry in
recent
years but most
remain
inaccess ib le to non-diving cavers
. This
i s ,
and wil l
co nt inue
to be
,
an incen
t i ve
to cavers to
take
up diving in
order
to v i s i t
these
passages
;
and
also , perhaps,
extend them or
f ind others
by
diving
in
othe r lo cat ions .
So, the potent ia l
problem
becomes clearer . The
fu ture wi l l see
more
dive r s diving more sumps more
often to get a t more dry passage, and perhaps more
sumps,
on the o the r
side
. Regret tably a small
propor t ion wil l have accidents
e i ther
in
sumps,
beyond sumps or even beyond several
sumps.
Cavers of both amphibious and non-amphibious
persuasion
sure ly
owe themselves,
and
fu ture
generat ions, the duty to exerc ise a l i t t l e
fore thought
and
to
prepare ,
t r a in and
equip
for
the
worst.
That
i s r ea l ly
why
t i s necessary
for
us
to
be here
today and
t i s gra t i fy ing to see
t ha t
s o many
dive r s
and rescuers
have been
able
to
at tend.
This is a r a the r unusual caving
symposium
in
t ha t
none
of
the
caving
organi sa t ions can
rea l ly
take
c r ed i t
f or br inging t
about. The
Cave
Diving
Group
have helped, the
Bri t i sh
Cave Rescue Council
A poorly equipped cave
diver
using
jus t
the
bare essentia ls
(Photo:
G Attwood) •
8
A well equipped cave diver
with
two independant breathing
suppl ies three l i ght s
navigation
equipment
and
two
decompression
s la te s
(Photo: J Cording ley) •
have
helped to f inance t (with a
Cave
Rescue
Organisa t ion br idging loan) and var ious other cave
rescue
organi sa t ions
and caving clubs , such as the
Technical Speleological Group, have chipped in.
However
the
rea l ly hard work
of
get t ing t
a l l
toge the r has been put
in by
three individual cave
dive r s
whose
idea
t h i s was:
Chris Danilewi cz,
John
Cordingley and Barry
Sudell. I f t h i s weekend
i s a
grea t success
t wil l
be l a rge ly due
to
t he i r
ef for t s .
Safe
ave D iv ing
Phi l
PAPARD
I t
has been found t ha t
some
of the most
accepted
safe ty precaut ions taken by open water dive r s
are not appl i cable
to
cave diving. Techniques
have
been Ip.arned and developed over many yea rs by cave
dive r s
to
meet
t he i r
needs . These
techniques
are
appl icable
to
a l l
closed
water
environments.
The Cave Rescue
Organis
a t i on (CRO)
has
been
concerned
for
some
t ime a t the
number
of cave
diving accidents involving
inexperienced
or poorly
t ra ined
cave
dive r s . In addi t ion, we have
been
concerned a t
the poss ib i l i t y of
open water dive r s
having fa ta l acc ident s in f looded caves and mines
in
the
UK Incidents of
t h i s
nature
have occurred
in
othe r count r i e s , for instance Austra l ia , seven
l ives in
s ix years
(Lewis,
1977), and the USA
To
date there
has
only
been
one accident of
t h i s type
here (Hodge
Close),
but there have been
some near misses
(Watkinson,
1982) .
I th ink
t
the duty of a l l
dive r s
to encourage new
ent rants to t r a in
proper ly
and
learn the
8/21/2019 BCRA 14-1-1987
11/52
techniques t ha t have been and
are
being developed
by
experienced
cave divers .
DIVING S FETY
Some cavers are approaching cave diving by
t r a in ing
as
open water divers . I
should
l ike to
consider the
di f ference in safe ty techniques
between closed
and
open water diving.
Open
Water Diving
Safety
O
ver the
years a number
of safe ty
techniques
and specia l i sed equipment have
been used
by most
open
water
divers . The
following i s
a l i s t of
twenty on e of them.
I t
i s by
no
means
comprehensive.
Open Water Check L is t
1 Never dive alone
2 Know your l imi ta t ions
3
Check
equipment
before
dive
4
Plan dive
5
Use l i f e j acket
6 Quick - re lease weight
b e l t
7 Knife
(on
leg)
8
Depth
gauge
9
Watch
10
Buddy
l i n e
11
Surface marker buoy
12
Fluorescen t
hood
13 Contents gauge
14 Snorkel
15
Safety
face
mask
16
Never
ascend with empty cy l inder s
17 Keep in t r a i n i n g
(eg a i r
sha r ing)
18
Know your
buddy ' s equipment
19
Compass
20 Know the s i t e
(Currents)
21 Know the s ignals
(and know
t ha t
your
buddy
does)
Looking a t
the
l i s t , t can be seen
that the
i tems
f a l l in t
o
three
groups:-
a)
Those promoting mutual help (**)
b) Those aiding
safe ty v ia the surface (*)
c) The res t ,
of which
the
most
important
(2 ,3 ,4 and 20) are
matters
of experience.
We
can say t ha t
the
philosophy behind the rules
i s mutual help wi
th in
reach of the surface .
Closed
Water Safety
By closed
water
I mean
flooded
caves, mines,
pipes
e tc
where access
to the
surface
is
severely
l imi ted.
In t h i s environment there i s
no easy
access to a safe
surface.
This basic fac t led
Oliver
Lloyd to s ta te that we should emphasise
the need
for
the
cave diver to
learn independence
and
to
fee l , when
he
i s diving,
that
he i s
ent i re ly
on his own.
Diving
in pai rs has
no
rea l
advantage , unless there i s plenty of room and good
v i s ib i l i t y .
We
can
thus
el iminate cer tain items
from
the
open
water
l i s t
and add
othe
rs to
produce the
closed water
l i s t .
By analysing the new l i s t we see
t ha t the
philosophy for
closed
water
diving i s com
ple te
se l f re l iance in equipment ,
the
use of
the
equipment and the abi l i ty to f ind the way
back
to
base in a l l eventua l i t i es . This i s achieved by
using a l ine search rep.l to f ind a
l o s t
l ine (Fig.
7), compass
and
s l a t e to ass i s t in
f inding
the way
out i f the l ine
i s
l o s t or
broken,
two independent
a i r
suppl
ies in
case
one
fai
Is e tc. In cave dives
in t h i s country
space
and v i s i b i l i t y may be
severely l imited hence the need to have a l l
equipment
access ib le
even
i f
t
i s not poss ib le to
bend down . Figure 1
shows
the
normal se t up for
each type of diver . Note
t ha t
the open
water
diver ' s
equipment i s
posi t ioned
such t ha t
t
i s
not a l l access ib le and var ious i tems could eas i ly
be
caught in
a
l ine .
Also
note
t ha t
the
use of
a
hand
lamp
resu l t s in
the
diver not having his
hands free.
9
Closed
Water Check
L is t
1 Know your l imi ta t ions
2
Check equipment
3
Plan the dive
4 Knife
(on arm)
5
Compass
6
Depth
gauge
7
Watch
8
Contents
gauge
9 Safe ty
mask
10 100% a i r s a fe t y margin
11 Two independent a i r suppl ies
12 e
independent
13 Always
be
connected
to base by
l ine
14 All
equipment in reach
15 Minimum
o f two
independent 'lamps
16 Hands f r ee
17
Sla te + penci l
18
Search ree l
19 Training (Line laying)
20 Safe demand valves
21 Helmet
THE D NGER RE
Unti l ten years ago t was
considered
in open
water and cave diving c i rc les
that
the two sports
were separa te
(Pearce,
1972) .
This view
i s
represented
by
the top of Figure 2. At t h i s t ime
cave diving had
an
appal l ing
record: 0.161% deaths
per man-dive ( 1957 -1977) in
closed water as
opposed to
0.0011%
deaths per man-dive in open
water
(Churcher and
Lloyd, 1980). All cave diving
accidents involved
cavers and resul ted from
pushing new
caves
with
inadequate
equipment and/or
t ra in ing .
The
dual
spor t s i tua t ion
is ,
in fact , a r t i f i c i a l
and
stemmed
from the hos t i l e
nature
of most
Bri t i sh caves .
Looking
a t
the bottom diagram in
Figure 2 we see t ha t the two environments merge
and
there
are a number
of
s i t es
of
r es t r i c t ed
sur face access
that
an open water
diver i s
l i ab le
COMPASS.
DEPTH
GAUGE.
SLATE
and
PENCIL
REEL
CLOSED WATER
DIVER
Fiqure
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Open Water
SE
L KES
RIVERS
QU RRIES
etc
Closed
Water
C VES
MINES
PIPES
etc
SEPARATE VIEW
OF
TWO
SPORTS
SE
L KES
RIVERS
QU RRIES
etc
Figure 2
Figure 3a
Figure
3b
C VES
MINES
PIPES
etc
FED LINE
HODGE
CLOSE
~ : : U . ,
SOm
KELD
HE D
1
\ .
to encounter .
This
happened a t Hodge Close (Fig.
3a)
where
a
g i r l
los t
her way in a tunnel and ran
out of a i r . The opposi te type of
accident
happened
a t
Keld
Head when a
cave
diver drowned near a
large
a i r
bel l
with
a
buddy present . This
l a t t e r
i s
more akin
to open water diving accidents in
some respects than to other cave diving accidents.
We must be on the look out for signs of a
recurrence
of
the Hodge Close
inc ident
a t
perhaps
a large resurgence. We
as
cave divers , wil l be in
the bes t pos i t ion to rescue or recover
such
a
person. Police divers
must not be put
in
the
posi t ion
they
were
in
a t
Hodge
Close
where
they
recovered
the body using base-fed
l ine
and back
mounted bot t l es .
At
Hodge Close
t
worked jus t )
because the
tunnels
were square cut
with no
bedding planes .
In
a
cave
l ike
Keld
Head
(Fig. 3b)
a base-fed
l ine
would soon pul l in to a
bedding
plane.
In fu ture we may be r esponsib le for deal ing
with a s imi lar incident .
Publ ic i ty
of exci t ing
cave
dives l i t t e r s the open water
diving press
and
now appears on t e lev i s ion . How
long
wil l t
be
before
there
i s
a mult iple
accident
l ike the
one
in Aust ra l ia involving
seven sp
or t s
divers?
TRAINING
With the advance
of cave diving, CDG
divers now
use many open
water
techniques, pa r t i cu l a r l y in
large c lear sumps.
These techniques include
buoyancy
aids,
back
packs,
diving in
pai rs
and
decompress ion stops. The Bri t i sh
cave
diver of old
never had to consider
such matters.
The modern
cave diver
needs
to be an excel lent open water
diver ,
as
well as a caver, pr ior to
his cave dive
t ra in ing . The basic diving s k i l l s c
an
be gained by
a number of methods. Most new cave divers in the
North of England
e i ther
join
a diving club or t r y
to t r a in
themselves. The
l a t t e r
route
has in the
pas t produced some
of
our bes t
cave
divers , but
has
also ki l l ed .
I would
l ike
to make a
plea to
a l l cave
divers .
Consider cave diving as much an extension of open
water diving as of caving and make cer ta in you get
the
necessary
t raining.
Cave
diver t r a in ing has advanced a long way in
the l a s t ten years af t e r the
in t roduc t ion of
The
Cave
Divers Training Manual (Lloyd, 1975) and
L
ine
Laying
and
Following
(Yeadon, 1981)
. I
do
not purpose
to
repeat these books here . I wil l
however
emphasise
three basic techniques.
i ) 100
%
Air
Safe ty Margin.
This
basic safe ty technique i s
of ten
used
wrongly . The objec t
i s
always to
have two
se t s
of
breathing apparatus each
with
enough a i r in t
to
get
you out. The
simplest method
to achieve t h i s
i s to use 1/3 out of one tank, change to the
second tank and turn round when
t
i s 2/3
fu l l .
Figure 4
JUNCTIONS AND JOINTS
5
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Final ly , swap back to
the
f i r s t tank when
the
second
is
1/3
fu l l .
You should
then
reach
your
base with 1/3 in each. I have heard of divers
using 2/3 out of the f i r s t
tank
before swapping
over
What happens i f the second tank
is
inoperat i
ve? This
simple method i s
of ten
modified
to
chan
ging over
tanks
every
ten
minutes so the
diver knows t ha t
both
se t s
are
working and
can
take act ion ear ly
i f
one
f a i l s .
i i
)
Line
Laying.
I t has become the custom of
l a t e
to
become
a
cave
diving
t ou r i s t ;
laying
no
l ine
but
jus t
going
on es tabl i shed
dives
on
exis t ing
l ines .
This
is
f ine
as long
as
the
diver knows
how
to
lay
l ine
,
rec ove r a l ine
that
i s
los t
or f ind his way out
using
his compass
e tc
i f t h i s fa i l s . I get the
impression t h i s does
not
always occur. Every
cave
diver
must
t r a in himself in l ine laying and
rec
o
very.
He
must
also always carry a compass ,
s late ,
penci l
and
emergency ree l on
every
dive
•
except the
very shor tes t . In laying 1 ines he
should be fami l ia r with joining l ines , using loops
to f ix new 1 ines and avoiding knot.
tying
under
water ( a t l eas t
one
death has resul ted from a knot
coming
undone)
( Fig. 4
).
He
should also use
di f fe rent
coloured
l ines
for s ide passages
and
c lear ly mark
des t ina t ions . Belaying
the l ine a t
bends and
junct ions
can be
done
using
severa l
methods . Different
aids
have t he i r own advantages
and
disadvantages .
The
diver
must
be
fami l ia r
with
them a l l . (Figs. 5 and 6).
A useful car r ie r
for
"snoopy
loops"
i s shown in
f igure 6.
I t
i s cut
from
a piece
of
sink
waste
pipe cut
to
the length of
the
"snoopy loops" in
use. The snoopies" are so
at tached
to the
car r i e r
that
only the top "snoopy's" cord loop is free . By
pull ing down on the cord
loop
the
snoopy
i s
removed and the next "snoopy's" cord
loop i s
released .
i i i
) Recovering l o s t l ine .
Yeadon
(1981) explains
t h i s procedure
as
follows: -
1) Don't
lose the
l ine
( technique ) but
i f
you do: -
2)
Know the bear ing of
the passage
di rec t ion .
3)
Be
aware
of
your
posi t ion
relat ive
to
the l ine .
4)
Slowly
scan the side on which the l ine
was los t . Don't
move
more than
one metre away.
5)
I f you are being followed
by other
Figure
5
BELAYING LINE
Lea d Weights
.,
,.
','
- .
,.,',
Natural
Belays eg eyeholes or
rocks)
11
inn
r
tu e
Figure
6
SNOOPY
LOOP HOLDER
Figure
RECOVERING
LOST
LINE
search pattern
of
diver
main
l ine
ensnared
y search
line
diver , s tay
where
you are,
watch
and l i s t en . Be
ready to a t t r ac t at tent ion by l igh t and
sound
(knocking rock
or
knife on
tank) .
6) I f a l l the above f a i l then search
across
the passage f loor ,
walls
and
roof
using
the
emergency search ree l (Fig.
7).
Note
t ha t i f you
have looped
the
ent i re
cross-sec t ion
of
the
passage
you should have ensnared the l ine in the
search ree l
l ine
.
7) A l a s t resor t would be to use your
compass and notes on di rec t ion , made during the
inward dive , to f ind the way out .
CONCLUSIONS
The
modern cave diver has
a
l o t
of s
ki l l s to
learn . Not
only caving
but also open water d iv i ng
sk i l l s . For those who are content to follow
others, they s t i l l
need to know the basic
s k i l l s
of l ine
laying
and
have the cor rec t equipment.
The
most
important piece of equipment the d iver has i s
his br
a in
.
I f
he fu l ly u n d e r s t a n d s the
impl icat ions of
a
dive
an expe r ienced diver
wi l l
e i t he r
take the necessary
precaut ions
or postpone
the
dive
unt i l
he has
gained
the
required
knowledge, equipment or s k i l l .
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Sump Rescue rrangements n Northern England
Jul ian GRIFFITHS
Two equipment dumps have been
es tab
l ished
,
one
a t
the
Cave
Rescue Organisa t ion
CRO)
depot
in
Clapham and
one
a t Upper
Wharfedale
Fel l Rescue
Associat ion UW
FRA)
depot in Grassington.
These
c
omprise su f f i c i en t
diving gear to k i t out tw o
divers
who
on ly have
wetsui ts
to hand
. A
drysui t
is also avai lab le
a t
each
locat ion but there i s
a
need to
acquire
pressure
r es i s t an t
conta iner s
to
fer ry medical supplies through sumps.
A l i s t of
divers
in
the region
who
would
be
able
to
ass i s t
in
a diving
rescue
i s
maintained and
i s
used by
the CRO
and
UWFRA
res cue control l e r s .
Great
emphasis i s p laced on ca l l ing
out
divers
when t
i s f e l t t ha t they might be able to help
ra ther than having them on standby
.
A
number of
pra
c t i ce
r s ~ u s have been attempted
in sh or t sumps. The
co nclusion
drawn from these
is t ha t
in most cases, i t i s not
safe to
take
the
vict im
through
a sump on a
s t re tcher . I t
i s
far
be t te r , where possible , to
sp l in t
the par t of
the
body af fec ted and for two divers to drag the
victim.
One
a t the f ront provides
the
motive power
while the
one
behind
keeps
the
vic t im s
legs
together. I t should
be noted
t ha t t h i s technique
increases
the
lead
divers
a i r consumption
appreciably.
Famil ia r i ty
with
sumps and communication with
rescue cont ro l l e r s
are
important
in diving
rescues.
While
there may be a
case for
a
national
l i s t of divers wh o are avai lable
to
ass i s t
a t
rescues , the
div ing
rescue function
sh
ou ld not be
put onto
a
national basis . Ideally each rescue
o
rgani sa t i on should appoint t he i r
own diving
contro l lers .
Sump Rescue rrangements n Derbyshire
Richard BARTROP
Sump
rescue arrangements in Derbyshire
were
rad ica l ly modified as
a
resu l t of the
Ilam
Risings
Rescue
in
1977
.
Before
th i s
the
arrangement
was
t ha t the Derbyshire Cave Rescue
Organisat ion
DCRO)
would contact one or two local
cave divers
who
ass i s ted
DCRO under
a
cont ro l l e r
who
was not
a
diver . The system proved inadequate on
t h i s
rescue
.
The divers a t the scene refused to enter
the
sump
for
var ious
reasons
.
This caused some
animosity
between the
cavers
and
the
divers . After
the
event,
through informal
conversat ion,
a new
system emerged. Diving
was
becoming more popular
a t around t h i s
time
and there was
a
l a rger pool of
divers to draw from for rescue purposes
.
Al Harrison i s the present cont ro l l e r of
a
diving
sec t ion
of
the DCRO. Being
a
diver and
a
rescuer ,
he i s bes t su i ted to provide l ia ison
between the normal
cave
rescue personnel and the
divers and to i ron out di f ferences in at t i tude and
prac t i se
in
the event
of
an incident .
Divers
from other regions
are included
on
the
ca l l -out
l i s t
because
of
the
small
number
of local
divers
who are
e l ig ib l e
for
inclusion.
The l i s t
current ly being expanded to include
even
more
personnel . Divers are cal led out in
a
se t order
.
Cr i t e r i a
for the
order
include; time required to
get to the DCRO s tore in
Buxton,
ava i l ab i l i t y due
to work
and hol idays and
present
level of diving
ac t iv i ty
.
This
l i s t i s revised regular ly by John
Cordingley
who assesses
the changing s i tua t ions of
the d ivers concerned.
The
ca l lout procedure
was
bypassed
in the
case
of the
Bagshaw
Cavern inc ident
when
the DCRO
ca l lout of f i ce r rea l i sed t ha t divers could be
contacted
a t the Technical
Speleological
Group's
headquar ters a t Cast leton.
This enabled the
divers
to
get
to
the inc ident
sooner
and
to
do what was
important to
them:
so r t
out t he i r gear.
Divers,
cave
rescup.rs and cont ro l l e r s worked together
well
in
an
at tempt
to
rescue a four teen year old
boy
who had entered a sump unequipped.
Assuming him to
be
a l ive
,
speed was of the essence even
though the
2
c
hances of
a
l ive rescue we r
e
minimal. The drowned
vict im
was
located
12
m. into the sump.
The DCRO
owns a Kirby
Morgan Band
Mask
KMM) and
a small
amount of cave
diving equipment.
Tw
o
co
mplete se t s
of
diving
eq
u ipment (minus
wetsui t s ) ,
peripheral
equipment
to
modify the
MM
f
or rescue
purposes
and 600 m. of l ine combined
with telephone wire to provide through-sump
communications
are
required
urgent ly.
The
sump
rescue s t re tcher also
needs
modifying.
Money
to
fund
t h i s
equipment has
yet
to be found .
However
,
on
a
br ighter note, DCRO divers have
been
prac t i s ing
with
the
equipment
avai lable
s
appendix 2). Hopefully the
problems
ident i f i ed
during these prac t i ses
can be
solved
before
the
equipment i s
required
in earnest .
Sump Rescue rrangements n Wales
John
ADAMS
The present equipment
holding
for
use
in sump
res cue in Wales i s
o
ne sharkskin neoprene wetsui t
sump bag
with
arms)
and two
double
l ined
neoprene drysui t
sump bags
(without
arms) .
The wetsui t
bag
and
one of
the drysui t bags
are
held
by South
Wales Cave Rescue
Organisat ion
(SWCRO
),
the
other
drysui t
bag i s held by
the
equipment
of f i ce r
of
the
Welsh
Section
CDG
.
There are
,
however,
severa l
immediate issues of
concern with regards t h i s equipment.
Firs t ly ,
the
drysui t
bags have
drysui t
zips
but
do not
have
e i t he r
neck or
face sea ls . Therefore the
vict im
wou ld
become wet and cold
unless a
bar r i e r
to
water
can
be added. Se
condly
,
i f the
vict im had
sus ta ined
head, neck or back in jur ies
a
sea l could
prove troublesome or
even
dangerous.
Although the Welsh Section has nine cylinders
none
are
designated
for rescue purposes. I f the
concept
of a
national rescue
squad
becomes
a
r ea l i t y then cylinders
wi l l need
to
be
provided.
There i s also
the
most immediate problem of
obtaining
a
fu l l
face
mask.
Two sec t ions (Somerset
and Derbyshire) current ly
own a
Kirby Morgan Band
Mask but
the Welsh Section has re f ra ined
from any
such
purchase
because
of the
lack
of
a
su i tab le
mask a t
a
pr ice
t
can
afford
.
Although a successfu l sump rescue was ef fec ted
in Wales l a s t year there are other potent ia l
problem areas. The terminal
sump
of Daren Cilau
connects
with
Agen
Allwedd Risings some 500
m
downstream.
However, the work on the
Agen Allwedd
Risings
has
not yet completed a
connection
whi
ch
would allow the
possib i l i ty
of
a
rescue via
t h i s
route.
When
the
through dive i s achieved t wil l
undoubtedly become
a
possible rescue
route.
This
wil l of course be
an extremely
serious
undertaking and
a
team of prof ic ien t divers wil l
be required to e f fec t such
a
rescue.
In
conclusion there
are
several
problems which
plague the Welsh Sect ion with regards
to
sump
rescue
.
These
include a shor tage of funds and
subsequent lack of equipment; di f f icu l t i e s in
organisat ion and
coordinat ion
caused
by
the
complicated
re la t ionship
between
the
SWCRO
and
the
separa te pol ice
author i t i es
which
cover
the
caving
area and
f ina l ly
the
at t i tude
of some cavers
who
assume
t ha t
a
rescue through
a sump
i s
a
simple
affai r .
Sump Rescue
rrangements
n Somerset
Bob DRAKE
In Somerset any i n i t i a l ca l l received by the
Pol ice
i s passed on to the Mendip Rescue
Organisat ion MRO) and
the
appropr iate warden
i s
then
contacted .
The
Somerset Sect ion of the CDG and the MRO
have
been using
sump
rescue apparatus for
over
20
years;
f i r s t
with a
Normalair
fu l l
face
mask
un i t
and more recent ly with
a
Kirby Morgan Band
Mask
KMM) 10. They
have
had the MM for about f ive
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The M
en d
i p Re
scue
Or
ga n i
s
a t i
on
su
mp r
escue apparatus
a t a
pr a
c t
i c e
s e s s i on
a t Wook e y
o
l e .
A 2000 l i t re c yl in d e r s uppl ies a
Ki
r
by
Mo r
ga
n b
and
m
ask
a nd
ne ut ra l buoy an
cy
s a c
hieve
d
wi
th
a c he s t mo
un t
e d
adjustable
b uoya ncy l i f e ja ck e t (P ho t o :
R Bu ry ) .
year s and v
ar i
ous s ump res cue pra ct ces
have
be
en
organis ed
usi
ng
d
i f feren
t re co very t e chniques .
The
f i r s t te chnique was w it h th e vi c t im st rapped t o
the s t r e t che r and the
a i r
supply
t o the mask
c
a r r i ed
separa
te
l y by a suppor t
div
e r . A l ong hose
was requi r
ed.
The
next
me
th
od was wi
th
a
s e l f
co ntained a i r
supply
was s t rapped on t he s t
re t
ch er
between th e v ic t im ' s l eg s. Both t hes e t ec
hn
i que s
involve
the us e of tw o o r mo re ba ckup di v
ers
t o
mano
euvre an
d ho ld t he s t r e t cher .
They
c
an
be
ass is ted
in t h i s
by
the use
of
an adjustabl e
buo yancy
l i f e ja
cket ( ABLJ ) mou nt ed across t he
ch
es
t o f the
pa
t
i en t
an d a weight
bel
t s trapped
ar ou
nd the
middl e. Bu oyan cy c
an then
be adjusted
as ne c essary.
However
these
meth
o
ds
are only
su i tab le for t he l a rger sumps. Mo re re c ent ly
the
idea has been t o d o · away with th e s t r e tcher
a l t
o
ge the r
and
j u
s t
u
se
t
he
MM
t
ogether
w
i th
a
loca l i sed
support for
t he in jury .
I t
i s
then
po
ss ib l e for
a s ingle
diver
t o ef fec t a recovery.
This would save a
grea t
deal of
time
and manpower
but i s dependent on the type of in jury and
nature
o f
the
sump .
There are s t i l l problems
to
overc ome with
long
and deep
sumps
. For
instance,
the MM uses a lo t
of a i r
therefore
a change
of
bot t le could
be
ne c
essary
underwater . This c
an
be
made
poss ib le
with the
manufac
tu re of
a va l
ve
and
co
nn ec t io n but
the p r ac t ica l applicat ion co uld s t i l l be very
d i f f i cu l t . Fo r very sh or t sumps , su c h as Swild ons
1, the
a i r
c an
be
fed from the base t o the mask
with the long hose; ho
wever pr
o
blems
of ho
se
length ,
hose
vol ume and pressure
differen
ces
between
f i r s t and
se co
nd
s t age valve s
are
a l l yet
to
be
dea l t with .
All
the
res
cue apparatus i s stored
a t
a cent ra l
base on Mendip
t oge the r with
l i s t s of
te leph one
numbers where backup fa c i l i t i e s
and
ex t ra
equipment can be obt a ined qui ckly . The Somerset
Section
feels that
t i s
well
prepared but we must
keep
an
open
mind
for new ideas.
n na lys is o f Ca ve Div i
ng
Inc id ents
J ohn
CORDINGLEY
The wri ter i s gra te fu l to Bi l l Gas co
igne
, Jim
Hanwe l l Ian Watson and Bi l l Whitehouse for
supplying him with a large amount
of
information
on diving res c
ue s
.
I t
i s d i f f i c u l t t o
kn
ow how
to
present these data without drawing
misleading
conclu
s
ions
.
To
keep
t
simple
I
decided
to
categorise incidents according to t he i r
prime
re a
so n
. The resu l t s
are given
in
t ab le 1. I t
has
13
Summary o f main c auses of in c idents attended by rescue
team divers
in
Br
i
tain
Categor y
1
3
4
5
Cause
of
In
c
ident
Cause
no t kn own
Line problems
Gear
fa i lure / Unsui t able
gear
Inexperien
c
ed
/
Unjust
i f ied
pani
c
Problems
t o
caver
s or
would-be divers
Number
of
Incidents
<
7
<
23
to
be s t ressed
t ha t
there must inevi t
abl
y be s ome
degre
e of over l ap , es pe c i a l ly between cat egor ies
2 , 3 and 4 . I t i s also
possible t ha t
the l i
s t i s
not
comprehensive
bec
ause
i t
r e f l ec t s
the
response
I re c
eived
and
n ot
an
exha
us t
ive
sear
ch
of
the
l i t e ra
t
ure
.
Ther
e
have
been nu
mer
o
us
"
s tand-by
"
incidents and , wh i l s t
these
a
re
n ot in c luded on
the
l i s t
, t sh o
uld
be noted
t ha t these
are almo
s t
a l l ass ocia ted with c ategory 5 . The incidents have
been f a i r ly
evenly
d is t
r ibuted
throughout the main
Bri t i sh
caving
areas , and al th o
ugh
s t a t i s t i c a l l y
speaking
they
represent onl y a
small
sample from
50
years
of cave
diving
,
they
are broadly
s imi lar t o
s t a t i s t i
c s
f r
om o
ther countr ies
.
Several
useful
co mments and observat i ons c an be
made c
oncerning
T
able
1 . Fi r s t ly
t i s
extremely
important that fu l l deta i l s
of an inc ident
are
recorded a t
the t ime. My co rrespondents who
suppl ied t he i nf ormation were able t o give
me
deta i led accounts of many of the incidents
r e fe r r ed
t
o.
Only by making
th i
s
information more
widely avai lable c
an
we hope to av o id s imi lar
accidents in
the future
.
Alth
o
ugh
incidents may
be
ca tegor i sed
the fa c t i s
t ha t
they
often ar i se as a
r esu l t of a number
of
seemingl y
t r i
v i a l problems
occurr ing s imultaneously. Inexperience is
of ten
a
fa c t o r . The f o l l owing was overheard recent ly
in
a
Dales pu b : "No one is a perfe c t
cave dive
r
but
almost everyone c ould
be
a safer one . This i s
food
for thought indeed
There
have
been too
many
deaths
f rom
unas r ertained " c
auses
;
r e f l e
c
t ing
the need
for
exhaust ive inve s t iga t ions by coroners in
every
case . Loss
of
, o r inabi l i ty t o re turn along, the
l ine
has
been a major cause of diving deaths
whereas
problems with equipment
are
r a r e l y
responsible .
Cave
divers sometimes s pend
hour
s
prepa r ing the i r gear yet they have
of ten
l a id
l ines
quickly and badly .
For t
unate ly t h i s tends
not
to be
the
case nowadays .
The most
common cause
of ca l l -out s involving diving teams i s s t i l l t o
ass i s t
ordinary cavers in
t rouble
and t h i s
should
be borne in mind when
requests
to rescue
organisat ions for money to
buy
more
equipment are
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made by t he i r d iv ing teams.
I t
is d i f f i c u l t
to
make predic t ions
about
fu ture
t rends
but t seems to
me
tha t there
are
two
main
problem
areas which
need
adequate prepara t i on by
d iv ing teams.
F irs t ly ,
there i s go ing to be a
ser ious ac c ident t o a diver who i s c aving
beyond
a
l
ong
s ump. All
the
maj o r Bri t i sh c aving areas
no
w
have
extensive pass ages beyond sumps of
betw
ee
n
200m
and
600m
in length. There are
not ye t
any
whi c h requ
i r e
decompression
on
the inward
dive
but
t h i s
wil l become
an
added co mp l i c a t ion
in
future .
Secondly,
with
the regula r explora t ion of deeper
su mps there
wil l be
s i tua t ions where
dive r s
with
dec
ompression
s ic
kness have
to
be
ev a
c
uated. This
wil l require sp e
c ia
l
arrangements and
c asua l ty
t reatment.
I t
i s t o be ho
ped
t ha t the
rescue
or
ganisa t ions
and
cave dive r s wi l l cont inue to
work
toge the r
to overcome the d i f f i cu l t ies
involved i