''Johnson Sea Link'' was a type of deep-sea scientific research

submersible A submersible is a small watercraft designed to operate underwater. The term "submersible" is often used to differentiate from other underwater vessels known as submarines, in that a submarine is a fully self-sufficient craft, capable of i ...

built by Edwin Albert Link. Link built the first submersible, ''Johnson Sea Link I'', in 1971 at the request of his friend Seward Johnson, founder of the

Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI, FAU Harbor Branch) is a non-profit oceanographic institution operated by Florida Atlantic University in Fort Pierce, Florida, United States. Founded in 1971 as non-profit research organization, the i ...

. It was the successor to Link's previous submersible, '' Deep Diver'', which had been determined to be unsafe for use at great depths or in extremely cold temperatures. ''Johnson Sea Link II'' was built in 1975. The ''Johnson Sea Link'' submersibles carried a crew of four in two separate compartments. The aft compartment was originally designed for lockout diving, allowing two divers to be compressed to the ambient pressure of the ocean and leave the submersible to work underwater. The forward pilot's compartment was an acrylic sphere with a diameter of 5 feet (1.5 m), providing a panoramic underwater view for the pilot and an observer.

1973 accident

In 1973, during a seemingly routine dive off

Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...

, the ''Johnson Sea Link'' was trapped for over 24 hours in the wreckage of the destroyer , which had been sunk to create an

artificial reef An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing. Many ...

. Although the submersible was eventually recovered by the rescue vessel '' A.B. Wood II'', two of the four occupants died of

carbon dioxide poisoning Hypercapnia (from the Greek ''hyper'' = "above" or "too much" and ''kapnos'' = "smoke"), also known as hypercarbia and CO2 retention, is a condition of abnormally elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the blood. Carbon dioxide is a gaseous pr ...

— 31-year-old Edwin Clayton Link, the son of Edwin Link, and 51-year-old diver Albert Dennison Stover. The submersible's pilot, Archibald "Jock" Menzies, and

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish ( Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish ( Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of O ...

Robert Meek survived. Over the next two years, Edwin Link designed an unmanned Cabled Observation and Rescue Device (CORD) that could free a trapped submersible.

Later career

In 1975, a second ''Johnson Sea Link'' was constructed by the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution. In 1977, the JSLs were used to examine the wreckage of the

ironclad An ironclad is a steam-propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. Th ...

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, . They were also used in the effort to recover the wreckage of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' after its

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in 1986. One of the submersibles discovered the

solid rocket booster A solid rocket booster (SRB) is a large solid propellant motor used to provide thrust in spacecraft launches from initial launch through the first ascent. Many launch vehicles, including the Atlas V, SLS and space shuttle, have used SRBs to gi ...

with the faulty seal that had caused the shuttle to explode. The submersible and its research program were featured in a ''

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the State media, state-owned news network and International broadcasting, international radio broadcaster of the United States, United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international br ...

'' story in 2005. In 2010, Harbor Branch sold the ''Seward Johnson'', the ship outfitted to deploy the submersibles, and laid off the submersibles' crew and support staff in July 2011, ending their operation.

In media

* "Deep Sea Secrets," a 1992 episode of the PBS television series ''

Return to the Sea Return may refer to: In business, economics, and finance * Return on investment (ROI), the financial gain after an expense. * Rate of return, the financial term for the profit or loss derived from an investment * Tax return, a blank document or ...

'', profiles ''Johnson Sea Link'' and ''Seward Johnson'' during operations off

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North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

References

External links

Description of submersible from NOAAU.S. Coast Guard report on fatal 1973 accident''Return to the Sea'' Episode 202 "Deep Sea Secrets" at OceanArchives
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OceanArchives
{{1973 shipwrecks Maritime incidents in 1973 Research submarines of the United States 1971 ships