Robert Carlton Sheats (September 30, 1915 – March 9, 1995) was an American Master Diver in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. He enlisted in the Navy in 1935 and retired in July 1966.

Career

World War II

In 1941, while Sheats was serving as a First Class Diver aboard the submarine tender USS ''Canopus'' in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, the ship was severely damaged by Japanese planes during the

Battle of Bataan The Battle of Bataan ( tl, Labanan sa Bataan; January 7 – April 9, 1942) was fought by the United States and the Philippine Commonwealth against Japan during World War II. The battle represented the most intense phase of the Japanese inva ...

. After the ship was scuttled, to prevent its capture by enemy forces, Sheats joined the ground forces defending

Bataan Bataan (), officially the Province of Bataan ( fil, Lalawigan ng Bataan ), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga while Mariveles is the largest town in the province. Occupying the entir ...

and

Corregidor Corregidor ( tl, Pulo ng Corregidor, ) is an island located at the entrance of Manila Bay in the southwestern part of Luzon in the Philippines, and is considered part of the Province of Cavite. Due to this location, Corregidor has historically b ...

. On May 6, 1942, Sheats and his men were captured and taken as

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

. During his imprisonment at Bataan, Sheats and several members of his team were pressed into service as salvage divers by the Japanese to recover silver coins worth over $8 million (in 1942) that had been dumped by a U.S. Navy vessel between Manila Bay and the island of

when capture of the vessel by the Japanese was inevitable. He ensured that as few coins as possible were actually recovered, both to prevent them from falling into enemy hands and to prolong the project for as long as possible. Sheats and his men were prisoners of the Japanese for three years and four months in the Philippines and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. They survived the

Bataan death march The Bataan Death March (Filipino: ''Martsa ng Kamatayan sa Bataan''; Spanish: ''Marcha de la muerte de Bataán'' ; Kapampangan: ''Martsa ning Kematayan quing Bataan''; Japanese: バターン死の行進, Hepburn: ''Batān Shi no Kōshin'') was ...

and transport to Japan aboard the Noto Maru, one of the infamous Japanese

Hell ship A hell ship is a ship with extremely inhumane living conditions or with a reputation for cruelty among the crew. It now generally refers to the ships used by the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army to transport Allied prisoners of ...

s. After the

Japanese surrender The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

, Sheats and his men were released on September 13, 1945.

SEALAB

As a Master Diver, Sheats was assigned to the SEALAB I project, during which he ran the divers' topside support system. Sheats served as team leader of

SEALAB II SEALAB I, II, and III were experimental underwater habitats developed by the United States Navy in the 1960s to prove the viability of saturation diving and humans living in isolation for extended periods of time. The knowledge gained from the S ...

's Team 3, living and working on the ocean floor for fifteen days. Sheats celebrated his fiftieth birthday aboard SEALAB II. During decompression at the end of the project, Sheats experienced a mild case of

decompression sickness Decompression sickness (abbreviated DCS; also called divers' disease, the bends, aerobullosis, and caisson disease) is a medical condition caused by dissolved gases emerging from solution as bubbles inside the body tissues during decompressio ...

. He received the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

for his SEALAB II service. SEALAB II Bob Sheats

Due to concerns about safety and the new management structure, Sheats declined to participate in the

SEALAB III SEALAB I, II, and III were experimental underwater habitats developed by the United States Navy in the 1960s to prove the viability of saturation diving and humans living in isolation for extended periods of time. The knowledge gained from the ...

project, during which civilian aquanaut

Berry L. Cannon Berry Louis Cannon (March 22, 1935 – February 17, 1969) was an American aquanaut who served on the SEALAB II and III projects of the U.S. Navy. Cannon died of carbon dioxide poisoning while attempting to repair SEALAB III. It was later found ...

was killed.Hellwarth
p. 169. He later worked as a consultant in

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

until his death in 1995.

Publications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheats, Robert Carlton 1915 births 1995 deaths United States Navy personnel of World War II Aquanauts Bataan Death March prisoners Military personnel from Colorado People from Washington (state) Place of birth missing Recipients of the Legion of Merit