HI HI - Hauula, 'Barnacle Bill' UP6909, 19-25, SCUBA suit bought In Tacoma, Nov'82

[apearn]

Back a few pages in this thread this boat is mentioned by the owner of the site: http://alaskashipwreck.com/alaska-fisheries-losses-1972-2009/alaska-commercial-losses-of-1980/

November 19, 1980 The 82 foot Commander was lost with all hands on a trip from Kodiak to Seattle. She was last seen 30 miles off of Cape Spencer heading into 30-35 foot swells and 80 knot winds. Lost were Phil Edwards Sr, Phil Edwards Jr, John Edwards and Sam Bissett.

This vessel was heading towards Seattle so I'm curious about the crew. I see that there are a few articles on newspapers.com but I'm not a paid subscriber. Does anyone have a newspapers.com account? https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/11588641/

I kept wondering who....assuming Bob was from a commercial fishing boat....who would hire a guy with one arm for that type of work? Family makes sense and everyone on this boat was related to each other.

They were up in the Alaska current at the time but heading down towards Seattle and a transition zone between the Alaska and California currents.

From what I read the Coast Guard searches for the Commander for 16 days an never found a trace of it.

 

[DQN]

Here is an update on Douglas Dean Anderson. I had given Namus a 1st Cousin contact, as opposed to the immediate family.

FYI: This month August 2017, Namus came out with a release stating do not send in any possible matches if they are not both in the UID and Missing Data base. (which makes their job much easier).

The 1st cousin of Douglas got the call from Namus stating "he wasn't in the missing persons data base", (so pretty much they are not pursuing it) and "why didn't the family enter him at the time or since".

The 1st cousin got in touch with me and he said he is pursuing it and needed help. SO I told him how to enter the info in Namus Missing Persons. He will also have to obtain the dental of Douglas through his Navy records or other source.

Then Namus is willing to do the Dental Match.

 

[DQN]

Why I submitted Douglas Dean Anderson:

Commercial Diver lost at sea March 13, 1982.[SUP]2[/SUP] (lost at sea - confirmed by his first cousin).
The UID was wearing a red Bayley Suit Exposure/Dry Suit (High End) which is used in the Northern climates to prevent hypothermia and allow prolonged periods in cold water. A suit a commercial diver MAY wear. Douglas was a salvage diver. The suit was made in April 1979. Douglas was lost at Sea in 1982. The Puget Sound.

Doug Anderson, acting as standby, entered the water to assist on SCUBA. Neither diver surfaced. It is not out of the bonds of reality for a diver to wear a Bayley Exposure suit. Doug went in to help someone in a DIVE that was 70" deep. He may have just grabbed the quickest suit to gear up in and warmest as opposed to a neoprene which is a lot of struggling to put on. Douglas may have also been wearing it on board already. I am a diver and divers at times do wear exposure suits. They are dry and allow you to stay in cold water longer. Douglas's cousin was in touch with another cousin that salvaged dived with him once and in awhile and stated Douglas only used HIGH END equipment. A diver like Douglas would have an entire collection of different suit ups.

The suit was purchased in Tacoma, Douglas lived in King County, Seattle only 33 miles from Tacoma.
Douglas was 33 at the time of his death (not 34 as the dive log mentioned). UID was estimated at 18-25. 33 years old would still be in the range. Born August 4[SUP]th[/SUP], 1948, Seattle, King County, WA.

It would take flot sum less than a year to get to Hawaii from Washington. The UID was there in 9 months. Simple current terms of the Pacific North West attached called ”NIKE” as a pdf file. THANK YOU CAPTAIN WARREN GOOD, from a previous post here. http://file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/Nike Current.pdf

The UID had some soft tissue with remains. The finding of the UID November 19, 1982, it may be possible based on the water temps and may be consistent with Douglas’ death on March 13, 1982.

The ME report states, “possible the left arm was missing, below the elbow, during life.” Douglas’s dive incident states the other diver’s air lines became entangled. Is it also possible one of lines severed Douglas’s lower arm during the incident by the currents and drifts, I have dived in bad currents that is a real possibility. I have friends that lost fingers with their boat lines when the wind took it. The ME report stated "POSSIBLE" the left arm was missing, below the elbow, during life. SO that is not a definitive conclusion.


Here is the Dive Association log of incidents. It is in chronological order. Douglas's incident is on page 6.
http://www.thediversassociation.com/index.php?/incidents/&page=6

 

[MOTORUNNER]

wow DQN, great information there. I'm not much of a thrill seeker, i've never gone scuba diving but reading all of those makes me never want to go near the water again. Hopefully we are getting somewhere with poor Barnacle bill.

 

[apearn]

DQN - when the family gets a link for Douglas's case can you send it to me? I list missing veterans on my site.

 

[DQN]

DQN - when the family gets a link for Douglas's case can you send it to me? I list missing veterans on my site.

Yes of course!

 

[Magnum P.E.]

There is a Bayley 7-01-00 Exposure Suit (BB's model) for sale on eBay right now.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Bay...064709?hash=item4669d1c085:g:SFsAAOSwvv5ZeM3-

This is worth a look just for the photos. I am thinking to buy a larger sailboat and was actually thinking of buying the exposure suit. Would be weird to be on the boat and thinking of BB, though.

 

[Laughing]

Anxiously awaiting that dental comparison here.

:waiting:

Barnacle Bill, we're an eager team grasping every bit of information we can find to return you to your family!

JMHO YMMV LRR

 

[U2forever]

I started diving in 1978 and am still active, but don't get to dive as often as I want to. I started sailing a few years before that, and own a tiny day sailer. I knew what a Bayley exposure suit is, and that the coroner's office had made a mistake that led some up a blind alley that we are still exploring.
The only Mike Fink riverboat I know of is the one at Disney World. I sure hope you did not get sick on that!

Lol, the Mike Fink, Ohio River, Cincinnati. I was 15/16 and I was with mum & had a Gin & Tonic and a bag of crisps. Couldn't wait to get off that river boat.

Happy & safe sailing & diving!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MOTORUNNER]

Thinking about Barnacle Bill today. I had the same nightmare a few nights in a row of BB being in my apartment. Too much websleuths I guess :-(

 

[DQN]

Thinking about Barnacle Bill today. I had the same nightmare a few nights in a row of BB being in my apartment. Too much websleuths I guess :-(

Hahaha, maybe it's an omen: he is soon t be identified.

 

[EmmaliLucia]

Thinking about Barnacle Bill today. I had the same nightmare a few nights in a row of BB being in my apartment. Too much websleuths I guess :-(

That happens when you're first getting into this. I used to spend a lot of time trying to identify unidentified bodies. Some would absolutely give me nightmares. But after a while I realized it was just my own mind getting freaked out by dead bodies and the souls of the deceased have better things to do than haunt people who are only trying to help.

I hope the nightmares go away for you, soon, and that it doesn't discourage you for trying to help bring people home to their families.

 

[carbuff]

I learned to pay attention to the nightmares and dreams. Sometimes it's my own inner brain trying to bring a connection to my attention.

 

[MOTORUNNER]

Thanks you guys. Usually when I get really involved in certain things my mind seems to race and I have dreams and nightmares about it. I've had some scary unidentified body dreams before, but I'm pretty good at waking myself up when I'm having a nightmare. This one wasn't as much of a scary nightmare, just kind of haunting. BB was mostly skeletal, so there's not much to go off of in terms of reconstruction or a PM image. In my dream he still had flesh, so my mind made a bit of a nightmarish image, and he was laying in my living room.
I hope it is some kind of omen... I hope he is identified this year. It would be great for him to be able to go home for the Holidays.
I made a thread on reddit a few weeks back in reference to BB in hopes of gaining some more attention for him. It got some pretty interesting conversations but nothing too groundbreaking.

 

[MOTORUNNER]

So maybe we need to start thinking outside of the box. Assuming BB was missing his arm below the elbow, he wouldn't really have been a great candidate for fishing or other commercial boat work (right? I am not a boat or sea person so correct me if I am wrong) And if he were lost at sea in an accident involving a crew we would think he would be accounted for reported missing. So BB is in a (pretty expensive?) exposure suit with jean shorts on underneath.

Let me ask this... because this just came to my mind. Are exposure suits hard to get on? Could a man with only one hand get into one with ease? Or would he need someone to help him?

 

[meanmaryjean]

So maybe we need to start thinking outside of the box. Assuming BB was missing his arm below the elbow, he wouldn't really have been a great candidate for fishing or other commercial boat work (right? I am not a boat or sea person so correct me if I am wrong) And if he were lost at sea in an accident involving a crew we would think he would be accounted for reported missing. So BB is in a (pretty expensive?) exposure suit with jean shorts on underneath.

Let me ask this... because this just came to my mind. Are exposure suits hard to get on? Could a man with only one hand get into one with ease? Or would he need someone to help him?

I've always thought that he lost the arm post-mortem and the jean shorts were indicative of him having been in his bunk when the abandon ship order came.

 

[MOTORUNNER]

I've always thought that he lost the arm post-mortem and the jean shorts were indicative of him having been in his bunk when the abandon ship order came.

I thought that too, but how would he have lost the arm if he were contained inside a closed suit? Know what I mean?

 

[DQN]

So maybe we need to start thinking outside of the box. Assuming BB was missing his arm below the elbow, he wouldn't really have been a great candidate for fishing or other commercial boat work (right? I am not a boat or sea person so correct me if I am wrong) And if he were lost at sea in an accident involving a crew we would think he would be accounted for reported missing. So BB is in a (pretty expensive?) exposure suit with jean shorts on underneath.

Let me ask this... because this just came to my mind. Are exposure suits hard to get on? Could a man with only one hand get into one with ease? Or would he need someone to help him?

All the suits are tough to get into.

The ME report states, “possible the left arm was missing, below the elbow, during life.” Douglas’s dive incident states the other diver’s air lines became entangled. Is it also possible one of lines severed Douglas’s lower arm during the incident by the currents and drifts, I have dived in bad currents that is a real possibility. I have friends that lost fingers with their boat lines when the wind took it. The ME report stated "POSSIBLE" the left arm was missing, below the elbow, during life. SO that is not a definitive conclusion.

 

[carbuff]

The question is, was the arm of the suit damaged? If it was intact and the arm/hand bones weren't inside, that would strongly indicate he lost it some time before he put the suit on.

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[Laughing]

:bump:

:seeya: