Fish farmers rescue diver swept around Old Sow whirlpool

A recreational diver from New Brunswick who got swept into the Old Sow, the second largest whirlpool in the world, is lucky to be alive, say his rescuers.

Butch Stanhope of Eastport, Kevin Murray of Robbinston and Basil Leighton of Pembroke were feeding fish at the Cooke Aquaculture cages in Johnson's Cove, Eastport, on Monday morning, December 7, when they heard a person shouting for help. Also at the site was diver Shawn Harris of Perry. Leighton, who was on the outside cage, told Stanhope and Murray that there was someone in the water, and the three men went to get him in the two boats at the cage site. "He was about spent," reports Stanhope. They had to get the air tanks and diving regulator off in order to get the man into a boat. "We asked him where he was from, and he said from Canada," says Stanhope, noting they were surprised by his answer.

Stanhope says that the man, identified as Kevin Steeves of Quispamsis, N.B., had gone scuba diving at Deer Island Point but got swept through the Old Sow, which is just off the point, and ended up on the other side of the channel in Johnson's Cove, Eastport. There he clung to a mooring ball off the Seaview Campground until he couldn't hold on any longer. He then got swept up toward Kendall's Head, where the salmon cages are located. The diver had been in the water for over an hour and ended up about a mile and half from where he went in.

Steeves did not want an ambulance called, Stanhope says, but they did give him some water. Stanhope and Murray then took him back to Deer Island Point, where a fellow diver and a woman were waiting for him. Although Steeves collapsed from exhaustion when he got on the beach, he again refused to have an ambulance called.

The Eastport Coast Guard Station's 25-foot rescue boat arrived, and Officer-in-Charge James Malcolm says they had commenced a search after receiving a radio call at about 9:30 a.m. The other diver had placed the call for assistance and said he'd last seen his partner an hour before, floating south out of the Old Sow whirlpool. "We commenced searching at the end of the island and had just gone around the bend when the missing diver was spotted on the beach. He waved to us," reports Malcolm. A Canadian Coast Guard helicopter also was called to help with the search, but the request was cancelled when the diver was located.

Malcolm says Steeves seemed okay, but the Coast Guard was concerned when he told them he had a pain in his side. "We tried to convince him to go with us to Eastport," where the Coast Guard had called an ambulance to wait for them. However, Steeves declined, as an ambulance and the RCMP were coming to Deer Island Point. "We stayed with him until the RCMP came," says Malcolm. "He didn't desire medical treatment at all." The RCMP had him sign a form indicating that he did not want medical attention.

Stanhope says that the diver had a computerized device used to warn divers when they are going too deep, and the instrument indicated he had gone down to a depth of 180 feet. Malcolm, speaking from his personal knowledge as a diver, says that 180 feet is very deep, with a typical open water diver certification recommending that a diver not exceed 100 feet. At that depth, the water also gets substantially colder, and a diver who rapidly ascends from a deep dive is at risk of getting the bends, or decompression sickness.

"He was a lucky man," says Stanhope. "If we hadn't seen him, he would have been dead. He was a mass bowl of jelly."

Stanhope says that Steeves called them the next day to thank them and told them that he was doing fine. Steeves said that the trio had taken a day off from the work to go diving. "All we said was, 'You couldn't have picked a better spot,'" says Stanhope, of the decision to dive near the Old Sow whirlpool.

"He was one happy man," says Stanhope, adding, "We just did what we thought was right."