HUNUC

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HUNUC

HUNUC (Abbreviation for Habitat of the University of Natal Underwater Club , in German: Habitat of the University of Natal Underwater Club ) was the first underwater laboratory in South Africa. However, shortly after its positioning, the facility was destroyed by conceptual errors and bad weather conditions.

HuNuc was from 1970 by Brent Addison (28) and John Gibbs (19), both at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR; German: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research ) were employed, developed and the Oceanographic Research Institute ( Sea Research Institute ) in Durban . It was to be positioned about 550 m off Addington Beach, Durban, at a depth of 10 m in 1972 and cost between R26,000 and R30,000.

Specifications

HUNUC consisted of two discarded steel syrup tanks donated by the sugar company Huletts . The tanks were welded together in such a way that with a total height of 5.9 m, two floors with an internal width of 1.5 m were created. The lower level contained compressed air cylinders and ballast. The upper housed a laboratory area for research programs and engineering experiments and contained a sink, toilet, shelves, cupboards, fish tanks and benches; the living area for sleeping, relaxing and eating was furnished with a window, four folding beds and a refrigerator. The facility also had a hot shower with a 75-liter (20-gallon) water tank and telephone and camera systems. Like other habitats, the habitat has been painted yellow to make it easier to see under water. The construction had a total weight of 45 tons, of which 20 tons were scrap used as ballast. It was supported by six support legs on which ballast tanks were mounted.

HUNUC was an ambient pressure habitat; the occupants were thus saturation divers who, at the end of their mission, for lack of sufficient knowledge, were supposed to breathe a "reverse gas" for two hours, presumably a breathing gas with an increased oxygen content, in order to prevent decompression sickness. The life support systems were donated by the Draegerwerke in Germany; Jürgen Schmidt visited HUNUC on his behalf and described it as "the most ambitious amateur project of this type worldwide".

Scheduled missions

A program was planned for HUNUC in which four teams of four people each would spend a week in the habitat. The main intention was the observation of the marine world at night and research on sharks in their natural environment, which was hardly possible with conventional diving technology until then. A local beach hotel agreed to donate three meals a day for mission time.

After a delay of almost a year due to a lack of funding, the newspaper "Daily News" launched a call on April 12, 1972 for donations of 20 tons of scrap metal for ballasting, which was done the following day.

On April 18, the local population should have the opportunity to visit the habitat before positioning it in the sea.

The first two teams should consist of the following people:

1st team

  • Brent Addison, CSIR scientist and project organizer
  • Dr. AEF Heydorn, Director of the Oceanographic Research Institute, Durban
  • J. Joubert, Lt. Commander of the South African Navy
  • J. Gibbs, Natal University

2nd team

  • D. Smith, Natal University
  • T. McClurg, CSIR
  • IS Scaaf, South African Navy
  • P. Zoutendyk, University of Cape Town

It was planned that excursion dives with two people would be made alternately during the missions. These should take place at 6 a.m., 11 a.m., 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.

support

Although HUNUC began as an amateur project, it also received moral support from Dr. Sylvia Earle -Mead and Dr. Robert Helmreich from the Tektite 2 project ; Dr. J. Tenney, Tektite 1 and 2 project manager; Dr. Wicklund, Hydrolab project manager; Dr. G. Ulig, chief diver of Habitat Helgoland . This also gave it international relevance. The Dr. AEF Heydorn, Director of the Oceanographic Research Institute in Durban, then traveled to Germany to visit the Helgoland habitat in advance of the mission.

The South African Navy provided the submersible ship Fleur as a supply ship, which was supposed to anchor over the habitat during the missions. In addition to a decompression chamber, it also contained an emergency generator for energy bottlenecks.

chronology

  • May 3, 1972: The habitat is launched off the Durban Marine Port on Salisbury Island. The port authority insists on a certificate of seaworthiness, which, however, exists for ships and diving boats, but not for underwater stations. The visibility at the scene has now dropped to around 6.5 m.
  • May 7: The initiator of the project, Brent Addison, breaks a foot bone when he is hit by a component weighing 113 kg.
  • May 21: HUNUC is towed to its place of action and sunk, but loosens itself from its anchorage and begins to vibrate with the waves and later hit the reefs, tearing off the ballast tanks and damaging the structure more and more. The anchoring is considered irreparable from that point in time. It is suggested to partially flood the habitat to reduce buoyancy, but it is decided to bring canisters filled with water into the habitat so as not to damage the facility. The next morning five to ten tons of ballast should be added. Bad visibility, high waves and nightfall lead to the abandonment of the rescue work, so that the habitat is left unmanned until the next morning.
  • May 22nd: The diver Max Smale gets his foot between the support structure and the habitat and is seriously injured so that he has to be transported away quickly. The ballast tanks are recovered on the same day
  • May 23: Consider abandoning HUNUC for the first time.
  • May 24th: There is about 40 cm of water inside the habitat. It is hoped that the seas will be calmer so that more ballast can be removed, the habitat can emerge and then towed away. However, the weather remains rough. All attempts to work on the habitat are classified as life-threatening and canceled, so that one can only watch the habitat bang against the reef. The supply ship Fleur leaves the site.
  • May 28th: ​​It is finally decided to leave HUNUC to its fate.

Koblick and Miller come to the conclusion that the center of gravity of the habitat was very high due to the construction and that the ballast was not sufficient. But only in connection with the bad weather conditions did this lead to the failure of the project.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Divers will spend a week in under-sea test house off Durban . Sunday Express, April 16, 1972.
  2. ^ A b I. Koblick, J. Miller: Living and Working in the Sea . Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Inc., New York 1984, ISBN 0-442-26084-9 , pp. 325 .
  3. ^ A b c Lindsay Evans: University aquanauts to live off Natal reef for research . Sunday Times, 1972.
  4. ↑ Brent Addison: HUNUC almost ready to go . 1972.
  5. ↑ The ox wagon submarine . South African Digest, April 30, 1971.
  6. ↑ Four-star meals will go beneath the waves . Daily News, April 11, 1972.
  7. ↑ Hunuc hitch: unless it sinks they're sunk . Daily News, April 12, 1972.
  8. ↑ HuNuc plea gets heavy response . Daily News, April 13, 1972.
  9. ↑ Under ocean home ready . The Natal Mercury, April 10, 1972.
  10. ↑ Teams named . The Natal Mercury, April 12, 1972.
  11. ^ Ron Steele: Underwater home is all set to go . Sunday Times, April 30, 1972.
  12. ↑ HuNuc goes in the water . Daily News, May 4, 1972.
  13. ↑ HuNuc leader injured . Daily News, May 8, 1972.
  14. ↑ Don Marshall: Hunuc is bounced on seabed by storms . Rand Daily Mail, May 22, 1972.
  15. ↑ Diver hurt in Hunuc drama . Daily News, May 22, 1972.
  16. ↑ Don Marshall: HuNuc struggle death in life and . Daily Mail, May 24, 1972.
  17. ↑ Wild seas pound sunken lab . The Natal Mercury, May 25, 1972.
  18. ↑ Hopes for new Hunuc . Daily News, May 29, 1972.