Scuba Geek

Jackie Smith rebreather fatality ‘Diver found peace, happiness in water’ January 19, 2006

Posted by Andy Carroll in : Rebreathers , trackback

A moving article has been published yesterday in the Charlotte Observer, regarding Jackie Smith, who sadly died whilst rebreather diving on January 1st.

His dive buddy, Charles johnson, also a rebreather diver, is still baffled over how Jackie died, but says

“He was so good, so safety-conscious. He’d saved other men’s lives before; he was an extraordinary man. He was like the big brother I never had.”

The pair had dived on old ship wrecks, Charles said. The most intriguing was the City of Houston, a ship that sank in the 1850s off the S.C. coast from which they retrieved old medicine bottles and ink wells.

“We’ve done some really spectacular dives and were first to the Bow Mariner off the coast of Maryland. It was what is called a virgin wreck. He was a real trailblazer in rebreather diving. Jackie was a doer, not a talker. He was world class.”