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Dr. Bill Talks Mix

The late great decompression physiologist, Dr. R. W. “Bill” Hamilton played a unique role in the early development and emergence of technical diving. Listen to “Dr. Bill” and cave diver nurse anesthetist John Crea discuss “special mix” diving at the TEK.95 conference (1995).

Published

4 years ago

September 29, 2020

InDEPTH

by Michael Menduno

Header photo: RW “Bill” Hamilton speaking at TEK.94 in New Orleans, La. aquaCORPS archives

Decompression physiologist Dr. R.W. “Bill” Hamilton played a unique and critical role in the early development of technical diving by providing his considerable expertise and “special mix” decompression tables to numerous pioneers of what would become known as “technical diving.” While many in the recreational diving establishment and the hyperbaric community were skeptical of the viability and efficacy of tech diving, and in many cases opposed it all together, Dr. Bill recognized the legitimacy of exploration divers needing to find a way to go deeper and stay longer.

As Bill often explained, he would first try to talk divers out of making a “Big Dive,” and if he couldn’t, and believed the individuals in question did not have a death wish, he would help them figure out how to conduct their dive safely using mixed gas technology. In doing such, he brought needed credibility to the fledgling technical diving community.

*John Crea and Bill Hamilton at the TEK.95 Legal Narcosis session.*

Through his Tarrytown, NY-based company, Hamilton Research Ltd., Bill worked with individuals like famed cave explorer Sheck Exley, and explorer Parker Turner, cofounder of the Woodville Karst Plain Project (WKPP). He also worked with caver Bill Stone, whose 1987 Wakulla Springs Project inspired early tekkies, and provided the Key West Consortium trimix tables, used by tech pioneer Capt. Billy Deans for his dive operation at Key West Diver, Key West, Florida, which was one of the first technical diving training centers on the planet.

*Dr. Bill was the first recipient of the aquaCORPS “Tekkie” Award at TEK.93. Photo: aquaCORPS archives.*

Bill was also instrumental in helping me produce aquaCORPS Journal (1990-1996) and was the first member of my aquaCORPS editorial board, and a regular speaker at our TEK.Conferences. We awarded him with the first “Tekkie Award” at the TEK.93 conference in Orlando, FL. Bill passed away on September 16, 2011, and didn’t get to see just how far tech diving has come. It would make him happy.

Here, in a talk from aquaCORPS TEK.95 conference held in January, 1995 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Bill Hamilton and John Crea, who was also instrumental in producing custom decompression tables for the cave diving community, including the first oxygen decompression tables, discuss the ins and outs of “mix diving,” as seen from the vantage point of 1995. The introducer is Fred Garth, founder and publisher of Scuba Times magazine.

Mixed Diving with Dr. RW Bill Hamilton and John Crea

Dive Deeper:

Check out Dr. Bill’s perspective on the emergence of technical diving in his seminal article from aquaCORPS #1 UnderPressure, “Call It High Tech Diving.”

In Memoriam: Joel Silverstein’s The Prince of Gases: RW “Bill Hamilton (1930-2011) in X-Ray magazine.

Divers Alert Network created the annual $10,000 R.W. “Bill” Hamilton Dive Medicine Research Grant. Apply for the grant here.

Past RW “Bill” Hamilton Grant Recipients

Download a Free Copy of aquaCORPS #4: MIX (with a 1992 “MIX Primer” by John Crea and Michael Menduno) and aquaCORPS #7 C2.

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Michael Menduno is InDepth’s editor-in-chief and an award-winning reporter and technologist who has written about diving and diving technology for 30 years. He coined the term “technical diving.” His magazine aquaCORPS: The Journal for Technical Diving (1990-1996), helped usher tech diving into mainstream sports diving. He also produced the first Tek, EUROTek, and ASIATek conferences, and organized Rebreather Forums 1.0 and 2.0. Michael received the OZTEKMedia Excellence Award in 2011, the EUROTek Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012, and the TEKDive USA Media Award in 2018. In addition to his responsibilities at InDepth, Menduno is a contributing editor for DAN Europe’s Alert Diver magazine and X-Ray Magazine, a staff writer for DeeperBlue.com, and is on the board of the Historical Diving Society (USA)