Stuck in a dire situation within the darkness, with the temperature dropping down, you are freezing to death. But the worst happens: the equipment you brought to save yourself from such a situation becomes the reason for your impending doom. These two caving tragedies are disasters that are difficult to digest.
On February 12th, 2011, as winter loosened its grip but the cold still lingered, ten students from the University of Florida decided to explore Ellison’s Cave. Leading the group was Grant Lackenbach, a 20-year-old excited for his upcoming birthday. Grant and his buddy Michael, along with other adventure-loving friends, often sought thrills together, whether climbing rocks or diving into caves.
Their destination was Ellison’s Cave, a massive underground wonder nestled in Georgia’s Pigeon Mountain. With its depths plunging over 1,000 feet and boasting the jaw-dropping Fantastic Pit, this cave promised an unforgettable adventure. Despite the long journey of over 400 miles, their excitement knew no bounds.
Arriving in Georgia the day before, they settled into a hotel near Pigeon Mountain. The next morning, they eagerly packed their caving gear into their cars, ready for the climb. They left their phones behind, never expecting the importance they would later hold. They were wearing shorts and t-shirts, not dressed appropriately for the weather of one of the most technical caves in the United States.
As they ascended the mountain, the chill in the air reminded them that winter hadn’t quite released its grip. Sadly, they hadn’t dressed warmly enough for the journey. Grant and Michael, accustomed to cave exploration, didn’t think much of it.
But as they approached Ellison’s Cave, a narrow entrance greeted them, hinting at the mysteries within. With excitement and a bit of nervousness, they entered the cave, their headlamps revealing its hidden wonders. Yet, the cold reminded them of the season’s bite. They planned only a short exploration, unaware of the danger lurking ahead.
One student’s backpack fell into a vertical pit known as the Warm-Up Pit. This one is not as deep as the Fantastic Pit, at only 125 feet, but it was still dangerous. The temperatures were unusually cold due to a waterfall nearby that screamed like a lion and cooled like Antarctica. It was not a place anyone should attend, especially someone dressed as these students were.
But the backpack included some necessary supplies for the group, and they didn’t intend to spend much time down there. It would only be a quick drop to get the luggage before heading out again. Grant, the group’s leader, volunteered to grab the bag.
His pals advised him not to risk it and to simply leave the bag, since they sensed something horrible was about to happen. But he refused to listen, insisting that he would be okay. So they tapped him on the back and wished him luck.
As he attempted to lower himself down the pit using a rope, Grant carefully repelled down the abyss for a good distance before shivering slightly as the cold worsened. But he hadn’t seen the worst of it yet. As he got closer to the bottom, the sound of a nearby rushing waterfall became increasingly audible. He could still hear his friends talking and reassuring him.
He had gotten halfway down when something dreadful happened. As he descended, Grant came face to face with the crying waterfall. Already shaking, he tried not to let the frigid water touch him. However, in his attempt, the worst occurred.
First, he noticed a jolting sound coming from his harness and rope. He had stopped moving because he was shivering. Panic quickly filled his veins, so he began jolting with his rope and harness, hoping to get it to work again. However, his endeavor simply resulted in the rope wrapping around him deeper.
Then his biggest nightmare came true. As he struggled to free himself from the entanglement, the ice-cold water showered him. By this point, he was shouting at the top of his lungs for aid. His shouts were muted and strangled by the roaring waterfall and in his shivering mouth.
Nevertheless, his friends heard him and responded. They all stared at each other, puzzled and concerned. But Michael did not hesitate to use the same rope that his friend had used to descend in order to save him. He pleaded for him to sit tight.
He quickly approached Grant, who had become slow and unintelligible in speech and movement, save for acute shivering and confusion. He was weary and could only fumble with his hands. Michael had to scream to update his friends above about the situation, who were mildly relieved but unsure what would happen next.
As Michael attempted the rescue, he became further entangled in the rope. His body became the victim of the same chilly water that had already brought his friend to the verge of death. Recognizing that he too couldn’t travel up or down the rope, now both of them were entangled and battling for their lives as the freezing cold waterfall kept pouring at them, sucking their souls out.
The ones that stayed continued communicating with the boys below, giving them words of encouragement. They prayed for and assured them that help was on the way. Those who made it out started descending the mountain with all the strength they could muster, and in less than 30 minutes, they were at its floor.
With hands shaking and eyes blurry, they retrieved their phones from the car and promptly contacted the authorities. It was already 2:19 p.m. In the cave, Michael and Grant’s voices were fading as the cold gnawed at them. Above ground, their friends feared the worst, urging them to hold on while help was on the way.
The bitter cold drained their energy, their bodies struggling to withstand the frigid temperatures. Despite communicating with their friends for about 30 minutes, Michael and Grant’s voices fell silent. Their friends were distraught to see the rope they had used dangling loosely.
After some time, the other friends returned with the county’s Cave and Cliff Rescue Team. While some of the team tended to the other eight students, offering treatment for hypothermia, the rest swiftly descended into the pit. There, they discovered Michael and Grant hanging from the rope.
By 3:30 p.m., they checked for pulses but found none. It was too late. They relayed their grim discovery to those above, and the cave echoed with sorrowful cries as the group tried to comfort the grieving students.
The rescuers encountered a significant challenge as they tried to free the boys from the entangled rope, a task as daunting as Michael’s own heroic efforts. Even with their experience and equipment, it proved difficult to pry their bodies loose. However, equipped with proper attire and rescue tools, they persevered.
Their tireless efforts stretched on for six grueling hours, not culminating until around 10:00 p.m. when they finally managed to release the boys from their perilous predicament and hoist them up the pit. Upon seeing Michael and Grant, their friends succumbed to another wave of emotional anguish.
On October 28th, 2004, diver Dave Shaw went into a deep hole in Boesmansgat, known as Bushman’s Hole, with a goal to break diving records. He successfully reached a depth of 270 meters, breaking records on a rebreather in a cave at altitude and running on a line. His dive lasted nearly 10 hours.
After achieving his goals, Dave decided to come back up. However, just before he started to ascend, he saw something that changed his life forever: the body of Deon Dreyer.
Bushman’s Hole, discovered in 1977 by diver Mike Reborne, is a natural sinkhole on Mount Carmel Farm. It’s filled with fresh water and is believed to be very old. The cave is about 283 meters deep, making it one of the deepest freshwater caves globally. To enter, you have to climb down a steep rock to the water’s surface.
Deon Dreyer from South Africa loved going diving. Before 1994, he went on more than 200 recreational dives. He was a bit of a daredevil, inspired by the stories of other divers.
In 1994, he got invited to join some divers from the South African Cave Diving Association to explore Bushman’s Hole during the holidays. He was very excited about this opportunity. They planned to dive about 150 meters, and everything was set for the dive.
However, just 2 weeks before the planned dive, Dreyer’s grandfather passed away. After the funeral service, Dreyer sat around a campfire with his family, thinking about life. It was during this reflection that he made a profound statement. His father, Theo, recalls Dreyer saying that if he had a choice of how to go out in life, he would like to go out diving.
On December 17th, 1994, Deon, along with his fellow divers, went for a practice dive in Bushman’s Hole. Nuno Gomez had assembled the team and set conditions for a technical deep dive later in the week. The entire team descended into the dark water, explored the area, and then gathered for a headcount.
The problem was that Deon was missing. The team searched everywhere for Deon but couldn’t find him. They had to return to the surface to ensure their own safety. The 20-year-old Deon Dreyer was gone.
The team agreed that he likely went missing during his ascent, around 50 meters from the surface. The consensus was that he might have lost consciousness or experienced hypercapnia due to breathing too heavily at that depth.
Deon Dreyer’s father, Theo, decided to use a remote-controlled submarine from the De Beers mining company to help find his son. The submarine searched underwater for some time but didn’t find Deon’s body. They did discover something unusual: Deon’s dive helmet on the seafloor. However, his body was still missing. After 2 weeks of searching, Deon Dreyer was presumed dead.
Fast forward to October 28th, 2004, 892 feet below the surface, Australian diver David John Shaw made an unexpected discovery. Dave found Deon Dreyer’s remains, a collection of bones inside a diving suit. He tried to move the body, but it was embedded in the silt.
Dave, after a few attempts, realized that he was unable to continue due to low oxygen, so he returned to the surface, profoundly impacted by what he saw. After a 10-hour dive, Dave surfaced and shared with Deon’s parents, Theo and Marie, the unbelievable news that he had found their son’s body in Bushman’s Hole.
Despite their initial disbelief, Dave assured them he would return to recover Deon’s body. The challenging task of retrieval involved Dave and another diver, Don Shirley, planning the deepest underwater recovery in history.
Over the next 3 weeks, Dave crafted a master plan for the daring recovery mission, assembling a team of seasoned support divers with nerves of steel. Their mission was to plunge into the icy depths, checking on Dave’s well-being at various intervals during his ascent. Concerned about the fragility of Deon’s body, the team opted to use a bag for the recovery.
Two days before the final dive, the team gathered, and Dave, unfamiliar with a new helmet camera, received instructions. On the day of the dive, they assembled, and each team member was assigned specific roles. Dave’s responsibility was to bring Deon’s body from the deep.
Prioritizing safety, Dave openly instructed the team not to jeopardize their lives for the sake of body recovery. Privately, he and Don agreed on a signal with flashlights if they needed assistance in the depths.
On January 8th, 2005, as the clock struck 6:00 a.m., Dave, Shirley, and the team descended upon the sinkhole. Equipped with determination, they donned their gear, and Dave prepared to document the unfolding events.
Dave dived to 886 feet, where he had found Deon’s body earlier. His plan was to put the body in a bag and bring it to a depth of 725 feet, where Don would assist with a 10-hour decompression before reaching the surface.
The chilling encounter unfolded as Dave attached the body tag and grappled to fit the remains into a body bag. A twist occurred as the lifeless Deon Dreyer began to float, transformed into a soapy substance known as adipocere, a bizarre fusion of crumbly wax and saturated fatty acids.
As Dave worked with both hands, he was forced to put his torch down on the cave floor. This light was connected to a heavy battery canister through a wire usually worn on the diver’s waist. Typically, Dave would have had the wire behind his neck, but in a lapse of judgment, he didn’t do so.
The team outside waited anxiously but saw no sign of the recovery team emerging with Deon’s body. Van Schaik, part of the team, realized something went wrong, causing the delay. Still unsure of the situation, they waited.
Don, who was waiting about 700 feet below the surface, became concerned when Dave didn’t appear. He noticed no bubbles, and a distant light wasn’t moving. When a diver is in distress, they wave their torch to alert their support team.
When Don descended 14 minutes after Shaw’s departure, he expected to see a flashing light indicating Shaw’s coordinates. However, he only saw the beam from the light in a stagnant position. There was no movement. Something was wrong.
Worried about Dave facing depth-related issues, Don descended to help. Don dove past what he had initially expected, about 800 feet below the surface. As he continued to swim, he heard a loud crack. His breathing apparatus had been broken.
Don knew he had to pump in more oxygen to the gas mixture, but at that depth, it would only put his life at risk. Despite not knowing Dave’s current state, he began to rise to the surface but passed out from a helium bubble in his ear. He went in and out of consciousness, unsure of his orientation.
Miraculously found by a support diver, Don’s life hung in the balance. The team, holding their breath, nursed him back to consciousness, ensuring that he made it out alive. Yet the drama didn’t end there. The uncertainty echoed, demanding answers: where was Dave Shaw?
Don told them that Dave couldn’t come up and he had been left down there. A rescue operation started immediately. They got support from the authorities.
The dive team descended once more to retrieve Dave. In a surreal twist, they found not just Deon Dreyer but also the lifeless body of Dave Shaw. Upon closer inspection, it was a tragic revelation: the lines from the body bag had become entangled with Dave’s torch. His efforts to free himself from the clutches led him to his unfortunate farewell.
Dave sacrificed his life in an attempt to offer closure to a grieving family, uncertain whether they would ever lay eyes on their child’s remains. In the end, deep underwater at Bushman’s Hole, a story unfolded that mixed discovery with great sadness. Dave promised to bring back Deon’s body, but the dangerous mission took Dave’s life too.
The underwater world, full of secrets and dangers, became the setting for a special story of bravery and loss. Looking back on this intense journey into the deep, we appreciate the dedication that led these divers to explore the unknown, the strong friendship that supported their efforts, and the courage that made them challenge the mysteries below.
In the silent depths of Bushman’s Hole, Dave and Deon faced their biggest test and found a final resting place, forever linked by the brave spirit of those who venture where few have gone before.
