It’s a cloudy, cool day when divers Jay Hanson and Dan Goyen break the surface of Lake Superior. Dressed in layer upon layer of thermal clothing with traditional dry suits, they attempt to keep out the cold. Despite the insulating layers, the water starts to chill the divers to the bone after 30 minutes underwater at a depth of 140 feet. Anywhere between 36 and 38 degrees, the water isn’t freezing, but it’s close.
But they aren’t at the bottom of Superior for fun. They’re there to retrieve the body of Alexander Georg Obersteg, a pilot who crashed into Lake Superior June 7.
The duo took three minutes diving to the bottom and spent 35 minutes among the plane wreckage. They spent another 40 minutes doing various decompressions on their way back to the surface.
“Deeper dives require in-water decompressions where you can’t just come to surface,” said Hanson. “Depending how much time we spend on the bottom, we have to stop at different depths - 30, 20 and 10 feet - to allow nitrogen to leave body without getting decompression sickness.”
Hanson and Goyen were chosen for the retrieval mission based on their skill and comfort levels while diving to this potentially-dangerous depth.
Hanson, who owns Superior SCUBA Center in Duluth, found his passion for exploring underwater worlds at age 10. What started as daring leaps off the end of a dock, dressed in his uncle’s SCUBA gear, became a life-long passion for underwater exploration.
“It’s kind of my happy place,” said Hanson. “Most people prefer diving in warm, tropical water, but I prefer the Great Lakes and shipwreck hunting.”
Hanson has discovered a number of wrecks and has a passion for maritime history. “My most memorable dive was diving for the first time on Robert Wallace,” he said.
The Robert Wallace is a wooden iron ore carrier that sank in 1902 and was finally discovered in 2006. Divers had spent years searching for it. “To see something nobody has seen for 100 years or more was pretty incredible,” Hanson said.
The recovery of the pilot was a dive of difficulties. “In recovery or public safety, anything can go wrong and often does,” said Hanson. “Regardless of how tight the plan is, you can’t plan for every contingency; you have to react. The dives always seem to work out in the end. We thought we’d get the plane back, but you take what you can get and move forward from there.”
And when Lake Superior is added into the picture, success is never guaranteed.
“When you learn to dive in Lake Superior, you can dive anywhere,” said Goyen. “The lake has extremely harsh conditions.”
Because of his 14 year experience, Goyen was selected to be one of two divers to investigate the wreckage of the downed plane.
“Conditions were cold; the water was 36 degrees with an eight-foot visibility,” Goyen said. “Nearing the bottom of the lake, there was nearly zero visibility.”
Although Goyen has done similar work before and has done extensive training on body recovery, the initial reality was harsh.
“This was my very first underwater body recovery,” said Goyen. “I’ve been in shipwreck recoveries before where I didn’t think I was going to get out, but this dive was my most memorable.”
Goyen felt a sense of relief and solace after completing the dive, as it was a reminder of the uncertainty of life.
“I have seen remains in shipwrecks in the past,” Goyen said. “My primary concern is for the closure for the family. Mentally, I was prepared for it and it’s easier to deal with knowing you are helping out a family.”
Goyen, who takes around 100 dives a year, was humbled by the experience, but still excited to follow his passion for underwater exploring. Hanson feels the same way, especially when he remembers other great dives with people like Goyen.
“We had a really good team, everyone worked well together, helped negate little problems and made things go more smoothly,” said Hanson. “It was a team effort, and I like to make sure everyone has their moment in the sun.”
The light started to shine into the eyes of the divers as they slowly swam back up to the surface. Cold water hugging their insulated suits, the men have finished their somber mission. Closure of the day, the body found, a sense of relief sets in. Although the mission wasn’t overly long, the memory of what they found and the impact of their actions will stay fresh and true forever.
The authors are students at the College of St. Scholastica.
