The Secret Life of Quonset
Despite its importance to the state, few Rhode Islanders know what really goes on at Quonset Point.
Clay Horschel. Photography by James Jones.
Clay Horschel, Diver and Dive Supervisor, Specialty Diving Services
Clay Horschel of Specialty Diving Services does his best work in the water, and in the dark. Such is the lot of the commercial diver: indispensable but unnoticed. “Everyone sees the bridge, but nobody sees what we did underneath it,” says Horschel.
Horschel could point out that no project that spans or stands in water — including the Sakonnet River Bridge and the Deepwater Wind turbines off Block Island — could be completed without a diver. But he describes his job in prosaic terms.
“We are construction workers,” he says. “Diving is the vehicle to get to work.”
Of course, there’s a bit more to it than that. Diving, in the case of the Deepwater Wind project, means donning a thirty-five-pound helmet and a dive suit filled with heated water to plunge, solo, to a depth of 120 feet.
Work time is measured in minutes: Divers at that depth get no more than fifteen minutes at the job site before pressure compels them to rise to the surface. Teams of divers work in shifts, with each getting time to depressurize before going back to work again, following preplanned routines to maximize precious bottom time.
“If you have five feet of visibility, you’re lucky,” says Horschel. “Often, it’s zero. If you’re claustrophobic, this is not the business for you.”
Jobs can vary from welding to pouring concrete to laying cable and building cofferdams — watertight enclosures that allow for underwater construction in a dry environment. Specialty Diving Services also has raised sunken sailboats and is currently helping to rebuild the piers at the Newport naval station.
The company can bring a lot of gear to bear on a project, including barges, boats and cranes. Working deep and dark sounds scary, but Horschel says he never feels alone because of the team on the surface that constantly monitors his communications and well-being. “It’s 100 percent safer than diving on a reef,” he says. “There’s no danger if you have the proper support.”
