32 COLLAPSE OF TEXAS TOWER NO. 4 
One body, a military man, was retrieved from the ocean and a second 
body was sighted but could not be recovered. The ships in the Navy 
task force, along with the supply ship, were assigned search areas 
during which various objects (life raft, mattress, oil slicks, whaleboat) 
were sighted. 
The sounds of tapping noises picked up by the sonar gear on one 
of the destroyers are now thought to have been caused by tidal cur- 
rents to which the wreckage of the tower had reacted and not the tap- 
ping of survivors trapped within the tower. 
Alan Crockett of Marine Contractors, Inc., received a telephone 
call at his home about 4 a.m., Monday morning, asking for his services 
and those of his civilian divers on an emergency basis to determine 
whether there was any possibility of survivors. He and his men 
responded immediately and, despite the hazardous conditions under 
which they performed this work, entered virtually every compartment 
of the many decks and rooms of the platform. They recovered one 
body, a military man, in the administration area of the platform, 
and it was thought that he had been assigned to handle communica- 
tions while the others were out on deck jettisoning the grouting ma- 
terial, in preparation for helicopters from the USS Wasp to land. 
The civilian divers were joined by teams of Navy divers from the 
ARS Sunbird conducting diving inspections for about a month after 
the collapse to determine its present position, recover further bodies, 
if any, and generally survey the structure to determine the reasons for 
its collapse. Although Mr. Crockett requested a 30-day extension for 
the use of ARS Sunbird from which to conduct further diving opera- 
tions, the vessel had a commitment in the missile program and had to 
be taken away from the tower No. 4 survey. 
It is believed that the only means by which to ascertain the precise 
cause of and manner in which the tower collapsed is through an engi- 
neering analysis of the wreckage. .A determination of the reasons for 
its collapse would have merit if the knowledge to be gained were 
applicable to the remaining towers. However, since they are of dif- 
ferent design, it is doubtful if any information acquired from such an 
ora would have any bearing on the integrity of towers Nos. 2 
and 3. 
The tower platform rests on the ocean floor 200 yards from its 
original location on a southwest bearing of 242°. It rotated in a 
counterclockwise direction through 35° so that the A—B plane is now 
on a bearing of N. 9° W. rather than N. 26° E. 
Shown on pages 33 and 34 are two schematic views of the platform 
as it now rests at the bottom of the sea. 
