HUMAN BEHAVIOR PROGRAM 255 



Danger was inherent in the equipment which supplied breathing gas in the water. Both the 

 Arawalt and Mark VI presented problems. The Arawak enabled a man to breathe the Sealab 

 atmosphere through hoses from inside the habitat. There was the constant danger of the hoses 

 fouling or kinking, cutting off a man's gas supply and trapping and holding him in the water. 

 The Mark VI self-contained breathing apparatus is a delicate piece of equipment. It was sub- 

 ject to a variety of malfunctions, some of which could occur without warning, such as CO 2 

 buildup or malfunctions in regulator valves. The divers' wet suits also were far from perfect. 

 Some fitted too losely, thereby allowing cold water to flow inside and chill the man; others 

 fitted too tightly and restricted mobility. Finally, aside from the discomforts and dangers, 

 there were numerous frustrations associated with work in the water. Frequently a man would 

 go out to work on something he couldn't find or for which he didn't have the proper tools. 



Working inside Sealab was no picnic either. Crowded conditions in the entrance area pre- 

 sented probably the most vexatious problems. The entrance area was a bottleneck in a very 

 literal sense. Men crowded around in bulky and uncomfortable gear waiting to get into the 

 water. There was almost no place to stow gear out of the way. The habitat sat unevenly on 

 the bottom, with a list of six degrees in two directions. As a result, drawers would slide open 

 or shut, objects would fall off counters, and men would walk up or down hill while leaning 

 sideways. Long hours of careful preparation were required to put a man in the water, and the 

 work schedule was constantly interrupted, delayed, and revised by emergencies or necessities. 

 Work time far exceeded an eight-hour day. Communications with topside and within the cap- 

 sule were difficult at best, due to the problems of understanding helium speech, and aggravated 

 by constant background noise which rose to a level rendering verbal communication nearly 

 impossible when the Arawak pumps were running. Work involving writing was made difficult 

 by lack of privacy and the fact that writing surfaces were not level and extremely limited in 

 space. 



Added to the inconveniences of working were the problems of living in the capsule. The 

 fact that the atmosphere was 80 percent helium gave speech a "Donald Duck" quality. Helium 

 also may have disrupted the human thermostat, so that men were sweating at the same time 

 they felt chilled. Humidity was extremely high in the capsule. It was difficult to provide ade- 

 quate air circulation, particularly in the bunk areas. This may have caused a buildup of CO2 

 and CO, causing frequent headaches. Ear infections and skin rashes provided additional irrita- 

 tions. Although culinary triumphs were achieved by Sealab chefs, the diet was restricted be- 

 cause of a prohibition on frying. It was impossible to smoke in Sealab, and many of the divers 

 were smokers. There were no relaxing drinks or family to come home to at the end of a hard 

 day's work. Sleep was severely disrupted for most men by the long hours of work, high hu- 

 midity, poor air circulation, and nagging physical complaints. In addition, the necessity of 

 maintaining night watches further disrupted the normal diurnal cycle, and the crowded condi- 

 tions interfered with all aspects of the daily routine. 



Sealab divers also endured the inconveniences and uncertainties associated with their 

 roles as experimental subjects. They were poked, probed, stuck, and asked to fill out repeti- 

 tious questionnaires. A multipurpose program dictated heterogeneous crews, so that men with 

 wide variations in background and interests were in constant contact with one another. Added 

 to all the uncertainties of a first-of-type operation were such real dangers as the possibility of 

 an object being lowered from the surface caving in one of the portholes, causing instant flood- 

 ing of the capsule. At the end of their stay, before emerging into the normal atmosphere top- 

 side, the dangerous and boring processes of transfer and decompression remained to be en- 

 dured. Despite the most careful precautions being taken, the transfer from the bottom to the 

 decompression chamber on the support vessel posed the ominous threat of instant loss of pres- 

 sure, and each man was aware of the possibility. Decompression involved a 30-hour sojourn in 

 quarters even more cramped than those of Sealab. 



This then was the stressful environment; crowded, inconvenient, and potentially dangerous. 

 The remainder of this report will be concerned with a description of the men who lived and 

 worked in that environment and how they interacted with it and with each other. Analyses of 

 the data are preliminary and sketchy, but they do permit tentative conclusions and indicate 

 what further analyses may reveal. 



