A Heavy Toll Summary and Analysis

Confident that they would soon have an answer to the mystery, Chatterton, Kohler and the other divers prepare for the first dive of the season in 1992, scheduled for early May. Chatterton and John Yurga decide to experiment with a new diving technology called "trimix." Trimix is a new method of replacing some of the nitrogen in the diver tanks with helium. The theory is that this will relieve some of the problems associated with nitrogen narcosis and decompression. The two divers attend a seminar on the new method, but there is nobody with any extensive experience using trimix, especially not at the depths they have been diving. They have to improvise a way to fill their tanks and mix their own trimix in Chatterton's garage. They test the mix in shallow water with good results and plan...