Back in 1988 when I first started diving, the nearest dive shop to where I lived at the time was a shop called Fun Dive which was located at 255-257 Stanmore Road, Stanmore. This was two large duplex/semi-detached buildings, with shops on the ground floor and accommodation above. The shop was probably the best setup dive shop in New South Wales, as it had its own quite deep swimming pool and a large outdoor entertaining area.

The shop was owned by Rob Cason (perhaps in partnership with ???). Cason was at that time a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Australian Navy but was on long-service or similar leave. While Rob had some brilliant ideas about scuba diving and his shop, unfortunately he treated the customers as if he was in the navy (which he obviously was) and the customers were his crew.'

As I mentioned he had some great ideas, once of which was to bring the use of Nitrox in scuba diving into Australia. He had a sub-business called High Tech Divers (we later started a mock dive club called Lo Tech Divers) and he went to the USA and became Australia's first civilian certified Nitrox diver and then instructor. He started teaching Nitrox courses from his shop.

While this was a great idea and way ahead of its time, unfortunately his "Captain Bligh" personality meant that he pissed off so many in the Australian dive industry, he probably set back the expansion of the use of Nitrox by 10 years or so. For example, he discovered that the world famous dive instruction agency, PADI, had not registered the name in Australia. So he set up an organisation called PADI and registered the name here. He then sent the real PADi letters demanding they stop using the name in Australia. PADI obviously did not take kindly to this and they took court action against him. They won (even if a company has not registered the name, so long as they have been using for a very long time, someone cannot come and take over the name).

Anyway, one of the things that Rob set up as part of the shop was a series of "clubs". These were the 100, 150, 200 foot clubs and related to how deep someone had dived. This created a bit of unnecessary masculine competition to see who could dive deeper etc. This is all mentioned as some background to the shop which may or may not have relevance to what happened later, I will leave that up to you to decide.

PAT BOWRING

Patrick Randal John Bowring was born 7 January 1951. He was a journalist, mostly in the area of entertainment. About 1974 he met Nene King who he would end up living with shortly after. Nene was also a journalist. He was 23 and she was 31 years old. By the late 1980s, Nene had risen up the ranks in journalism and was in turn the Editor of New Idea, Woman's Day and finally the Editor of the Australian Women's Weekly. All these were owned by Australian Consolidated Press which was 100% owned by Kerry Packer, Australia's richest person. Nene was without a doubt, the most powerful woman in Australia at that time.

On 19 November 1989, Pat Bowring was certified as an Open Water Diver with SSI (Scuba Schools Internation) by Rob Cason. I assume he also later did Advanced Open Water and perhaps other certifications. He later got a Cavern Diver certificate from the Cave Divers Association of Australia (30 June 1991) and on 17 July 1994 he was certified as a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor. On 12 April 1996 he was certified as a PADI Enriched Air Instructor. He also obviously (from what happened later) did some technical diving courses and qualified as a mixed gas diver to deep depths.

I first met Pat in late 1989 and over the next year or so I dived with him quite a few times, including specifically as my buddy. He was a competent diver even then and I never recall any problems with him on a dive.

In 1993 Pat and Nene married after having lived together for about 19 years.

FIRST DIVE INCIDENT

On 13 August 1993, Pat went out for a dive with a dive operation called Southern Cross Divers. At that time it was owned by a person called David Graham Allchin and was located at O'Rourkes Boatshed at The Spit in Middle Harbour, part of Sydney Harbour. Around this time, Allchin was in the process of selling Southern Cross Divers to Barry John Hallett. Hallett would later purchase the shop and run it till 2024.

The boat they were going out on was called O'Rourkes. It was not owned by the shop but leased from Axiom Industries who I assume owned the boatshed. I am not sure if the boat was actually surveyed for charter work as mention is made in the all the statements that this was not a charter dive. There was a boat watcher called Bob Corless and dive instructors Barry Hallett, Dave Allchin and Richard Taylor as well as David Stace, a commercial diver.

They went out to a wreck called HMAS Encounter which was scuttled after World War I in 78 metres of water about four or five kilometres east of Ben Buckler Point (North Bondi). Anyway, to summarise (and I might do a more detailed article on this later), on the dive David Stace, who was buddying with Barry Hallett and Dave Allchin, appeared to perhaps suffer an oxygen toxicity attack which caused him to fit.

He was brought to the surface by Allchin and was dead, despite being given CPR.

SECOND DIVE INCIDENT

On 20 March 1994 Pat was buddying with Paul Cavanagh who was the General manager of Channel 7 TV station in Sydney. Paul was also a person who I occasionally dived with at Fun Dive. They were diving the wreck of the Coolooli bucket dredge off Long Reef, northern Sydney. I think they were also diving with Southern Cross Divers, now owned by Barry Hallett.

Paul had modified his twin tank BCD setup so that he could switch between his two scuba tanks by using a device on his chest that could change the mixture being supplied from the left to right tank and vice versa. He was running a bottom Nitrox mix in one tank and a decompression mixture (with much higher oxygen percentage) in the other.

Paul had asked a diving buddy of mine, Brian, to make him this device. Brian was a fitter and turner who could certainly have made this device. However, Brian declined to do this as he considered it too dangerous as it would be too easy to accidentally switch mixtures or mix up the mixtures.

Paul found someone who did make him the device. Anyway, on the day in question he had a bottom mix (I believe it was air, that is 21% oxygen) in one tank and a decompression mix (probably something like 50 to 70% oxygen) in the other. When they were on the bottom at 50 metres, Paul suffered a fit from an oxygen toxicity attack and drowned. Pat brought Paul to the surface.

Paul either mixed up the tanks or accidentally switched them while underwater and thus was diving with a partial pressure of oxygen over 2.0 for an extended period. Again, I should do another more detailed article on this incident.

So, in the space of a bit over seven months, Pat had been on a dive where two people had died, including his close friend, Paul Cavanaugh.

FATAL DIVE INCIDENT

On 24 May 1996, Barry Hallett organised a dive on his boat Southern Cross which was owned by his similarly named dive business as mentioned previously. It now ran from Fergusons Boatshed (not sure if this is the same boatshed as mentioned before but with a new name). He had taken five divers out earlier in the morning to the wreck of the SS Annie M Miller which is just south of Sydney Harbour in 42 metres.

On his return, the gear from the previous divers was removed and the new divers' gear was loaded aboard. On this dive was to be Barry, Richard Taylor (who was also on the first dive mentioned above) Dave Apperley, Paul Boler and Pat Bowring. The dive was to be to the wreck of the paddle steam tug Koputai which sank on 4 March 1920. This is located 3.2 nautical miles off Shark Point, Clovelly, and is near HMAS Encounter and these two wrecks are sometimes accidentally dived in error when trying to do the other one. It is also at 78 metres.

On this dive Pat was carrying twins with air in one (travel mix) and a (heliox) bottom mix of 16% oxygen, 24% helium and 60% nitrogen. He also had two other smaller stage tanks, one with 32% oxygen and the other with 80% oxygen. His plan would have been to descend on the air tank, then switch to the bottom mix at sometime, probably at about 50 metres. The only possible drawback with this is if you mix up the tanks, say using the air at 78 metres, you risk having an oxygen toxicity attack.

The other problem is using the bottom mix on the surface on in shallow water. The lower level of oxygen can cause a person to get confused from lack of oxygen as it is less than 21% in air. This is especially possible if hard work is involved, meaning you need much more oxygen.

The other divers were presumably using air/heliox/nitrox mixtures that were somewhat similar. Anyway, after loading all the gear aboard and at 10:30 am they left the boatshed to head out to the wreck. It is not a long run and should have only taken about 15 or 20 minutes to get there. However, they did not actually anchor onto the wreck till 12:15 pm.

After they had arrived at the wreck site, they had to drop the anchor seven times, as they missed hooking into the wreck on the first six attempts. There was a current running from the north which would have affected attempts to anchor but also severely affect diving. One statement puts it at 1 to 1.5 knots. However, I doubt it was this strong, as with the amount of gear they were wearing, it would have been impossible to swim at all against 1.5 knots and even at 1.0 knots, very, very difficult. It is clear it was strong, no matter what the actual speed was.

Once anchored, they set up equipment like decompression weights and bars, cross-over lines and a mermaid line. This was only 10 metres long (much shorter than the one I use on my boat) and hangs out the back of the boat with a buoy on the end, it is used by divers to hang onto in case there is a problem especially if there is a current.

The plan was for Barry Hallett, Paul Boler and Pat Bowring to dive first. Dave Apperley and Richard Taylor were to wait till the three were back under the boat before they entered the water.

The first divers geared up. Pat put on his twins and then was assisted in clipping his smaller stage tanks onto his BCD. It was now about 1:00 pm. Barry entered the water first and descended. Pat entered the water and then Paul. They should have both descended down the shot line (a weighted line hanging from the back of the boat and connected by a "crossover line" to the anchor line.

However, only Paul descended directly down the shot line. After he jumped in, Pat ended up on the mermaid line and instead of pulling himself back to the shot line, he was seen to let go of the mermaid line and descend and attempt to swim against the strong current to the deco line (shot line). This was witnessed by Dave Apperley and then also by Richard. He then reported to Richard that he saw Pat appeared to be heading towards it.

A few minutes later Richard reported that he witnessed a diver surface 15 or 20 metres (30 metres according to Dave) from the back of the boat. He then realised it was Pat. Pat was not paying attention to the two still on the boat and appeared to be in some difficulty. He still had his regulator in his mouth, but at one time took it out and tried to orally inflate his BCD. It was not clear if he put it back in his mouth.

Dave was obviously worried as he dived in and swam towards him but Pat then dropped below the surface and disappeared. He could only see the yellow "glow" from his tanks below but not make out much of what was happening. A few small bubbles were seen coming up but Dave later stated he did not believe they were exhalation bubbles.

Dave and Richard decided that something bad had happened, so they then started to prepare to unhook the boat and go searching for him. However, as they did this they noticed bubbles under the boat and realised that Barry and Paul were back. As such, they could no longer leave. Richard put on a small tank and dived down. Using an underwater slate, he asked if they had seen Pat and how long they had to spend decompressing. They said they had not seen Pat and did not have long to decompress.

Paul later stated that the current was so strong that he had to stop a number of times while descending due to exhaustion and being out of breath. Once he got to 54 metres, he decided to abort the dive and wait there for Barry to return. Meanwhile, earlier Barry had reached the bottom at 78 metres and found that the anchor had once again come free and there was no sign of the wreck. He put a float on the anchor and ascended.

Barry stated that his dive time was 30 minutes and Paul's was less as he got out before him.

SEARCH ON THE DAY OF THE INCIDENT

Once Barry and Paul were back on the boat, Barry asked Dave to take a GPS reading and then directed him to start the boat and head south-east in the direction the current was heading. It's not clearly stated, but it appears that they simply attached the anchor line to a buoy and perhaps also the shot line as it would take a lot of time to haul them all in. I also assume that Barry was still getting out of his equipment so that is why Dave was driving the boat.

As Dave drove the boat, Richard, Barry and Paul acted as lookouts as they searched for about a kilometre. They then turned around and headed back to the buoyed anchor. After 15 minutes (perhaps when they returned to the buoy), Barry contacted "Sydney radio" for help. I am not sure who he meant by this, it could have been Sydney VTS (the commercial shipping controllers) or perhaps the forerunner of NSW Marine Rescue, the Coast Guard or Coastal Patrol (I cannot remember now which one was in Sydney Harbour). Note that back then, it was possibly unlikely that they had a mobile phone which were really not all that common then. This was said to be about 1:30 pm but was more likely later.

The boat tied back to the buoy and waited for the Police to arrive. Personally, I would have kept searching, but that is just me. The Police arrived 45 minutes later and all relevant information was given to them. A search using a helicopter was started. At 3:30 pm, Barry was told to leave the area and they returned to the boatshed and waited for the Police. Later that day they all attended the Water Police Station and gave statements.

Meanwhile, the Water Police boat Farm Cove commenced a search and the PolAir and Careflight helicopters were also searching. This also continued on 25 May 1996 and a boat search was also conducted on 26 and 27 May 1996. See the map below which shows the searched area (I think this was on 25 May 1996 only).

Of interest, I have no idea why they searched north of where Pat disappeared as the current was heading south or south-east. Really the search should have been concentrated almost directly south or south-east from the wreck site and for a lot longer distance (I once travelled 1.4 kilometres in about 35 or 40 minutes while doing decompression on the wreck of the SS Tuggerah off southern Sydney).

SEARCHES AFTER THE INCIDENT

On Sunday 26 May 1996, two days after the accident, a number of friends of Pat's decided to go out and look for his body. On board the private boat Mixin were David Greenhalgh (36), Grahame Elliott, Joseph Ellams (owner of a dive shop at Manly) and David Allchin (former owner of South Cross Divers). They travlled to the area near the Koputai wreck and dropped a shot line where they thought his body would have ended up after it sunk, taking into account the current.

At 10:09 am David Allchin and Joe Ellams entered the water first. At the bottom of the shot line, they attached a guide line and commenced a search in a circular pattern. This was unsuccessful and they ascended.

At 10:59 am David Greenhalgh and Grahame Elliott entered the water. They followed the guide line which had been left there by the first divers and commenced searching out past this in a clockwise direction. They visibility was 6 to 7 metres. Greenhalgh held the guide line and Elliott was on the outside of him at the limit of visibility (thus covering a much larger area).

They did one complete lap and then moved out a distance. About half way around this lap, Elliott discovered Pat's drysuit. This was by itself (more details later). Elliott tied the guideline onto one leg and as they had reached their maximum bottom time, they headed back to the shot line and ascended. Greenhalgh later stated that he thought he saw some other items in the distance but they were not Pat's tanks but may have been his BCD (and perhaps his fins?).

Back on the dive boat, the Water Police were called and about an hour later they arrived. They pulled up the shot line and the guideline and the attached drysuit. The drysuit was empty of any body parts and had also been ripped apart around the neck, chest and abdomen area by a shark. There was also some minor shark tooth damage to other parts of the drysuit. The ankles of the suit still had small ankle weights in place. The left hand arm sleeve had been pulled inside out which indicated the body had exited the suit with some force.

Of great interest, it was stated that when recovered, the drysuit's exhaust valve was in the open position. This is very strange, as when you descend in a drysuit, this should be shut or (if available) in the auto position. If it is open, any air that you put into the drysuit to counteract pressure squeeze can escape. It should only be in the open position when ascending. This also explains why Pat sank as he would have had no air in the drysuit when on the surface.

Ian Gordon, Curator of Ocean World at Manly (no longer there) identified the damage as having been caused by a 2.5 to 3.5 metre shark, but no species was stated. He also stated that he did not believe that the damage was caused on the surface but was very likely to have happened on the bottom.

A while later, the NSW Water Police contracted Gray Diving Services to conduct a search for Pat's body and/or equipment. This cost $17,000! It is unlikely that this search would have occurred except for th4e fact that Pat's wife was Nene King, one of the most powerful media personalities in Australia. This search involved the use of sonar and a remote operating vehicle (ROV). On 5 and 6 June 1996 the search was undertaken.

CORONIAL INQUEST

This was held on 23 October 1996 before Derek Hand. At the inquest a person called Frank Gilroy appeared. He claimed to have seen a person he identified as Pat Bowring exit the water at Bondi Beach on the day in question. However, it soon became obvious that the time he said he saw the person was actually before Pat went missing, 12:45 pm, when he did not disappear till after 1:00 pm and many kilometres out to sea.

Other people to appear at the inquest included:

Other evidence was submitted, statements, reports of the various searches and checks of equipment etc.

The same day, Mr Hand gave his finding that Pat Bowring had died about "three nautical miles east of Shark Point, Clovelly...but...the manner and cause of his death the evidence does not enable me to say other than that there are no suspicious circumstances associated with his death". He also totally dismissed Mr Gilroy's claim to have seen Pat on Bondi Beach.

LATER CLAIMS MADE BY NENE KING

After the loss of her husband, Nen King had a hard time and it is well documented in various media reports that she resorted to alcohol and drugs. In many of these interviews, she claimed that Pat had been killed by a shark which is not true. All that can be said is that he died while scuba diving and later his body was probably attacked and devoured by sharks.

WHY DID PAT DIE?

I first read the Coroner's Inquest papers in 1997 or so when they were provided to me by a diving friend whose solicitor brother had obtained them via Police contacts. I was not able to write anything about it then due to the fact that the papers had been obtained in a possibly shifty manner. In 2025 my diver friend gave me all the papers (hundreds of pages) as his brother had died some time before and there was now no possible problem to be caused by the legal ambiguity.

After again reading the papers, my view is still the same as when I read them in 1997. That is, Pat probably made a big mistake and was using his bottom mix of 16% oxygen when he entered the water. He ended up some distance from the boat and then attempted to swim underwater to the shot line attached to the back corner of the boat.

The very strong current (1 to 1.5 knots as reported by all on board) would have made him breath very heavily. As the oxygen content of his bottom mix was 5% less than we normally breath, it is likely that this deficit of oxygen made him weak and also light-headed. When he surfaced, he still had this regulator in his mouth for most of the time, again meaning he was not getting enough oxygen.

To make matters worse, it would seem that his drysuit dump valve was open (this is how it was when it was recovered) and this meant that he was heavy and when he grew weaker, he could no longer kick enough to stay afloat. In addition, the lack of adequate oxygen caused him to be confused, unable to solve this problem as well as neglecting to swim to the mermaid line or drop his weights.

Finally, my view is that to attempt a dive to the depths involved (over 70 metres) when there was a current of 1 to 1.5 knots running was crazy. I have done dives to 45 to 50 metres using far less equipment in currents of 0.5 to 0.75 knots and this was extremely difficult. I would certain not do a deep dive in currents of 1 or more knots, even with my smaller amount of equipment (much less drag/resistance).