Denizen of the Deep

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Profile by John Tolmie

It all began in 1972 on the shore of Lake

Candlewood in western Connecticut. There stood a young man preparing his diving equipment for a plunge into the cool lake water. He and his schoolmates from the swim team had learned SCUBA diving and young Jay Kane had acquired whatever gear he could find. Though recreational SCUBA diving had been around since the 1950’s the equipment was largely scarce. Jay and his friends cut their teeth as young divers exploring the lakes in the region. However, on this day Jay was out to make some money. He recalls, “The coolest memory of my early days was my first salvage operation. Two gentlemen had been fishing when they flipped their 18 foot canoe and lost all their fishing gear. They paid me $50 to retrieve it.”

After high school he wanted to be trained as a U.S. Navy diver but was turned down because he had trouble clearing pressure from his ears.

However, being a patriot he decided to join the Army. Jay was tight lipped about his combat service not expounding on what transpired during his time. Like many true warriors Jay

wouldn’t glorify his tour of duty. He simply stated, “I served in Panama when things weren’t going so well down there.” After being honorably discharged Jay became a corrections officer at the Bridgeport Jail. Not enjoying the

culture of the corrections industry he started moonlighting as a diver while working for local water companies. He also spent his off days in Cape Cod commercial diving and fishing. Jay recounts, “The corrections job lasted 3 years, 11 months and 21 days. Not that I was counting!” He continued, “Since I had joined the Army right out of high school, I decided that I would quit the corrections job and go to college to earn my bachelors in political science at the University of Connecticut.”

After graduating in 1982, Jay started teaching recreational Scuba diving at U- Conn’s various campuses. This evolved into a charter business guiding divers out to Block Island to explore its many shipwrecks. After over decade of instructing divers, Jay decided to form Shoreline Diving and opened a dive shop. Jay enjoyed a prosperous time but as the recreational diving industry started to change, he had to make a decision.

Photos above and facing page courtesy Custom House, New London

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“For years the only place to buy or service diving gear was your local dive shop. Then around 1986 mail order started killing small retail operations. I saw the early onset coming and decided to restructure my business.” From 1986 to 1990 Jay transitioned from recreational diving to the more lucrative commercial diving.

Since college Jay had maintained relationships with local water companies that required his unique set of skills. “Water companies don’t compete with each other due to the geographic

location of reservoirs. You can’t buy water from New Haven if you live in Norwich… and they all talk because they need to help each other when they have a problem. If they required a dive team to fix an issue they would recommend me and it was literally that word-of-mouth which grew my business.”

During the early days of his burgeoning commercial business Jay started a family and wanted to be close to home. In the commercial diving industry most divers have to travel for weeks or months at a time but he found abundant work in the region. The applications of his skills would be tested over time as each job had its own unique set of obstacles. Jay found himself working on Connecticut’s river dams to ensure their structural integrity. “There are over 3,500 dams located in Connecticut. Some date as far

back as colonial times and many are from the turn of the 19th century.” He explains, “Back in the spring of 1974 we saw heavy rain and flooding throughout the state. Six dams blew out so Connecticut starting a dam safety and repair program. Today Connecticut is way ahead of other states in dam safety and Shoreline Diving has been a big part of that.” Jay found himself working under the water in all types of public water situations, however, it was salvage diving that he found most intriguing. “The salvage work that we do, well each job is different. We’ve salvage cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats and airplanes. We’ve raised them all up from as shallow as 10 feet to a depth of 130 feet of water. For me those jobs are the most interesting.” Over the years Jay became proficient in underwater demolition, cutting, welding and ships husbandry. He also worked on Navy nuclear submarines. Jay recounts “We were in fact the first civilian dive crew to work on the Seawolf Submarine. We dove on it right after it was delivered to the Navy from

Photo by Shoreline Diving

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Photo courtesy Custom House, New London

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Photos by John Tolmie

Electric Boat.” Commercial divers have to be able to perform all jobs underwater and on land and a diver is literally a Jack of all trades. Jay says, “You have to know how to drill into granite, blast granite, lay concrete under water, use C4 on metal wrecks and you have to know how to rig properly if you are going to lift something off the bottom. There is a lot of planning before a dive. On the surface we fabricate everything for the underwater portion of the job. A diver needs the job to go as smoothly as possible while under water so we do as much as we can before we dive.”

Jay is also a diving historian and has amassed a collection of vintage diving gear dating back to the 19th century. In his man cave, he displays several diving helmets that sit neatly mounted on oak stands. I ask him what made him start collecting these functional pieces of art. “What other piece of equipment can be used for a hundred years and still be functional? Not many.” Jay says, “This helmet was made in the late 19th

century. I can hook it up right now and use it on a working dive. To me that’s the beauty of these helmets.” The diving helmet has evolved little over the years however one particular upgrade came about in the late 1890’s in the

form of diver communications. At the Navy base in Newport, these telephones were retrofitted into the old helmets but the Navy divers didn’t like this new feature. “While the divers worked on the bottom, surface support had no

idea what was going on. But of course topside started telling the divers what to do.” Jay chuffs, “Divers have never been really good at listening to other people.”

At the end of our time Jay takes a call. “Sorry but I have to go. That was the Coast Guard. A boat sank over a month ago.” He chuckles, “but apparently it’s an emergency today!” It was freezing and snow was falling to the ground outside his warm upscale home. I wanted to know why after almost 50 years of diving he keeps going back to the deep. He again smiles but his piercing blue eyes look surprised at my question, “The money!” he says and laughs, “Yes the money is good. And you know it’s a job that basically you do by yourself and you become good at things because you are doing them by yourself. I’m just that type of person who is probably just good at working alone!”

For more information on the history of diving in Connecticut please visit the Custom House Maritime Museum in New London where you can see Jay lecture about diving and view his collection of helmets and gear on display for the public to enjoy.

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Photo courtesy Custom House, New London