Repairing the Past- Whale Bone Restoration in Devil’s System

Published with permission from the National Speleological Society – Cave Diving Section. Originally printed in the July/August/September Edition of Underwater Speleology

 

Repairing the Past

By: Gene Page and Michael Angelo Gagliardi

 

It may be hard to imagine Florida’s cave country during the Eocene Epoch around 35 to 55 million years ago but let’s try….

Picture some water, a lot of water, like being accidently left by a boat in the middle of nowhere type of water. And sea creatures of varying sizes, from microscopic critters to huge whales.

Among all of these various creatures is a lone whale, slowly living it’s last seconds of life and then floating gently to the sea bottom where it is joined by millions of other sea creatures over the course of millions of years. The compression of these skeletal remains forms the limestone rock that the now dropping water levels cut through forming the cave passages we dive today. Our long deceased whale is now mostly gone, partially deteriorating with time, partially becoming part of the limestone rock and partially fossilized about 2200 horizontal feet from the nearest entrance in the Devil’s System at Ginnie Springs. Pretty cool, right?

At some point in past months these fossilized bones were damaged. Exactly how they were damaged we may never know, but possibly, someone may have swam too close and somehow bumped up against these fragile fossils sticking out of the cave wall, a large chunk landing on the silty floor below.

The cave diving community turned to one of its own to attempt restoration of the damaged fossil, Michael Angelo Gagliardi. Combining his love for cave diving and his artistic background (having studied art as an undergraduate and graduate and his work in film and theater) makes him a unique diver and artist who has leant his skills to repair cave damage before in Cow Springs.

Working with fossilized bones would bring new challenges to Michael Angelo and his team. At first, he wasn’t sure a repair could be accomplished, but he remembered hearing of an epoxy that was used in reef repair and realizing karst can act like ocean reefs he thought this epoxy might be the answer. After some initial tests, above and underwater, plans were made to repair the damaged fossil.

A team of safety divers and assistants was assembled and the project began. Imagine being about 2200 feet in a cave, on a jump off the main line, playing a combination of the game Operation and Rubik’s Cube while being an artist and amateur paleontologist all at the same time and you can imagine the amount of work and creativity that was necessary to complete the repair and restoration. Additional logistics included having to cover all the tools with silicon spray and wax so the epoxy would not stick and using zip-lock baggies with colorant to mix the epoxy underwater and then apply it.

Michael Angelo mentioned “eureka” moments he had during this whole process such as using the colors and striations in bone pieces to help align them once more. Using before and after photographs along with the angle of the bone left in the wall, he determined how many pieces he had to assemble in the studio to bring back to the cave to make the repair. Quite the challenge and accomplishment.

According to Michael Angelo, “Of the 40 hours in the studio, half of that

was staring and waiting for that eureka moment. The colors, striations and textures were that moment.” With a combined 40 hours of above water repair time in his studio and seven dives totaling 15 hours the whale bone was restored and hopefully the whale can now rest easy again in its unique grave.

Michael Angelo’s Notes

January 2015 – The whale bone fossil in the Insulation Room of the Devil System on the Santa Fe River was broken off the wall. I learned of this thru a thread on the Cave Diving Forum. In this thread divers were distraught by the apparent destruction of the fossil. During the thread I asked questions about the fossil and broken pieces. After reading that the broken pieces were still there on the silty floor I began thinking of a way to repair the damage. I talked to Kelley Jessop and Forrest Wilson thru Private messages of my still formulating plan. Both had great input and since I was out of town both Forrest and Kelley spoke with Rose Meadows of Ginnie Springs Resort seeking permission to attempt a restoration. My basic plan is to research the epoxy systems used to restore ocean reefs. These systems are designed to be used underwater by divers to glue pieces of coral together both in the Ocean and for artificial reefs such as aquariums. And thanks to Andreas for the before and after pics.

February 2015 – after reviewing the restoration plan with Rose Meadows I began the retrieval dives. Since I didn’t know the location of the fossil well I asked Rich Courtney to guide me and help with the inspection/recovery phase.

1. A) Conduct a visual survey of the site and determine if a restoration is possible.
2. B) If a restoration is possible then recover the broken pieces to be worked on, on dry land (if at any point it becomes apparent that the restoration will fail then return the pieces to the Insulation Room). Finally determine if the piece still in the wall is solidly attached or if it is needed to be removed whereas, then reassemble the whole whale bone then reattach it to the wall.
3. C) Photograph and video to document the effort.

Today’s Dive:

We met at Ginnie where we went over the dive plan, copies of the before and after images. I also carried Tupperware containers in a duffle bag to safely handle the pieces. Rich led the dive where we scootered to about 2200 ft where we dropped both our stages and DPV’s. We swam to the site where I took a quick video of the site. The piece remaining in the wall was solid and not removable. The broken pieces consisted of 3 large pieces and multiple of smaller pieces. I test fitted the large pieces and found they line back up nicely to the piece still in the wall. I then began collecting the 3 large pieces and as many of the small pieces as possible. This process, as well as bubble exhaust, began to reduce visibility. After 20 minutes or so, visibility decreased enough to call the dive. We stowed the pieces and swam to the

DPVs and stages and began our exit. Exit and deco were uneventful. Dive time was a little under 2 hours. On the surface, we found the 3 large pieces plus several smaller pieces fitted together nicely and we have high hopes for success. We plan another recovery dive this week to get any pieces missed. This dive was followed up with other dives with Richard and Stacy Dreher. Please be aware the fossil fragments were kept in Tupper ware containers filled with spring water and at no time where they allowed to dry.

Studio Phase – With the fragment in my art studio, I set about finishing my research in the epoxy systems. I found a great system by Smooth On Inc. I used their products before in my work on feature films and live theatre and know they were quality products. The folks at their tech research department was very helpful but warned me that no one has ever attempted to use their product in a restoration like this. I purchased the epoxy system then began experimenting with it. I soon discovered that the epoxy cures in 2 ½ minutes at 72 degrees out of water. Testing the system in 60 degree water, the epoxy cured in 5 minutes. I also found I could mix the epoxy with coloring tints so I could match the color of the Whale bone. The fossil exterior is a hard shell with a dark brown patina. The interior is soft multi-colored and textured. In short the fossil is crunchy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside. For the first week of trying to restore the fragments I tried to match the shape and texture of the exterior. This worked well for the large fragments but trying to match the smaller pieces became frustrating. Most of the studio time was spent studying the fragments and the before and after pictures. In the second week of the studio phase I had my Eureka moment. I began to see clearly that matching the outside was not the best approach but rather the inside of the fossil that held the key. While the outside is a single color caused by the wear and tear of being exposed, the inside shows clearly the inner workings of the bone. The veins, arteries and channels for the marrow as well as changes in texture became a road map for restoration. I found that by imaging each fragment as a layer like in a CAT Scan or MRI I could match the smaller pieces to the larger. In the end I had most of the small pieces attached to the larger pieces.

Whale Bone Restoration In Water Phase:

Dive 1 Report:

2-27-15 dive team Michael Angelo Gagliardi (artist/project leader), Peter McCumber (assistant), David Sheard (photographer),Krzysztof Dupel (safety diver 2), Jesse Folker (safety diver 1) and Jeff Rouse (tank Monkey). Please note we had divers trained from 4 organizations NACD, NSS-CDS, IANTD and GUE. We meet at 10 AM at Ginnie Springs, had a briefing on the day’s dive and how all the tools worked. The tools and fossil container was divided in separate “lobster bags” and divided up amongst the team for transport to site. We scootered directly to stage rock (1800 ft), while Jeff Rouse set all our deco tanks for us in predetermined locations. At stage rock, stage bottles were dropped and I retrieved the project area sign from bag. The team, then scootered to 2100 feet where scooters were tied off to the gold line and jump reel deployed. At the site, we located the fossil wall, then safety divers remained on the line while I took the fossil pieces which where preassembled to the fossils wall. Peter was beside me handling the epoxy gun system for me. This involved loading the cartridges into the gun and screwing on the mixing nozzles then handing them to me, then retrieving it back to change nozzles. The epoxy hardens in the nozzle so you go thru a lot of nozzles. Meanwhile, I laid the fossil container on the floor to unpack it.

The pre worked fossil pieces were transported in a water filled Tupperware container wrapped in cloth for protection, this was then placed in a lobster bad which was clipped across the butt plate on my Nomad harness. Once unpacked I test fitted the large piece (about 40% of the fossil). This piece was preassembled from 3 larger pieces and 5 smaller fragments. It fit like a glove. I prepped the corresponding piece on the wall by drilling a series of shallow surface holes across the glue surface to match the holes previously drilled in the broken off piece. I used both a pneumatic die grinder and small wood carving chisel. This allows more surface area and creates “epoxy pins” when set. I signaled Pete for the gun then applied the epoxy to both sides. As expected the epoxy was neutrally buoyant had to be forced into the holes. On the surface the epoxy has a 21/2 minute pot life (15 minute full cure) which extended to 3-4 minute underwater. I held the large piece in place for 5 minutes to insure that its weight would not break the bond before the epoxy cures. Next, I pre-fitted the next piece and prepped the area while Pete changed nozzles. This was a smaller piece which involved matching the holes where nerves went thru. This piece was preassembled from 5 small fragments, it was about a 80% fit so I carved it to finish the fit. It was glued and held in place for 4 minutes. At this point, I thought we were at a good stopping point and vis and gas pressure were dropping so I thumbed the dive at about 60 minutes. I repacked the container lid and cloth pieces into the lobster bag and re-clipped it to my butt plate. I left the open container with the rest of the fragments under the fossil. The team left the jump line in and scootered to stage rock where I stored tools in the black bag and we retrieved our stage bottles and began our exit. We located the 50% and O2 bottles where Jeff left them. Jeff met us in the cavern zone and collected used stage bottles for us. The whole dive was documented by David Sheard using still photography. Total dive time was 127 minutes, max depth was 99 ft. Most of the team used 30% while I used 30/20 mix due to the detailed work. We returned the following week to finish the project. Please do not disturb the area where we are working.

Dives 2 & 3 Report:

On March 2nd and 3rd the restoration team made dives furthering the restoration of the whale bone. On March 2nd the team consisting of Peter McCumber (assistant), David Sheard (photographer and safety diver) and myself – Michael Angelo Gagliardi. We scootered to stage rock where we dropped stage bottles and recovered tools we had stored there. We then scootered to the 2100 line marker where we had left a jump reel on February 27th. Dropping the DPVs we swam to the whalebone. I finished attaching the pieces I had reconstructed in my studio with the Epoxy. The epoxy out of the tube is clear heavy body 2 part glue dispensed thru a mixing tip on a dispensing gun. It is similar in look to Aquaseal. When glue the pieces back on I strove to keep the epoxy away from edges of each piece. After attaching all the pieces I did a cleanup of any dripped glue. Peter was excellent as my assistant where we used simple hand signals to pass the epoxy gun back and forth. Peter would hand me the gun then when I past it back he’d change the mixing tip ready to hand back to me. In the studio, I was able to add coloring agents to the epoxy in an attempt to match the color of the fossil. The question became how do we add the color under water in the cave? What we did was put the color in zip lock baggies then put the gun tip into the bag and add the epoxy. Kneading the bag mixed the colorant into the epoxy. I then pulled the bag over my right hand so it was inside out. This allowed me to scrap the epoxy off the bag with an artist palette knife and fill voids and sculpt in missing pieces. At about 60 minutes onsite I thumbed the dive. We returned to the scooters and did our exit as planned. Dive time:165 minutes, Depth 97 feet. On March 3rd, the work was for all practical purposes the same as March 2nd with the exception that David Sheard did some macro photography documenting the restoration. The team consisted of myself (project leader), Peter McCumber (assistant), David Sheard (photography) and Jesse Folker (safety diver). We reached a point where the fossil is whole again but the epoxy was too soft to carve to match the original pieces. I turned the dive after about 30 – 45 minutes onsite because I felt this was as far as I could go at this point. I will periodically revisit the site to check how the epoxy cures. I believe it will stiffen up enough to finish carving in a few months. The color is also slightly lighter but again I think it will darken with age. If the epoxy system continues to work in the future months then we can consider other repairs. We removed all tools and the storage bags. Dive Time: 125 Minutes.

 

I (Michael Angelo Gagliardi) wish to thank the following volunteers.

Advisory – Kelley Jessop, Forrest Wilson.

Recovery Phase – Rich Courtney and Stacy Dreher.

Studio documentation – Gene Page and Kim Bauldree.

In Water Phase – Peter McCumber, David Sheard, Jesse Folker, Krzysztof Dupel, Jeff Rouse.

Shops – Amigo’s Dive Center and Cave Country Dive Shop for supplying free gas to the team.

I (Michael Angelo Gagliardi) also worked closely with Rose Meadows and Ginnie Springs Resort.