Taken from The New York Times on March 2, 2009.
Dow drops below 7,000 for the first time since '97. Sam released a soft, scraping sigh, which amplified in the tiny cabin where all six-foot-two of him sat, squished and angled and yet somehow relaxed, as if with an old friend. Dow was nothing fancy, but she could dive. Sam had worked on her for three years, getting her back into diving condition, and he couldn't be more proud at that moment.
Dow was a submarine used by the American Navy during the Cold War in the early 1960s. She was in working condition until 1997, when Sam was commissioned to fix her up. Now, Dow was off to be displayed at a port museum in Galveston, TX. But the museum wanted her in working condition. So, after three years of labor, Sam was exactly where he wanted to be--7,000 feet underwater in the Gulf of Mexico, testing his labor of love, a small and competent submarine he'd named Dow. And though the dive certainly wasn't his first, it was the only dive that filled him with such a strong sense of ownership and camaraderie. Dow was a friend, a sick vessel that he nursed back to health. If the museum even took her out to sea again--which Sam doubted--she would probably never again reach these depths. He purveyed the old, unused petroleum structures that rest on the Gulf's floor, creating artificial reefs for thousands of sea creatures. Normally, Sam thought the reefs were eerie and drab. But today, the reefs were beautiful through Dow's rose-colored portals.
"You and me, baby," Sam said. "Don't forget me." And with that, Sam began the ascent.
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