KEY LARGO, Florida (18 Mar 2007) -- The mystery is why three experienced New Jersey divers, who died exploring a popular Florida shipwreck on Friday, did so many things carelessly wrong. Rescuers recovered the bodies of Kevin Coughlin, 51, of Chatham; and Scott Stanley and Jonathan Walsweer, 38, both of Westfield, on Saturday from the wreck of the Spiegel Grove, a sunken Naval vessel off Key Largo, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office in Florida. A fourth diver, Howard Spialter, also of Westfield, was the lone survivor. Spialter resurfaced early when he ran short of air, according to the sheriff's office. The four friends were seasoned divers who dived on this wreck annually, said Robert "R.J." Hartman, owner of the Treasure Cove Watersports dive shop in Westfield, where the men were well-known. "They instructed and trained a lot of people at Treasure Cove how to dive," Hartman told The Record. Stanley was a particularly adept diver, Hartman said. "Scott was the kind of guy who risked his life many times underwater to save other individuals in trouble." But lead Monroe Sheriff's Detective Mark Coleman said the four divers made several deadly errors. Spialter told the detective that the group did not take all the safety precautions they should have to complete the dive, Coleman said. The men did not have a dive plan, which is crucial to preparing divers for what to expect, Coleman reported on the sheriff's Web site. They also did not have dive reels -- spools of line attached to the entrance of the wreck to follow back at the end of the dive, Coleman said. The divers also did not take enough extra dive tanks to leave at staging areas along the route to use when they ran low on air. But the main reason the tragedy may have occurred, Coleman said, was that the four men were exploring a lower part of the sunken ship not intended for tourist diving. The Spiegel Grove, a 510-foot-long vessel which rests 134 feet below the surface, was intentionally sunk in 2002 as an artificial reef and is a popular dive spot. Upper portions of the ship have many areas prepared for divers with ingress and egress holes, and directional markings on the wall. But the New Jerseyans dived to a lower portion where entrances were sealed off. They had carried only single tanks, and had left their extra stage tanks much higher in the vessel near the entrance, Coleman said. "The divers who went in to recover the bodies said this portion of the ship has large amounts of silt built up inside," Coleman said in a statement. "It doesn't take very much movement to kick that silt up and cause problems with your ability to see. "Without a line to follow out, and with lots of silt in the water, it would have been virtually impossible for them to find their way out of the wreck," he said. The four friends, who were reportedly advanced certified divers, went to the wreck site aboard the commercial dive vessel Scuba-Do, captained by Mark Cianciulli, officials said. The men had dived on the wreck the day before, but this time intended to perform a so-called penetration dive deeper into the ship. Coughlin, the first diver recovered, became distressed and was brought to the surface by two divers from another boat. He was taken onboard a Coast Guard vessel and given CPR, but did not respond, and was pronounced dead at Mariners Hospital in Tavernier. | | On March 17th, divers from Key Largo Fire/Rescue and the Monroe County Sheriff's Office recovered two bodies still trapped in the wreck. This photo is of one of the bodies being brought to shore by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. It is being transferred from the FWC vessel to a vehicle belonging to the Medical Examiner's Office, for transport to Key West for an autopsy.. After initial searches failed to find Stanley and Walsweer, a dive team from Key Largo Fire Rescue discovered their bodies so deep inside the wreck that more divers had to be called to recover them, officials said. Spialter was stationed at the entrance of the wreck, while the other three divers went inside, when he began to run out of air, and resurfaced safely, detectives said. Although 130 feet down is the accepted limit for recreational diving, the shipwreck at 134 feet "is not excessively deep," said commercial diver John Yurga of West Orange. "It sounds like they silted themselves out," said Yurga, 42, whose role in the discovery of a German submarine U-boat off the Jersey Shore was documented in the book "Shadow Divers." "They got lost inside the wreck. Instead of getting out, they went further and further in," speculated Yurga, who did not know the men. Rescuers would probably have to drag along a couple hundred pounds of diving line so they could find their way out, Yurga said. "You don't want to kill another diver recovering dead bodies," he said. Meanwhile, friends of the four divers in New Jersey were sending condolences Saturday to the Treasure Cove in Westfield. "It's a great loss, a tragedy for our diving community, as well as their families," Hartman said. Walsweer, Hartman said, was a financial adviser; Coughlin was self-employed in real estate; and Stanley was co-owner of a flooring business in East Hanover. Spialter is a retired attorney, Hartman said. "I've known them over 10 years," Hartman said. "They loved diving. Diving was one of their passions." 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