Original Title

Tales of an Ancient Mariner

The genesis of a legend

· This section of the Ancient Mariners Web was generated after the publication of a “best seller” book Blind Man’s Bluff by Sherry Sonntag, a brilliant young creative journalist and Charles Drew, an experienced but aging investigative reporter. As with any best seller, the authors focused on a few protagonists and built them into characters representative of the sum of the individuals who were responsible for the acts and missions described in the book. One of these individuals was named John Craven. His name is my name too and now, whenever I go out I hear the people shout “John Piña Craven – Blind Man’s Bluff” To set the record straight I produced the following:

Captain William Nicholson and civilian associate symbolize the change of command in the Deep Submergence Systems Project (DSSP) with this transfer of a model of the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV). The Deep Submergence Systems Project was the offspring of the Special Projects Office which was organized for the development of the Polaris FBM missile/submarine system. The project itself was the result of a report by the "Stephan Committee" which investigated the Navy Capability in Deep Submergence in the wake of the loss of the submarine Thresher. Initially the project was charged with the responsibility for the development of systems and operational capabilities for Deep Submergence Rescue. Deep Submergence Search, and Large Object Salvage. In rapid succession it inherited or initiated thesealab3.html "Man-in the Sea Program, the development and construction of the NR-1 nuclear powered submarine. Unbeknown to most of the world, including many personnel in the program the project office was charged with the development of submarine technologyu and techniques for the acquisition of military intelligence. In the early days of the program a number of military missions occured which included the recovery of a lost Hydrogen Bomb from the waters of Palomares Spain, the search and investigation of the lost submarine Scorpion, the search and investigation of a lost Soviet submarine, and other missions. In all of these the project provided developmental assets and techniques and on occasion, direction, for the successful acomplishment of these vital national missions. Many innovations were generated by this project office which became the fountainhead for missile, submarine and deep submergence technologies for the next thirty years.

This did not work. The media had now taken notice and hardly a day passed without an inquiry into the past. The most complete and well researched documentation of this history appears in William Broad's Book "The Universe Below" Those of us who were involved in this effort are pleased and proud that these dangerous and difficult missions are now a part of our national history. But we are equally proud of the fact that current national security concerns require that the full extent of Navy and National capability remain classified as long as technical and operational superiority plays a significant role in national security. At the same time we are angry and dismayed over the fact that most of the revelations are the result of treason on the part of a few individuals in the Navy, the CIA and other security agencies. I therefore proposed to Simon and Schuster a book entitled Tales of an Ancient Mariner featuring Feature individual essays on the genesis of the technologies and operations in which the Special Projects Office, the Deep Submergence Systems Project and the operational Navy played a significant role. Simon and Schuster agreed but I was a pawn in the hands of a writer and an editor who wanted ‘best seller history’ The result is described in the Prologue which will soon appear on this web page. The book itself, with its publisher generated title will be in the book stores on April 2^nd. Buy a copy and I will autograph it for you if you have read this page. An email to craven@aloha.com should do the trick.