Or was "Dido's Cave" actually "Nether Hagg Mine"?
There seems to be a lot of misinformation within this topic already. Roger W's account seems to have elements of more than one incident blended into one story that didn't actually happen. There was that rescue when a youth free dived an impressive distance in a sump in Carlswark in the 1960s and got stranded in an airbell. He was actually recovered alive after a pumping effort. The Dido's Cave / Nether Hagg Mine incident was more recently (late 80s I think). What actually happened there was tail end Charlie missed the climb up to the entrance area and continued to where the roof dipped below water. Most people would realise they'd gone wrong at that point because no sump had been dived on the way in. But he just had a deep breath and kept going. That rescue was certainly performed by cave divers.
Sam T's original post makes an innocent throw away comment which perpetuates the myth about cave diving being extremely dangerous; that's just not true these days. It might
seem that way to the uninitiated but unless you are an experienced cave diver you're just not in a position to make that judgement.
Finally, just one point about Mark's comments re God's Bridge Rising. I know that restriction very well and I think one reason it feels easier coming back is that this is downstream and you're not moving against the sharp scallops - which act like Velcro when progressing in an upstream direction. For what it's worth, I think incidents generally sound much worse when recounted in the pub than when they actually happen. Mark is a very experienced cave diver (he and I are in the same club); if you read his account carefully it's obvious he was not panicking and responded appropriately to a potentially difficult scenario.
One problem is that tales of underwater mishaps have a habit of becoming embellished as a result of the Chinese whispers factor - then they quickly become embedded in caving folklore as the "truth". In such circumstances, if you actually speak to those concerned and get the real facts - you'll often find things were quite different from the popular stories which circulate.
As the old insurance ad said: "Don't turn an incident into a crisis".
