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Georgia man dies diving off Florida Keys

By David Goodhue

dgoodhue@keysreporter.com
The ‘Spiegel Grove’ should have gone straight down when it was intentionally sunk as to be used as a dive site off Key Largo on May 17, 2002.. Instead, it sank prematurely and those aboard had to be helicoptered and boated off the vessel.
The ‘Spiegel Grove’ should have gone straight down when it was intentionally sunk as to be used as a dive site off Key Largo on May 17, 2002.. Instead, it sank prematurely and those aboard had to be helicoptered and boated off the vessel. Photo by Sergio Garcia

A Georgia man died diving the Spiegel Grove wreck off Key Largo Monday morning.

James Ringold, 52, from Lawrenceville, Ga., was found by other divers he was with from the Rainbow Reef dive boat unresponsive and with his breathing regulator out of his mouth around 10 a.m. Ringold was about 50 feet below the surface when the divers spotted him, Deputy Becky Herrin, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office media relations officer, said.

He was accompanied by his wife on the dive trip, Herrin said.

The other divers brought Ringold to the surface and onto the Rainbow Reef, whose crew performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation. First responders met the crew on land at mile marker 99 and took Ringold to Mariners Hospital at mile marker 91 in Tavernier, where he was pronounced dead at 11:41 a.m., Herrin said.

The county medical examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death, Herrin said.

The Spiegel Grove is a 510-foot-long former U.S. Navy ship intentionally sunk as a dive site in around 80 feet of water about six miles off the Key Largo coast in 2002.

David Goodhue: 305-440-3204

This story was originally published May 8, 2017 at 3:56 PM with the headline "Georgia man dies diving off Florida Keys."