"Captain" Billy Deans is a pioneeringwreck andtechnical diver. "Captain" is thenickname which is widely applied to Billy Deans, however he is aUS Coast Guard-ratedcaptain up to 100 tons.[citation needed]
Deans is a former member of theboard of directors ofInternational Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers (IANTD). He was an instructor for theUnited States Army Corps of Engineers, and taughtSpecial forces divers for theUnited States Army and theUnited States Navy. He is also aProfessional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) andNational Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI)recreational diving instructor.[citation needed]
Billy Deans was one of the early pioneers in the use oftrimix fordeep diving. During the exploration ofU-869 chronicled in the best selling book,Shadow Divers,John Chatterton andRichie Kohler sought instruction from Billy Deans in the use of trimix (which had, until then, largely been restricted tocave exploration diving inFlorida). These presaged a number of North Eastern wreck divers to seek trimix training from Billy Deans, leading to its popularity as a deep diving breathing gas.[1]
Billy Deans has been involved in a number of high-profile shipwreck expeditions over the years, includingGary Gentile's expedition to theUSS Monitor, various exploration dives on theSS Andrea Doria,[2] theUSS Wilkes-Barre andU-2513. In late 1993, Billy Deans served as Dive Operations Officer for an expedition recovering treasure and artifacts from a Spanishbrigantine which sank in theGulf of Mexico offNew Orleans.
Billy Deans ran a dive shop (known as Key West Diver) in Key West, FL for many years prior to retiring from diving in 1998.[citation needed]
He qualified as anICUnurse.[3]
In Kevin McMurray's book,Deep Descent, he refers to an unspecified third party publication describing Billy Deans as "the world's best diver".[4]
