The ocean doesn’t just move — it remembers.
Every tide carries the echoes of the people who lived beside it, depended on it, listened to it.

Saltwater holds more than salt.
It holds stories.

The lullabies of coastal grandmothers.
The seasonal fishing wisdom was passed down before any weather app existed.
The Indigenous rituals teach us how to live with the sea, not against it.

These stories aren’t ornaments.
They’re survival guides.

And in a warming world, we need them more than ever.

🌊 This Week’s Call to Action: Become a Keeper of Ocean Memory

Think of this as cultural conservation meets climate stewardship — small actions that safeguard both people and coastlines.

📖 1. Document Local Ocean Traditions

Ask your community:
• What did your grandparents teach about tides or storms?
• What rituals marked the changing seasons?
• What plants, animals, or landmarks told them, “the sea is shifting”?

Record these. Digital, written, audio — it all counts.

🎥 2. Interview the Quiet Experts

The divers.
The fisherfolk.
The swimmers who know every current by feel.
The elders who can read the sky like scripture.

Their knowledge is disappearing faster than coral reefs.
Let’s capture it while we can.

This is an Interview with Chris Lemons: The Deep-Sea Saturation Diver Who Survived the Impossible

Featured in the Netflix/BBC documentary Last Breath

In September 2012, British saturation diver Chris Lemons was working 100 metres below the surface of the North Sea when his umbilical — the only line supplying him with breathing gas, heat, and communication — was severed. For over 40 minutes, he lay on the seabed in total darkness with no oxygen, no light, and no hope of survival.

Yet he lived.

This is the true story behind the gripping Netflix documentary Last Breath (2019), told using real helmet-cam and radio footage from the incident.
Below is the full transcript of Chris’s powerful 2020 interview on the High Performance podcast with Jake Humphrey, where he reflects on the day he should have died — and the lessons it taught him about resilience, teamwork, and never giving up.

Full Transcript

Original interview: High Performance Podcast
Host: Jake Humphrey | Guest: Chris Lemons
Published: 28 October 2020
Watch the original episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3k8M2bXBlA
Watch the documentary: Last Breath on Netflix

00:16
Jake: Let’s start in the simplest possible way. Who are you and what do you do?

Chris: I’m a saturation diver. I work in the North Sea mainly, on oil and gas pipelines. We live in a pressurised environment on the ship for up to 28 days. Every day we’re transferred in a diving bell down to the seabed, 100–150 metres typically, sometimes deeper, and we go out and work on the pipelines for six to eight hours at a time.

01:26
Jake: There’s a documentary on Netflix right now called Last Breath that tells your story, using the actual helmet-cam and radio footage from the day everything went wrong in 2012. What made you decide to turn that incident into a film?

Chris: The director approached us a couple of years after the incident. Initially I was quite reluctant because it’s quite a personal thing, but when he explained he wanted to show the human side of the industry and the teamwork involved, I thought that was a really positive message. I hope it shows people what commercial diving is really like, how dangerous it can be, but also the incredible teamwork and the trust we have in each other.

02:44
Jake: Your survival still baffles doctors and scientists. You had no breathing gas, no heat, no light for over 40 minutes, yet you lived. What do you put it down to?

Chris: A combination of things: the saturation gases in my body bought me time; the freezing water dropped my core temperature to 26 °C, slowing metabolism; I think I triggered the mammalian dive reflex; and sheer luck that my colleagues found me when they did. Medically, they still can’t fully explain it. Doctors called it “one of the most remarkable survivals they’d ever seen”.

05:31
Jake: Most people would never go back in the water after that. How did you?

Chris: I went back to work four months later. For me it was important to get back on the horse. The incident wasn’t caused by diving itself — it was a ship positioning failure. I still trusted the system and my team, and I love the job. I’ve been diving ever since.

08:17
Jake: What do you hope people take away from your story?

Chris: That no matter how bad things look, never give up. My colleagues never gave up on me. And the importance of teamwork — your life literally depends on the people around you.

10:43
Jake: In these uncertain times, what message do you have for business leaders?

Chris: Look after your people. Make sure they feel supported and part of a team. When everything went wrong for us, we got through it because everybody pulled together, stayed calm, and followed the procedures we’d trained for. Clear communication and trust matter more than ever when the pressure is on.

12:45
Jake: What’s next for you?

Chris: Just keep diving. I’ve got a young family now, so I’m more selective, but I still love it. I do some speaking too, trying to pass on the lessons from that day.

Chris Lemons continues to work as a saturation diver to this day — a living testament that the human spirit, backed by teamwork and training, can survive the darkest depths.

Transcript prepared by Petal & Pixel with gratitude to Chris Lemons and the High Performance Podcast team.

📚 3. Share the Stories

Put them in classrooms, libraries, community halls, and youth groups.
Make the ocean’s memory communal — not private.

🤝 4. Partner With Indigenous Stewards

They have safeguarded coastlines for centuries.
Support their conservation efforts, platforms, and projects.
Amplify, don’t appropriate.

🌍 Why This Matters

UN SDG 14 calls for inclusive, community-led ocean protection — because the science is clear:

Nature survives best when culture survives with it.

Cultural memory is not nostalgia.
It’s a climate strategy.

It teaches us how to forecast without satellites.
How to harvest without harming.
How to respect a coastline as a living, changing relative.

When we protect these stories, we protect the shorelines that shaped them.

🌱 Want to Go Further? Small, Meaningful Actions People Can Take

Not everyone can restore a reef — but everyone can support one.

Here’s what humans can adopt, sponsor, or participate in:
• 🌿 Adopt a coral fragment through reef-restoration charities
• 🌱 Sponsor a mangrove seedling in Kenya, Indonesia, or the Caribbean
• 🌊 Support seagrass restoration projects
• 🐢 Adopt a sea turtle nest through conservation programs
• 🧹 Join a coastal cleanup or start a small community one
• 🪸 Donate to Indigenous-led ocean protection movements
• 🎨 Create ocean-memory art and share it to raise awareness

These are tiny acts of ecological reciprocity — a way of saying:
“We remember you too.”

✨ Closing Reflection

The ocean’s memory is long, but it is not guaranteed.
If we don’t record it, protect it, share it — it will be lost to rising tides and fading coastlines.

This week, let’s make memory a form of marine conservation.
Let’s archive the wisdom before it’s washed away.
And let’s honour the people who read the water long before we studied it.

The sea carries our stories.
Now it’s our turn to carry them back.

#TechSheThink #PetalAndPixel #OceanMemory #IndigenousKnowledge #UNSDG14 #StorytellingAsActivism #ClimateHope #CoastalWisdom #OceanConservation #BluePlanetFuture