Christopher Charles Vanstone (1964-2013)

Dates

Birth: April-June 1964 Hitchin, Hertfordshire, UK
Father: Christopher D Vanstone (Castle) 1942-a1982
Mother: Susan L G Farrow [Izod] 1943-a1983

Marriage: July 1984 Hitchin, Hartfordshire, UK
Wife: Nicola Louise Shand 1963-a1991

Death: 30 August 2013 17 miles off the Lowestoft coast, Suffolk, UK

Children

Christopher William Vanstone 1984
Hayley Louise Vanstone 1991

Notes

Entry in the Register of Births for Christopher C Vanstone, mother's maiden name Farrow, in April-June 1964 in Hitchin (4b 408).

Entry in the Register of Marriages for Christopher C Vanstone and Nicola L Shand in July 1984 in Hitchen (10 906).

His son was born in Barnstable in 1984 and daughter in Kings Lynn in 1991.

Entry in Ancestry All UK, Electoral Registers, 2003-2010 for Christopher C Vanstone born in 1963-1965, address Flat B, 11 Milkwood Road SE24 0HX, London from 2008 to 2010.

Entry in 192.com for Christopher C Vanstone in the Electoral Roll 2008-2013 aged 45-49 and living in London SE24.

Two entries in People Trace UK for Christopher C Vanstone - 11 Amberley Drive, Woodham, Addlestone KT15 3SN from 1984 to 2004, Flat 1, and B 11 Milkwood Road, London SE24 0HX from 2008 to 2015, and another entry for Christopher Charles Vanstone at the same address.

Entry in Brixton Blog 2 September, 2013.

A Brixton man has died while on a recreational diving trip off the coast of Norfolk. Police say 49-year-old Christopher Vanstone may have surfaced too quickly, and are examining his diving equipment. A second man was treated in hospital after the incident, which happened on Friday afternoon. Police met the “recreational” diving boat as it returned to Hamilton Docks in Lowestoft, Suffolk. A spokesperson said: “As is standard procedure the death is currently being treated as unexplained pending the outcome of the post-mortem examination. “These are preliminary inquiries, but at this stage there do not appear to be any suspicious circumstances.”

Entry in RB Fatal Accident DataBase No. 351 Friday 30 August 2013 Chris Vanstone Buddy Wreck Dive 28m Loftestoft

"Coastguards were alerted by the operator of the Raider V dive boat 17 miles off the Lowestoft coast after reports that a diver had died after being recovered to the surface. The group of divers were wreck diving from a charter boat twenty- three miles off the coast. The last diver to enter the water noticed a rebreather diver on the shotline apparently 'fiddling' with his kit but his buddy, also a rebreather diver, was nearby and everything appeared to be under control so he continued with his dive. The buddy had noticed the diver bail out from his rebreather and appeared to have difficulty getting his regulator into his mouth and suddenly spat it out. The diver pushed it back into the distressed diver's mouth but he spat it out again. At this point the diver retrieved his bailout regulator, purged it in front of the distressed diver to demonstrate it had gas and then pushed into his mouth. A few moments later the distressed diver bit right through the mouthpiece and ejected the regulator. At this point the buddy decided to rescue the distressed diver to the surface by a controlled buoyant lift. Once at the surface both divers were recovered to the boat but as the distressed diver was unconscious and not breathing. CPR was immediately administered by the buddy whilst the Coastguard was alerted by a distress call. Thirty minutes later, during which time the buddy continued with CPR, the helicopter arrived to evacuate the diver to hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The buddy, who was in shock and with possible DCI, was given 83% oxygen until a lifeboat arrived to take him to a hyperbaric facility where he was given precautionary recompression treatment and then discharged. "
"Mr Vanstone, a plasterer from Brixton, South London was airlifted to James Paget Hospital in Norfolk, and pronounced dead on arrival. An inquest later found that he had drowned. Christopher Vanstone, of Brixton, drowned after getting into difficulty around 17 miles off the coast of Lowestoft. He had taken out his mouthpiece, though the reason why remains a mystery, and then the mouthpiece for his back-up oxygen supply fell by his side where he could not reach it, an inquest heard today. His dive buddy Neil Cope tried to help him with his own back-up supply, then fought to save him by giving CPR for 40 minutes after hauling him onto a boat while an emergency helicopter was scrambled. Mr Vanstone, 49, was pronounced dead at the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston on August 30 last year. Coroner Jacqueline Lake recorded the death as an accident. Mr Vanstone’s friend Mr Cope had been on more than 150 dives with him and told the inquest Mr Vanstone was an “experienced” diver who was “calm under pressure”. Both men had been using “complicated” breathing apparatus called a rebreather - which does not release carbon dioxide bubbles into the water as it works on a closed loop. Mr Cope said Mr Vanstone was “fully familiar” with how it worked, and was in the habit of checking his equipment before each dive. Around half a dozen experienced divers were on the third day of a shipwreck diving trip when events took a tragic turn. A line was placed from their boat, the Raider 5, to the shipwreck on the seabed and Mr Vanstone started to descend along it. But he suddenly stopped while 28m below the surface. Mr Cope, who was descending after Mr Vanstone, saw he had taken out his rebreather mouthpiece and the mouthpiece for his back-up oxygen supply was “dangling” from his hip.After a struggle he got his own back-up mouthpiece into Mr Vanstone’s mouth and he appeared to be breathing. But when he bent down to reach Mr Vanstone’s back-up mouthpiece, the hose of his own back-up was pulled taut and “pinged” away from Mr Vanstone. This was recorded in video footage from a camera on Mr Cope’s diving suit. Mr Cope described the moments as a “scramble” and “panic” and added: “Realising there was no hope at depth I decided to go to the surface as fast as possible.” He flagged the attention of their boat’s skipper, hauled Mr Vanstone aboard and performed CPR until a rescue helicopter arrived. He assured Mr Vanstone’s mother Susan Izod that helicopter was the quickest way to get him to hospital, and his state had not changed during CPR. George Buxton, the boat’s skipper, said he saw Mr Cope shouting and waving his arms in the water and Mr Vanstone horizontal and face down next to him. He added the pair did all they could to try to save Mr Vanstone. Technical diving expert John Ingle analysed Mr Vanstone’s breathing kit, and said while the electronics had flooded it appeared to be working. Coroner Jacqueline Lake said Mr Vanstone was an “enthusiastic, competent, qualified diver” with seven years’ experience. She added the reason Mr Vanstone removed his rebreather mouthpiece remains a mystery. The conclusion was one of accidental death, and Mrs Lake praised Mr Cope for his efforts to save his friend. “You worked very quickly in very difficult circumstances when I think it would have been very easy to panic,” she said. “You reacted calmly and did what was best in the circumstances.” A police investigation found nothing untoward, and a post-mortem showed Mr Vanstone had drowned."

Entry in Ancestry Public Member Trees for Christopher C Vanstone born in Hitchen, Hertfordshire in June 1964, married with a son and daughter, and died in a scuba diving accident in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk in February 2014.

Relationship

Christopher Charles Vanstone was the son of Susan L G Farrow, wife of Lloyd Peter Izod, first cousin four times removed of George Marden, husband of Elizabeth Hall, my second great grandaunt.

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