The Smiley Smile Message Board

I found something.  When Dennis Wilson Drowned something happened.  First read this first Sheriff's deputies said he had spent much of the afternoon on a yacht, The Emerald, berthed at the marina. They said he was diving and swimming near the boat with its owner and two young women.

According to the authorities, he dived into the water from a slip beside the boat about 4:25 P.M. but did not surface. After waitng a few minutes, his friends called the Harbor Patrol and lifeguards. No Foul Play Is Seen

Sheriff's Department homicide inspectors were called to the scene, but spokesmen said there was no reason to suspect that the death was not an accident. Spokesmen said there was no immediate reason to suspect that drugs or alcohol was involved in his death.   If he was good at swimming and going Surfing how could he drown?  Again something happened. Him.  I mean did he hit the Boat with his head or banged his head on a Rock? 

I'm pretty sure he hit his head on a rock...

There are people who feel that when he was down there, he decided enough was enough. I'm one of them.

In a man made marina ?

Ack, I forgot about that.

Can one decide enough is enough and simply drown without the body panicking and making you head to the surface?

Other than that, did I read somewhere he might have hit his head on the boat or the motor blade or something when trying to surface?

The searchers found him curled up on the marina floor under The Emerald, calm expression.

I remember reading it was cold enough water to freeze and he had been drinking enough to not notice. I've also read that freezing to death is a slow, slowly feeling drowsy and shutting down process.

I suspect this is accurate. I think he was just. plain. tired.

As recounted in Scott Wilson's "Son of a Beach Boy," Dennis told his son that he had seen a doctor who told him that his liver was shot and that he was dying.
Perhaps in that water he experienced some difficulty and decided that he didn't want to fight it, and just let go.

There is something called "shallow water blackout" caused by hyperventilation which sounds very much like what happened to Dennis. My own opinion was that it was an accident that alcohol  played a part in. I don't buy the theory that Dennis just gave up, as tragically romantic as that may sound.

^ +1

I don't find it romantic, although it may seem so from my statement above. The cold water, multiple dives, and hypothermia no doubt played a part. IIRC, there was no indication that he'd hit his head according the autopsy?  Maybe I've just been around long enough to know that sometimes people are just done. It's not an active choice, just a sort of..ok.

The water temperature was 58f/14c. Cold, chilling even, but far from freezing.

No mention of that in the autopsy.

Dennis was homeless, penniless and was kicked out of the band he loved, and helped form, three months previously. He was finding items he'd thrown overboard from The Harmony when it was docked where he was diving. Hardly a positive mindset. I'm not saying his was a concious act, that he was diving with that intent, rather that he just wanted a rest.

From the book "Coroner at Large".

(http://s28.postimg.org/u83pmndq5/Sk_rmavbild_2016_03_31_kl_10_20_13.jpg)

Were that the case he would have struggled to surface, not curled up on the bottom.

Maybe I'm being naive.  How could someone just choose to sit on the bottom and drown?  If you try it the next time you are in the water you would find how difficult it is to curl up at the bottom without floating back up.

Then there is the body's natural reaction to scramble for air and try to get to the top.

I'm sorry but I find it hard to believe Dennis just 'gave up'.  The eyewitnesses said he was in good spirits that day.  He had overcome far worse than his financial problems at the time and losing the boat.  It was a tragic drowning accident.

well said dude.

But that's exactly what happened.


If Scott's claim is true, and Dennis had been told he was dying... you see where I'm headed. The recovery team know what drowning victims look like after they've struggling for life, and Dennis didn't show those signs. He just... let go.

He was found underneath the boat. The boat would, presumably, have stopped him surfacing if he was under it. I don't like to speculate on what happened, but being under, rather than near, the boat, does change the logistics of things, whether deliberate (choosing to be under the boat so he wouldn't come up) or accidental (being under the boat when he ran out of air, unable to surface because the boat was in the way).

He was also going back and forth to the boat his acquaintance/friend took him out in. Sorry, but I don't think for a minute something caused him to just say....heck...I'm done...and just decide to drown himself with his pal waiting for him in the boat above. That's way to far of a stretch. As far as being curled up here or there or whatever...there are likely many, many variables that would explain the state of a corpse in cold murky water.

I shouldn't have used the term 'freeze' I suppose, because people confuse that with the freezing temperature of water, but the freezing temperature for humans in water is about 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
http://www.ussartf.org/cold_water_survival.htm
One can easily freeze in water that's 58 degrees. Surrounded by that temp for as long as he was diving will bring your body temp way down.
http://www.gslmarina.com/HypothermiaChart/tabid/82/Default.aspx

Not sure what you're saying here - The Emerald was moored in the marina, not under way or out at sea.

Was this three month period the longest he had been kicked out of the band for? He had been kicked out of the band previously numerous times over the preceding several years, but I'm assuming this was the longest chunk of time?

Also, alcohol increases the chances of developing hypothermia as "alcohol damages thermoregulation, which lowers the body's resistance to cold water."

http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/coastal_communities/hypothermia#alcohol

The more I read, the more I find reinforcement for hypothermia being at least a contributing factor.

For how long was he diving?

Ummm... lemme check on the truly excellent 10452 BB site.  ::)

No... excepting three dates in Nid-November, he got the boot from August 12th 1979 to June 1st 1980 (the European tour). Roughly nine months.

Swimming up and down, back and forth to the boat. I thought it was off shore a small distance. I'm remembering wrong then. In any case they were drinking and seemingly having a fun time. Drinking and diving in cold water is a very bad combination. In Wisconsin, where I live, college students drown regularly in a stretch of the Mississippi River at La Crosse. Some people can't accept that they died foolishly and even theorize a serial killer. You can google this. It sucks but they died because they got drunk and while walking along the river, probably whizzing in many cases, they fall in and drown. Dennis drowned IMO. Guess we'll disagree on this.

For the record, I respect your opinions Andrew. You are one of the most prominent posters here that take getting to the truth of all things Beach Boys seriously. You can be cranky and crude but your hearts in the right place. Not that you asked for my opinion but........

Reminds me of the splendid Robert Bloch quote: "despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk."  ;D

I drowned when I was 4 years old.  No, not near-drowned-- drowned.  Drowning does not always result in death.  In this case, it was close.  I obviously can't say what happened to Dennis, but I can recount what happened to me and I think I can make some fairly educated assumptions.

It happened in a hotel pool in Anaheim, CA, and it's one of the most vivid memories I have.  I fell off a float into 3 feet of water.  Unable to keep my mouth above water, I was unable to breathe and my autonomic response kicked in.  Panic. Utter fear and violent struggle.  Whether I knew what was happening or not didn't matter; my nervous system did.  I kicked my legs and flapped my arms but to no avail.  I remember these movements becoming less erratic as the seconds passed, surely due to the lack of oxygen to power my muscles.  I have no idea how long this lasted.

When I could no longer move, the panic left completely and gave way to a sense of complete relaxation and comfort.  I remember giving up trying to breathe and coming to some warped notion that it wasn't necessary.  That I could just float there underwater, completely relaxed, in perpetuity. No air needed.  I even thought to myself, "How dumb of me to think I need air down here!"

Aside from that, there was no emotion at all.  Just a keen sense of the water on my skin, in my mouth, in my eyes, and the sounds of the water.  I tilted my head as if to rest.  Not a muscle in my body contracted.  I'm not sure how long I remained in this state, but it continued until I heard loud voices and was yanked from the water.  I have no memories of the event after being pulled from the water, but apparently my dad was able to resuscitate me poolside.

Given my own experience, I believe Dennis did not "just let go" in the sense that some of you believe.  I believe his autonomic response kicked in and he fought for life until his body gave up, at which point he felt the same sense of relaxed euphoria that I did.  He did give up-- not because of some my-life-sucks-and-I'm-tired thought process, but via a physiological coping mechanism designed, perhaps, to make the victim's inevitable exit less traumatic.  At that moment, his tense muscles relaxed and he rested.

Not romantic at all, given the terror that precedes the calm.  But if his experience was anything like mine, his last few seconds maybe weren't so bad.

I'm pretty sure if anyone suicidal or not kills themselves by drowning there body is going to automatically try to fight for oxygen.

You're not totally wrong!

He was being taken round the Marina in a small rowing boat.  He went across to a place called 'Aggy's" and chatted to the owner (joking around and stuff, typical Dennis). So yes, he was in good spirits it seems.

Also great post from Bonnvillemariner.  For me that probably sums it up.  Cheers for sharing that with us.  :)