Floyd Collins

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William Floyd Collins (July 20, 1887 – c. February 13, 1925) was an American cave explorer who became trapped and died in what became Mammoth Cave National Park. The incident garnered major media attention during the efforts to rescue him. During the early 20th century, in an era known as the Kentucky Cave Wars, spelunkers and property owners entered into bitter competition to utilize the bounty of caves for commercial profit from tourists, who paid to see the caves. In 1917 and 1918, Collins discovered and commercialized Great Crystal Cave in the Flint Ridge Cave System, but the cave was remote and visitors were few. Collins sought out another cave closer to the main roads; he agreed with a neighbor to open up Sand Cave, a small cave on the neighbor's property. On January 30, 1925, while working to enlarge the small passage in Sand Cave, Collins became trapped in a narrow crawlway 55 feet (17 m) below ground. The rescue operation to save him became a national media sensation and one of the first major news stories to be reported using the new technology of broadcast radio. After four days, during which rescuers were able to bring water and food to Collins, a rock collapse in the cave closed the entrance passageway, stranding him inside, except for voice contact, for another 10 days. Collins died of thirst and hunger, compounded by exposure through hypothermia after being isolated for a total of 14 days, three days before a rescue shaft reached his position. Collins's body was recovered two months later. Although Collins was unknown publicly for most of his lifetime, the fame he gained from the rescue efforts and his death resulted in him being memorialized on his tombstone as the "Greatest Cave Explorer Ever Known".