180 



without first learning something about the upper layers and where 

 best to drill. It might not even be possible — 



' We have really no assurance that the rock character at depth is such that 

 it will stand open in a hole to Moho depths and temperatures, or that a hole 

 to the deep mantle will even be possible. We hope that such holes will be eventually 

 attainable* * *."" 



In short, what he recommended was — 



* * * that the Mohole project be carried forward only by a route which 

 involves as an initial and integral part of the project an adequate preparatory 

 stage of moderate depth, experimental exploratory oceanic drilling * * * by 

 a mobile vessel of moderate drilling depth capacity * * *. We believe this is the 

 sane, logical, and economical approach which will not only provide the best 

 promise of an eventual successful sampling of the deep mantle but will also 

 provide a maximum return in national scientific prestige through its early 

 contribution of numerous discoveries in the suboceanic sediments and deeper 

 crust of equal or even greater scientific importance, prior to a possible eventual 

 Moho penetration. We believe that this approach offers positive assurance of 

 a successful project, whether or not the Moho is attainable * * *.*° 



Dr. Hedberg was supported in the Senate hearing by Lewis Rupp 

 (Captain, U.S. Navy, retired) chairman of AMSOC's naval archi- 

 tecture panel. He said that he had advocated the intermediate vessel as 

 "an ideal tool for continued investigations of ocean sediments and 

 intermediate crustal layers after completion of the pre-Mohole de- 

 velopment and exploration phase." The alternative of going directly 

 to the desi^ of the ultimate vehicle entailed highest cost and en- 

 gineering risk. He concluded : 



Even at this date, I firmly believe that the public and the scientific commu- 

 nity would be best served by carrying out a two-ship program. 



Immediate investment in a modest intermediate vessel, with deferral of con- 

 struction of the ultimate vehicle until some of the development problems are bet- 

 ter defined, would not only save the public considerable dollars, serve the sci- 

 entific community more fully with earlier concrete results, but also minimize the 

 risk of a major fiasco.*^ 



Dr. Leland J. Haworth, who as Director of NSF presented the ad- 

 ministration's position on Mohole, saw merit in both shallow drill- 

 ing and the ultimate program, and suggested they be performed in 

 tandem: moreover, the intermediate drilling was a necessary prelim- 

 inary to the ultimate hole. "The only controversy with respect to this 

 intermediate drilling program," he said, "is whether or not that drill- 

 ing should be done with an intermediate ship or whether it should 

 be done with the final ship." ^^ He noted that some, but not all, mem- 

 bers of AMSOC regarded survey drilling to the third layer (i.e., inter- 

 mediate depth) as having "a higher scientific priority than penetra- 

 tion to the mantle, which is now conceived by them as an ultimate, 

 long-range objective rather than an immediate, high-priority goal." *^ 

 In order to derive his recommendation for a course of action, he ex- 

 pressed the following chain of reasoning : 



1, It had been a mistake to consider the Mohole project as a single 

 action, in cost and time. The facilities to achieve the ultimate goal 

 would thereafter be used continuously and indefinitely for scientific 

 purposes. 



89 Ibid., p. 45. 



^Ibid., p. 46. 



*i Senate. Independent oflSces appropriations, 1964, op. cit., pp. 1&54— 1655. 



« Ibid., p. 2334. 



« Ibid., p. 2335. 



