3. Exploring the Ocean Floor 



l\t what time man's present interest in the ocean floor 

 first arose is unknown. One of the many legends spun 

 around Alexander the Great, according to the old script 

 called "Pseudo-Kallisthenes," is that he and two com- 

 panions made a descent into the ocean depths in a 

 "case" — or, as we would say, a diving bell — made from 

 transparent material and the skin of asses, and remained 

 there for 96 days and nights watching the wonders of 

 the deep, among other things a monstrous fish so long 

 it required four days to pass the king's hiding place. ^ 

 Whether the material of this royal diving bell, the asses' 

 skins, was a sly dig at early oceanographers is unknown. 

 The first historical evidence of interest displayed in 

 great ocean depths is a note in the log book from 

 Magellan's voyage around the earth in 1 5 1 9-2 1 , from 

 which only one ship returned, though not with the 

 intrepid commander, who was killed in a skirmish on 

 the Philippine Island of Mactan. According to that note 

 Magellan made an attempt to sound the depth of the 

 Pacific Ocean between the islands of St. Paul and 

 Tiburones with six ordinary sounding lines tied together. 

 Their combined length has been estimated at about 



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