iB ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCES 



aspects of the marine sciences and provide the faciHties and 

 support so badly needed. We sincerely hope it will be 

 passed by Congress. 



THE HIGHWAYS OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE 

 AND FRIENDSHIP 



Oceans are the highways that link us with our friends and alHes in 

 Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, the commonwealths of the 

 antipodes and all of Oceania. 



They also are the sole surface routes to our 50th State, Hawaii, and 

 to much of our 49th State, Alaska. 



Over the highways of the sea the United States in 1960 exported 

 American commodities valued at more than $20 billion. From 

 foreign countries goods valued at more than $14 billion were trans- 

 ported to the United States. 



Imports included 66 of the 77 strategic materials needed for our 

 defense industries. 



The United States also is dependent on ocean transportation for 

 many consumer items, of which coffee, spices, tropical fruits, natural 

 rubber, many fibers, and components of many medicinal drugs are 

 examples. 



Bulk shipments to all our bases overseas must be carried by water. 

 Foreign aid cargoes, military, economic, or humanitarian, move by 

 sea. 



Without international commerce, without the open two-way high- 

 ways of the sea over which to move this commerce, and without 

 the ships, our own or those of friendly nations, to carry this com- 

 merce, our national economy as we know it would collapse, our in- 

 ternational relations would disintegrate, and our defenses would be 

 seriously impaired. 



The highways of the sea are surface highways, but this surface, 

 unlike that of land, varies at every point from day to day and at no 

 point is ever stable. Today it may be smooth; tomorrow hazardous. 



Despite the improvements science and teclmolog}^ have brought 

 in ship design, navigation safety, and communications, 300 ships 

 each year are lost on the high seas with attendant loss of life and 

 property. 



Ultimately, perhaps in the not too distant future, the surface high- 

 ways of the sea will be supplemented by ocean subwaj^s, surface 

 craft by subsurface carriers. 



Undersea carriers and their crews will escape winds and storms 

 raging over the surface of the ocean. Sea ice no longer will be a 

 barrier to commerce in the high latitudes. New and shorter trade 

 routes will be opened beneath the Arctic ice. Costly ship time wall 

 be reduced and commerce will move faster than at any time in history. 



Before this occurs, however, scientists will want knowledge of 

 subterranean currents, of the powerful and yet unexplained internal 

 waves, of variables in magnetic forces, and of the contours of the 

 rugged ocean bottom witli its numerous hidden peaks that never see 

 the sun. They will want undersea road maps and communication 

 systems and, eventually, perhaps, undersea repair stations. 



Knowledge is needed for potential subsurface commerce. For our 

 military security the need is enormously magnified, as will be indicated 

 later in this report. 



