36 FRONTIERS IN OCEANIC RESEARCH 



Mr. Miller. Lt. Don Walsh comes from my district in California. 

 I merely glory in this. When he was an even younger man I gave 

 him an alternate appointment to West Point. In the meantime 

 he wiggled and waggled an appointment to the Naval Academy. I 

 am in a great spot, otherwise I could have said this is my boy. 



Lieutenant Walsh. I hope we are still friends. 



Mr. Anfuso. I would like to take some pride 



Mr. Miller. Incidentally, Lieutenant Shumaker is also a Cali- 

 fornian. 



Dr. Rechnitzer. And I am also a Californian. 



Captain Phelps. I am also a Californian. 



Mr. Anfuso. I would like to get New York into this. There is 

 some similarity. 



Mr. Miller. There is some similarity. 



Mr. Anftjso. Who else was with you, Lieutenant Walsh? 



Lieutenant Walsh. Jacques Piccard was with me. However, he 

 is back in Switzerland designing another craft. 



Mr. Miller. I want to compliment you gentlemen. They did more 

 than Lindbergh. These are the Wright brothers of the deep sea 

 diving area, and I am very happy and honored to have them here. 



Mr. Anfuso. Mr. Van Pelt. 



Mr. Van Pelt. No questions. 



Mr. Anfuso. Mr. King. 



Mr. King. I have about several dozen, but there isn't time. 



Mr. Anfuso. We have 5 minutes. If you want to finish by 12, we 

 have plenty of time, Mr. King, go ahead. 



Mr. Miller. Knowing Mr. King's penetrating questions, he 

 wouldn't ask him over 5 minutes. 



Mr. King. When the Trieste went down, am I correct that there 

 were no cables or hoses of any kind, it was completely independent : is 

 that right? 



Dr. Rechnitzer. That is correct. 



Mr. King. Carrying its own air supply. How was that managed? 



Dr. Rechnitzer. Well, the bathyscaph is primarily an underwater 

 balloon, and for buoyancy we used gasoline, because it is much less 

 compressible than any gas, such as helium or even air. 



Now, in contrast to a submarine, which alternately pumps water in 

 and out for control, we do not do this. The pressures that would be 

 involved preclude the use of air pressure. Instead, we go down witli 

 the craft being heavy, and release weight at the depth to return back 

 to the surface. To gain positive buoyancy you release weight, such 

 as a balloon coming to Earth, it will release ballast to slow its descent. 



Using gravity as the power to move the craft, and regulating the 

 weight of the craft hydrostatically by either being too heavy or too 

 light is the mode of operation. 



Mr. King. I suppose a steel cable would have involved so much 

 weight it would have been impracticable, is that right? 



Dr. Rechnitzer. Its weight is impractical. When we go back to 

 thinking about Beebe, and his bathysphere, which was lowered on a 

 cable, a limitation and danger become apparent. You know if you 

 played with your mother's clothes line, and you whipped it, then you 

 would have the waves going along from (Mid to end ; if these come back 

 in the proper mode, they are apt to break even the strongest cable. 



