gram recommending large sums for 

 deep submergence, 

 — Increasing Federal funding for oceano- 



graphic programs, 

 — An oil industry moving farther out and 



deeper into the sea, 

 — Scientific reports detailing the many 

 results and advantages of ocean study 

 from manned submersibles, 

 — Serious scientific desire to study the 



deep sea in situ, 

 — A burgeoning market in recreational 



undersea diving, 

 — A military interest in materials and 

 techniques for deep submergence vehi- 

 cles, 

 — Increased recognition of mineral re- 

 sources and ever dwindling terrestrial 

 resources, 

 — Forecasts by military and government 

 officials and private industry of the 

 promising aspects for deep submers- 

 ibles, and 

 — Individual awareness of the grandeur 

 and beauty of the deep sea through 

 tasteful and exciting cinematic and tel- 

 evision productions. 

 To varying degrees, these events and pres- 

 sures worked to produce a 1970 worldwide 

 fleet of over 100 shallow and deep submers- 

 ibles — up from less than a handful a decade 

 earlier. Another factor, impossible to meas- 

 ure, is the pure desire of man to challenge 

 and overcome the hostility of the deep ocean. 

 When he replied "Because it's there!" to one 

 inquiring why climb a mountain, Mallory 

 also offered an explanation for many who 

 challenge the abyss. 



BATHYSPHERE TO BATHYSCAPH 

 (1934-1960) 



"When once it (the deep ocean) has been 

 seen, it will remain forever the most vivid 

 memory in life, solely because of its cosmic 

 chill and isolation, the external and ftbso- 

 lute darkness and the indescribable beauty 

 of its inhabitants." 



So wrote naturalist William Beebe (1) in 

 describing the events leading to his record- 

 breaking, .3,028-ft dive in 1934. 



Before Beebe and his engineer associate, 

 Otis Barton, descended to this unprece- 

 dented depth, man's involvement with the 



deep ocean reached a maximum of 600 feet 

 (2); this was with the aid of heavy metal 

 diving suits which reportedly seized or con- 

 tracted arthritis at the joints within a few 

 hundred feet of depth. 



Barton's BATHYSPHERE (a word coined 

 by Beebe meaning deep sphere) was a single 

 spherical steel casting 54 inches in inside 

 diameter and IV2 inches thick. The 2V2-ton 

 sphere was supported on deck by a set of 

 wooden skids (Fig. 3.1). A 14-inch-diameter 

 entrance hatch was sealed by a 400-pound 

 steel door bolted to the sphere. Watertight 

 integrity between door and sphere was ac- 

 complished by a circular metal gasket fitting 

 into a shallow groove and packed with white 

 lead to prohibit leaking at shallow depths. 

 Three viewports were available, although 

 only two were used; these were composed of 

 fused quartz glass 3 inches thick and 8 

 inches in diameter. The third viewport was 

 sealed with a metal plug when spare win- 

 dows were subsequently exhausted. Oxygen 

 was carried in the sphere in two 80-gallon- 

 capacity tanks at 1,800 psi and automatically 

 bled into the cabin. Carbon dioxide was re- 

 moved by circulating air through soda lime 

 and calcium chloride was carried to control 

 humidity. 



The BATHYSPHERE was lowered from the 

 surface on the end of a non-twisting steel- 

 core cable of 29-ton breaking strength. A 

 second cable served as a conductor for a 

 telephone and two lights, which were aimed 

 through a viewport for external illumination. 

 The power cable was tied by rope to the lift 

 cable at intervals and passed into the pres- 

 sure sphere through a stuffing box. Power 

 for the lights was provided by a surface 

 generator and a battery supplied the tele- 

 phone power. In the event of telephone fail- 

 ure, an arrangement was made whereby a 

 light in the sphere could be keyed from above 

 to signal; a further arrangement made it 

 possible to key a light on deck from within 

 the pressure sphere. 



Built in 1929 by Barton, and donated by 

 him to the New York Zoological Museum in 

 1940, the BATHYSPHERE progressively 

 made record dives over a 4-year period off 

 Bermuda. Beebe's purpose in these dives 

 was to pursue his studies of deep-sea orga- 

 nisms which he began several years earlier 



32 



