NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 589 



Commander Walsh. Now the Trieste^ the bathyscaphe is an under- 

 water free balloon, it is entirely free of the surface, this was the thing 

 that the inventor of the bathyscaphe, Auguste Ficcard developed. 



We all recall Dr. Beebe's famous descents in the batliysphere near 

 Bermuda in the 1930's, in a craft that was cable tethered to the surface 

 ship. Of course, it was somewhat linked to the fortunes of the surface 

 ship. If there were 8-foot waves at the surface that cabin went up 

 and down 8 feet. 



As you can imagine this is somewhat difficult for a biologist to ob- 

 serve the life forms if he is moving up and down 8 feet. But the 

 bathyscaphe type of undersea research vehicle is independent of the 

 surface and therefore only limited in depth as to the strength of your 

 cabin and not by any surface considerations. 



The real importance of such a device among many devices in ocean 

 sciences and technology is that these little machines, these deep re- 

 search submersibles, can take the trained mind and trained eyes into 

 the environment. 



Plere you have the strange situation in the world ocean where scien- 

 tists are not able to directly observe that which they wish to study. 

 For many years they have had to stay on oceanographic ships, at the 

 surface interface, and lower artificial "eyes" and "hands" into the ocean 

 in the form of cameras and dredges. 



Now we can take that man directly into the environment and let 

 him see firsthand that which he wishes to study. 



Mr. Downing. We used the Trieste in the Thresher disaster but not 

 with much success. 



Commander Walsh. We used both Triestes here; the Trieste I 

 went in 1963 immediately after the submarine was lost. The follow- 

 ing year when the Trieste II w^as doing some survey work in that area 

 they did come across other remnants of the submarine. 



Unfortunately, I was not attached to the program during this time, 

 and I know very little about it. 



Mr. Downing. Thank you very much. Commander. 



Commander Walsh. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Caset. Thank you very much. Commander. 



Mr. Dow ? 



Mr. Dow. Yes; I would like to commend you. Commander, on a 

 very splendid statement. You know technical men often have the 

 reputation of being a little narrow in their sights, in their vision of 

 the broad picture, but I would say in your case you certainly display 

 not only a great technical competence but also a vision of the whole 

 picture and statesmanship involved in this oceanography program. 



I would like to compliment you on that, and I would like to predict 

 a great future for you in this work. 



Commander Walsh. Thank you, sir. 



You are very kind. 



I will have to admit as to a certain penchant for a field of oceanog- 

 raphy I like to call political oceanography, because this is exactly 

 what we are involved in right now. We have the five basic fields of 

 oceanography : Geology, biology, and so on ; but I feel this is one more 

 to be added to the list. Political oceanography, which concerns itself 

 with the administration of oceanography and i\\Q, national and inter- 

 national legal problems involved in the utilization of the world oceans, 

 is the area that I consider my field. 



