Vol. XX, No. 9 



WASHINGTON 



September, 



1909 



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THE GLASS-BOTTOM BOAT 



By Charles Frederick Holder 



Author of "Big Gamk Fishes," "Life of Charles Darwin," Etc. 



THE old tar who described his 

 ship to a landsman as having 

 three decks and no bottom 

 would doubtless be surprised to see how 

 near modern invention has copied his de- 

 scription, as the glass-bottom boat in its 

 evolution has two or three decks and al- 

 most no bottom, in place of which are 

 great panes of glass or windows, down 

 through which the bold navigator looks 

 and sees the wonders of the sea. 



Many years ago I used a glass-bottom 

 box on the Florida reef for collecting 

 rare corals, and when something was seen 

 in fifteen or twenty feet of water we 

 dived down and brought it up. In this 

 way I had delightful experiences and 

 came in a few years to k'now the great 

 reef about Garden Key like a book, all 

 from these submarine excursions, soon 

 being able to remain under water a min- 

 ute, a short time compared to the Japa- 

 nese or Hawaiian divers. 



When I first visited the channel islands 

 of southern California, some twenty 

 years ago, I was impressed with the 

 beauty of the kelp beds and the marine 

 fauna, and had a glass-bottom box made 

 and also planned a glass-bottom boat. 

 From this, and doubtless the suggestions 

 of others as well, has grown an ex- 

 traordinary avocation, that of the glass- 



bottom boat. The capital invested in all 

 probability is nearly $100,000 and the 

 income is a good and increasing one, due 

 to the fact that the attractive island of 

 Santa Catalina is the Mecca for thousands 

 of tourists annually, most of whom go 

 out in the glass-bottom boats. 



When you land in the beautiful 

 Bay of Avalon, about thirty miles from 

 San Pedro, the port of LSs Angeles, you 

 are met, not by hackmen, but by glass- 

 bottom boatmen : "Here you are ! Marine 

 Jimmie's boat, only fifty cents." "Take 

 the Cleopatra" or "Right away now for 

 the Marine Gardens." And the ocean 

 steamer is met in the bay by these strange 

 craft, that look like the old-fashioned 

 river side-wheelers. These boats are 

 made on the island, and range from row- 

 boats with glass bottoms to large side- 

 wheel steamers valued at $3,000. There 

 is a fleet of them, big and little, and they 

 skim over the kelp beds, and have intro- 

 duced an altogether new variety of enter- 

 tainment and zoological study combined. 



The boat is made by having the bottom 

 to the extent of the boards beside the keel 

 to the width of three feet from bow to 

 stern replaced by thick plate-glass, set 

 inside of a railing so that the glass can- 

 not touch the bottom; even if it did, the 

 observer looks down through a well, his 



