DEEP-SEA DIVE RECORD

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1059, 25 August 1930, Page 13

DEEP-SEA DIVE RECORD

SCIENTISTS’ DESCENT IN STEEL SPHERE SUBMARINE EXPLORERS Two American scientists, working from Nonsuch Island, Bermuda, have just penetrated in a steel sphere to a depth of 1,426 ft, or nearly five times as much as the previous low-depth record for diving with any kind of apparatus (says “The Times”). Dr. William Beebe, head of tlie Bermuda oceanographic expedition of the New York Zoological Society, and Mr. Otis Barton, of the American Museum, New York, were the explorers and were “battened down” in a steel sphere, with an internal diameter of 57in and several inches thick, fitted with fused quartz observation windows, a telephone to communicate with the tug from which it was low ered, and equipment to keep the air pure—oxygen tanks for supply, and a quantity of sodium to interact with and render harmless the carbon dioxide exhaled. The weight of the sphere is 5,4001 b, and as it was lowered in calm water five miles off the islands, where there are no known currents, either surface or submarine, there can be little or no doubt that it descended vertically in a straight line, and that tlie length of cable paid out represents the actual depth reached. The sphere was specially constructed in the United States to the order of Mr. Barton, who financed the experiment after working on the plan for* over a year with Dr. Beebe. When the two scientists had been made fast the sphere was lowered at a fair speed from the deck of Hie tug into the water, which lias a depth at this point of about 800 fathoms. A calibrated meter attached to the winch registered 1,426 ft when Mr. Barton, who was in charge of tlie telephone, gavo word to stop. A counter-check obtained by marking off tne cable in 100 ft lengths, showed 1,428 ft, or an experimental error of less than 0.15 per cent. At this depth the water above the sphere exerts a pressure of 6521 b to the square inch, or over 43 atmospheres, and the actual weight of the water on the sphere would be about 3,100 tons. The sphere showed no sign of failing to withstand the terrific | strain imposed ifpon it, and the men below reported that they felt no discomfort whatever. All that Mr. Barton said on the telephone was clearly heard on the deck of the tug by Miss Gloria Hollister, another member of Dr. Beebe’s expedition, and readily taken down. At this depth most of the light from the sun had been cut off by the intervening water, only tlie rays at the blue-violet end of the spectrum penetrating. At a depth of 1,000 metres, or a little more than twice the depth attained in this attempt, only the extreme violet rays persist, and between 1,000 and 1,700 metres all light rays are cut off. Dr. Beebe stated after his descent that the elimination of the middle and red end of the spectrum left an intense and seemingly brilliant blue light, quite strong enough for fairl easy observation of the fish that came past the windows, but useless for reading the gauges on the oxygen tanks, as it did not seem to reflect readily. The fish that live at this depth are usually caught only on expeditions such as the famous voyage of the Challenger, and, more recently, the voyage of the steam yacht Areturus, and although several thousands of them have been caught by the expedition at Nonsuch Island, Bermuda, in nets trailed from a tug at depths up to 800 fathams, they are so unfamiliar that it was not found possible to identify them by a casual observation. The specimens that presented themselves most readily, however, all be- : longed to the extraordinary class which Dr. Beebe has been so successful in catching during his two years’ work at Nonsuch—fish which carry their own lighting systems, built on an infinite variety of different patterns, but all depending on two organic chemical compound, luclierin and lucifenase, of which little is so far known.