Evening Post. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1904.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 128, 26 November 1904, Page 4

Ev ening Post. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1904.

THE SECRETS OP THE DEEP. History, science, romance — these are regions widely separated, one might suppose; but he who should attempt to lay down the boundary lines would have no easy task to fix the landmarks. The hero of "Locksley Hall" found nourishment for his sublime youth in "the fairy-tales of science;" while, on tho other hand,' the games of the nursery form part of the scientific material of profound scholars like the late Professor Max Mueller. Archaiological research confirms the truth of long-discredited stories by the- fathers of history, while ifc relegates mediasval figures t-uch as Pope Joan and William Tell, once accepted as historic, to the domain of myth. The wild fancy or random guess of one ege is the scientific fact of the next ; and, conversely, the imposing fortreas of scientific aj'pothesis, buttressed o.i all sides against assault, crumbles aw.iv before the irresistible advances of know lodge. A recent announcement regarding I the latest application of an invention by Cavalk-ro Pino — the hydroecope — appeals so strongly to the imagination in so many ways that all depends on the bent of the reader's mind whether it strikes him most in its scientific, historic, or romantic bearings. Even if he bo almost wholly unimaginative, he cannot fail to be impressed, as "a practical i man," with certain money-making possibilities in the young Italian engineer's invention. For Pino is reported to have located nine of the sunken Spanish galleons off Vigo, containing treasure estimated at twenty-eight millions sterling, and the latest message on the subject states that divers have gained access to some of the long-submerged treasureships. The question naturally arises— What is the hydroscops? It is an instrument by which the ocean-bed can be explored from the sin-face. It is to the ingenuity of smugglers that the first crude instrument of the kind was due. It is rare that tho ocean surface is smooth enough to permit of objects being seen more than a few feet,\or sometimes inches, from tho eurfatfe, and the dealers in uncustomed wares, who often found it convenient to sink their contraband goods in shallow waters until danger -was past, did not always find it easy to locate them, when j required. They therefore devised the "sea telescope"— a keg with top and bottom knocked out, glazed at one end, and attached to a pole. This window, pushed 'slightly below the disturbed surface of the sea, gave a clear, though not very extensive, view of the bottom at such depths as daylight could reach. Pino, who received the honour of knighthood for the invention of a submarine boat, haa greatly refined on the old idea. In the first place, he illuminates the depths with a powerful electric light. Then he lowers a long tube, fitted With optical instruments, the arrangement of which he has not disclosed. By means of reflectors an image of the ocean-bed below the keel is cast upon a screen, co that passengers seated on deck can enjoy the spectacle of a panorama of the sea-bottom. By this apparatus, it is claimed, hydrographers will be able to chart the ocean depths, and detect submerged rocks and shoals, cable companies can examine their lines, prospectors may locate corals, sponges, or other sea-producte, fishermen may follow the movements of their prey ; while men-of-war can detect secret mines and similar submarine devices of the enemy. It is not enough, however, to know what lies in the depths, if it can not be reached, unless one accept the philosophy of the traditional seaman who, having carelessly dropped an article of value overboard, maintained that it was not lost, for .he '"knew where it was." Submarine work is always hazardous, and at great depths, owing to the awful pressure- of superincumbent water, it becomes impossible. Pino has devised a most ingenious mechanical "elevator," by which the operator on board can grasp and raise to the surface all manner of articles, having the object and the instrument in full view. The first public trial was held at Portofino in January, 1893, before a very sceptical audience of scientific and professional men, w.ho accompanied the inventor in a cruise in his torpedo-boat. For hours they gazed in astonishment on a panorama of "rocks, stonea, shells, fish swimming in shoals, and wonderful flowers," all in their natural colours and posi-

I tions. After some discussion in the Greek Parliament, the Government authorised him to recover, at a good fee, such precious art treasures as could be found of many sunk at sea after one of the sieges of ancient Athens. -Already he has recovered some of these after two thousand years' submersion. Lately we had tidings of the recovery by Denmark of over thirty cannon from British men-of-war which went down off the treacherous coast of Jutland more than a century ago. The amount of treasure buried in the ocean depths is unimaginable. Every year more than two thousand ships of over five hundred tons burden go to the bottom, and the goods—mostly perishable, of course—they carry with them run into many millions. But the discovery of the old galleons with their spoils of gold and silver is what will stir the youthful imagination. Strangely enough, from early childhood Pino's mind has run on this subject and on the possibility - f the device he has successfully carried ... An orphan, bis elder brothers despised him as a dreamer, and he ran away. When scarce of age, entirely self-educated, toiling as a labourer at the royal bread factory at Genoa, his drawings of plans for a submarine 'attracted the manager's attention. Financial backing was found, and the details of his boat were perfected when he was twenty-four. He is now only thirty-one. The world will watch with deep interest his salvage work off Vigo. Whether the treasure-ships were those of 1589 or 1702 their history wilt take us back to the days of the giante, and the schoolboys will find a new and living interest in tne stories of the old "conquistadores" and the Elizabethan admirals— half patriot, half pirate — who, swooping down on them like gier-eagles, snatched their booty from them or sent it to the bottom. 'There should be no lack of employment for Pmo in treasure-seeking for the rest of his days. In this matter-of-fact "age of iron," we have in the brilliant career of the Italian engineer an example of how science and romance, joining hands, may unite the past and present, and of the truth that the dreamer may sometimes establish his rightful place among the most practical of men.