LOST ATLANTIS

Evening Star, Issue 19994, 11 October 1928, Page 2

LOST ATLANTIS

AMERICAN EKPEDITIOH An oceanographic epcdition, equipped iu dredge for samples of the bottom of the sea at a depth of three miles, has loft Now York for a three months’ cruise in tliG_ vicinity of the Azores. The “missing comment” of Atlantis, described by Plato in several of his works as having disappeared into the sea, is one of the things which the expedition seeks to locate. ft also hopes to throw light on the problem of whether the Americans were once physically connected with Europe and Africa. The r rcw is composed ol nine young men and boys of prominent families. They are headed by Columbus 0. Iselin.’son of Mr and Mrs Lewis Iselin, of New York.. Their craft, Hie schooner Atlantis, war constructed from designs preoared by Mr Iselin, who is a student at Harvard, specialising in oceanography.' , r . The dredge also was built from his designs. It includes a large apparatus with massive jaws intended to close when it strikes the bottom. The interior of the schooner is mainly devoted to the three miles of cable attached, to the dredge and the machinery for raising it. SUBMERGED PLATEAU DISCLOSED. The quest for the “missing continent ” had its inception in the recent surveys made by the United States navy which disclosed a submerged plateau south of the Azores. The plateau was found to have terraced shores like the coast lines of an ancient continent, and naval officers speculated over the possibility that this might have been the region spoken of by Plato. The Atlantis expedition intends to procure a number of samples of the bottom from this region, which- will be examined by Harvard University geographers and oceanographers.