DEEP-SEA DIVE RECORD

Evening Star, Issue 20586, 11 September 1930, Page 1

DEEP-SEA DIVE RECORD

DESCENT !N STEEL SPHERE • Two • American scientists, working from Nonsuch Island, Bermuda, have just penetrated in a steel sphere to a depth of 1,'426ft, 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 the 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 witli the tug from which it was _ lowered, 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 ha little or no doubt that it descended vertically in a straight line, and. that the length of cable paid out represents the actual depth reached. The sphere was specially constructed in the l/nitvl 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 the- tug into the water, which has a depth at> this point of about, 800 fathoms. A 1 calibrated meter attached to the winch registered 1,426 ft, when Mr. Barton, who was in charge of the telephone, gave word to stop,' A counter-check obtained by marking off the cable in 100 ft lengths, showed 1,428 ft, or an experimental error of. less than 0.1-5 per cent. At this depth the water above,the sphere exerts a pressure of Cs2lh to the square inch, or over forty-three atmospheres and the actual weight cf the water on the sphere would he about' 3,100 tons. The sphere showed no sign of failing to withstand the terrific strain imposed upon 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 of: by the intervening water, only the rays at the liliieviolet 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 fays persist, and between 1,000 and 1,700 metres all light rays arc cut off. Dr Beebe stated alter his descent .that the elimination of the middle and jed end of the spectrum left-au.intouse-ainl seemingly 1 bi-illiant '' blue ’ light, quitestrong enough for .fairly 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 fathoms, they are so unfamiliar that it was not found possible to identify them by a casual observation. The specimens that E resented, themselves most readily, owever, all belonged 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 1 chemical compounds—luchenn and luciferase—of which little is so far known. . , ’