Master of the Abyss Page #3

Beyond the windows,

the strange animals that had perished

in the nets of Arcturus

now move majestically

in the deep darkness.

"When I came again to examine

the deep-sea treasures in my nets,

I would feel as an astronomer might

who looks through his telescope

after having rocketed to Mars and back,

or like a paleontologist

who could suddenly annihilate time

and see his fossils alive."

The animals Beebe describes, such as

shimmering jellyfish, appear fragile-

yet they are superbly adapted to the

pressure, the cold, and the darkness.

It is a scientific revelation

in a realm of constant peril.

Each square inch of the quartz windows

holds back 650 pounds of water

- stresses that no submarine or

diving suit has ever withstood.

They reach a depth of 1426 feet-

and come home alive.

On June 13, 1930, in a telegram

to the NY Times,

the scientist and the inventor

announce to the world that

they have joined the ranks of

history's great explorers.

Armed with confidence in the

bathysphere's safety,

Beebe permits John Tee-Van and Gloria

Hollister to dive to 400 feet.

Hollister sets a new depth record

for women.

In the weeks to come, the bathysphere

is taken on repeated dives,

testing its capabilities.

The impressionable Barton,

in an act of generosity,

grants William Beebe ownership

of the bathysphere,

on the condition that he be

called back for future dives.

In October, the coming winter

puts an end to field work off Bermuda.

The bathysphere is put in storage.

It is time for Beebe to return to the

Bronx Zoo and write his reports.

But Beebe knows that

writing reports

is not the way to keep the public

informed and the money flowing.

In newspaper interviews,

magazine articles and a lecture tour,

William Beebe promotes oceanography

in a popular and accessible way.

He likens his dives to visiting outer

space-without leaving the Earth.

Beebe enlists an artist,

Else Bostelmann,

to illustrate the haunting images of

the creatures seen from the bathysphere.

Bizarre marine animals

that, at the time,

no one but William Beebe

has seen alive in the deep.

Beebe joins the ranks of the

great explorers of his era,

household names such as

Charles Lindbergh and Richard Byrd,

heroes of the skies.

Beebe believes his ocean exploration

is of greater value.

The concrete intellectual returns

from aviation are most superficial...

but adventuring under sea

is an unearthly experience,

and we are actually entering

a new world."

In the press,

it is 'Beebe and his Bathysphere.'

The man who built it-and paid for it-

Otis Barton-is rarely mentioned.

Barton is stung.

In Spring, 1931, despite the

devastation of the Great Depression,

the resourceful Beebe

raises enough funding

for a scaled-down year of

ocean research off Bermuda.

He returns to methods perfected on

Arcturus six years earlier-

deep-ocean dragging with nets.

As before, specimens are retrieved-

creatures Beebe has seen alive

from the bathysphere.

Nonsuch Island hums with activity.

But the bathysphere

remains in storage,

while Beebe writes another book

to further promote his ocean science.

The year passes into another.

Then, Beebe makes a decision

that makes headlines.

He and Otis Barton will attempt to

descend to a depth of half a mile-

and his communication

with Gloria Hollister

will be broadcast live on NBC Radio

and on affiliate stations

around the world.

Beebe is determined that

his bathysphere adventure

not to go down in history as a stunt.

He must go back, and deeper, seeking a

major discovery in the name of science-

even if it means risking his own life.

September, 1932. Storms lash Bermuda.

A bad omen for events to come.

Otis Barton decides to install a new

window in the diving ball

to permit better photography,

despite Beebe's fears that

any modification to the quartz ports

would be dangerous.

The decrepit barge, Ready has been

replaced by a tugboat called Freedom.

But the new mother-ship leaks and

wallows under its heavy load,

and on one occasion almost sinks.

Waiting for weather to clear,

they make an unmanned test

of the new design,

sending it down to 3000 feet.

But the bathysphere is unusually heavy,

straining at its fragile lifeline.

When the capsule surfaces,

it is filled with an explosive cocktail

of hyper-pressurized water and air.

Anyone in the bolt's path would

have been decapitated.

Anyone inside would have been

pulverized into a liquid.

It is a sober reminder of the brutal

power of the deep.

For two weeks, Atlantic storms ground

the world's first deep sea explorers.

Beebe and Barton remove the

leaking window of the bathysphere

and fit the hole with

a heavy steel plug.

For the journalists Beebe has invited

to witness his historic dive,

there's nothing to report.

On September 22, Beebe decides

to give the press their story.

He will risk his life,

and Otis Barton's,

on a perilous dive.

These are the worst conditions in which

they have ever attempted a descent-

Again, Beebe and Barton endure the

painful climb across the steel bolts,

squeeze through the narrow hatchway,

and tumble onto the capsule's

hard steel floor.

Beebe has set a goal of half a mile-

almost twice as deep

as they have gone before.

He is willing to dive dangerously deep

to give the press what he's promised-

the discovery of new forms of life,

broadcast live.

Beebe and Barton pass 1400 feet,

shattering their previous record,

and continue down.

At 1700 feet, they are enveloped in

eternal darkness-a new milestone.

Beebe has reached a realm

where no light has ever shone.

"I was beyond sunlight as far as

the human eye could tell,

and from here down,

for two billion years

there had been no day or night,

no summer or winter, no passing of

time until we came to record it."

He is rewarded for the risk

he has taken.

At 2200 feet, thousands of pinpoints

of light appear out of the blackness.

Strange creatures, thriving

in the black, cold ocean depths.

Beebe witnesses these amazing animals

in a flood of bioluminescence.

The number of creatures illumined,

and the strength and color

of these lights-

all these have been far beyond

all my expectations.

He broadcasts his fantastic discovery

to the radio audience.

The world listens to this first-hand

account of life at 2200 feet below.

But on the surface,

the Freedom pitches and rolls,

threatening to sever

the capsule's lifeline.

Beebe calls off the dive,

short of his half-mile goal.

On the return to the surface,

Beebe announces the most

extraordinary sight of all-

a 6-foot-long predator with vicious,

glowing fangs-

he names it the

"Untouchable bathysphere fish."

Beebe's sighting remains,

to this day, the one and only.

In a lifetime of well-publicized

adventures,

this is Beebe's finest hour.

He has broken his own depth record-

described creatures never seen before-

and broadcast the entire event

to the world.

The achievement and William Beebe

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