The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-05-26
[ AT rae BoFToM 6F fAE SEA.
sights and Sensations which await the
Deep Ocean Diver.

bAHutt Ubu pthsubto1y WmSb N"r
Deep Ocean Diver.
The bottom Of the sea Is a region fun Of
mystery for all but the very few who etthel
have made diving their profession or hav'
put on the helmet In the cause OF science.
One Of the latter. class furnishes 70 tht
Ladv's Realm come very curious photo'
graphs which he himself took under water
He says that such pictures can be MADE
with any excellent camera having an un'
usually luminous optic by inclosing Il IN a
watertlght case, capable also Of resisting
the pressure Of the water,
The submarine scenery, as he calls II, u
never still enough to give satisfactory
results from a time exposure, but instan'
taneous pictures are made by the light given
by fireworks burning under q crystal bell
glass filled with compressed oxygen. The
best results are obtained by this method
when the waters are absolutely dark at
night,
The effect of such a light is wonderful
The bottom Of the sea looks like fairyland'
Hosts Of fishes, attracted by the light
CLEAN like gold and silver, while the trans
parent jellyfsh move slowly through the
glowing water like bells OF Opal
The beauty OF the sight Is increased by
an infinite number OF minute gas bubbles
which cover the seaweed. and In the illum-
mated water have the appearance OF innum-
cradle diamonds and myriads OF delicate
pearls.
On going down into the sea the diver
coon enters a KIND Of twilight, which en-
velops him like a thick mist. The eky and
the clouds. which may be seen at the be-
utnntAn - ska lfuo aA~n HoAa and diOpn-
pear. The sun alone remains visible to a
great depth, like Q small reddish disc
through the green and blue films OF water.
At the bottom objects seem nearer n
larger than in reality and appear under a
color other than their own; for the rays Of
light traverse a thickness of green ard
blue water which absorbs them unequally;
as the red rays, for instance. are e1tin-
guished long before the blue, awhile o
appears blue, a red animal black.
Another phenomenon, which never iaiis
to excite surprise at frat, is to see might
setting in completely at the bottom at the
same moment in which at the surface 1t Is
broad day.
In illustration it is customary. to depict
divers walking upright on the bottom OF
the sea; 1t Is not 30 In reality.
Just as a cyclist bends over his handle
bar in order to overcome the Resistance Of me
- tiht ltiC buOliidt liC WoihVA - oSh'AON = "
wishes to advance. to bend stoutly Tor
ward. Besides, his body takes this slanting
position instinctively, which he could moi
assume on land without falling.
At first, you are not able 70 regulate your
motions according TO the resistance to be
overcome, or you are inclined to oyerrate
1t. and you impart 10 your action a sudden;
! ness more detrimental than useful. and
which fatigues to no purpose. On trying 70
seize q plant or q zooPhyte, the hand elther
seeks 1t where 1t is not or brushes 1t roughly;
and. II one e~ndeaVors 70 urmount an op-
stacle. the effort you make carries you Tour
times as high as necessary.
II water as a medium has its drawbacks,
it has Its advantages, too. The diver can
regulate it's density at will and effect down
play TO him, merely by using his finger ends
and his toes. without danger OF falling TO
climb up or down perpendicular rocks or
dizzy precipices; to remain under water OF
| rise like a balloon rapidly to the surface.
1t is generally believed that marine plants
keep perfectly upright in the midst OF the
water, and a celebrated writer has said;
AT the bottom Of the sea the vertical
reigns." This assertion il incorrect. The
seaweeds have never appeared 10 me TO
affect this position la q more marked degree
than our land plants do. Like the latter, in
calm places they spread out and bend their
An inexperienced observer having de-
scended TO marine ground might believe that
the life there 10 comprised 10 the .hsh that
pass rapidly before the windows OF his he'll
met and the crustaceans that escape from
under his feet; but he who stops and looks
closely In astounded by the number and di-
versity Of the beings that hide under every
stone and swarm on the rocks or among the
grasses.
One has not to walk long on the bottom
OF the sea before meeting with objects re-
calling the things OF the surface and the
treachery Of these pillows, so calm IN app
pearanoe. Now II is Il long chain trailing
across the seaweed, now an anchor or pro-
peller half buried in slime, a chest, q barrel,
q piece OF a mast or rigging.
Covered with q layer OF plants or mollusts,
these wrecks have taken the general color
OF the surrounding soil, and only their forms
reveal them. But sometimes q great dark
the transparent mass, and soon one dis,
tinguishes in it the tall null OF a shipwTeoked
vessel.
If the sinking OF the vessel has been sud-
den, II il il of recent date, II some large
breach enables one at the same moment
with the luminous ray OF the submarine
| lamp TO peer In the side Of the III fated vessel,
one often reooils in horror from the scenes
which await one.
The ~elaucous color OF the place and it's
sinister calm give such intensity to these
molrnful pictures that in spite OF oneself
one flies from II with the mac desire to
ascend forever to the surface, detesting the
pitiless sea, creator OF such horrors; but at
two PAGES, zee how ones eyes fall on the
radiant forms Of the lives II supports, and
the beauty OF it's living makes one forget
the ~ugiiness Of Its dead.
Outside the professional divers who de-
ecend 10 the bottom Of the sea for definite
work and nave no leisure in which TO con-
| template the submarine world, very few
| Deople have donned the diving dress and
braved the dangers OF compressed air. In
the future 1t will he 80 no longer. The
steel armor victoriously resisting the water
pressure throws open wide depths till now
inaccessible.