Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-05-03

er by several times than the pressure
exerted by the pistons Of the very
greatest steam engines.
The living creatures, moving and
unmovable, that inhabit in countless
numbers the ocean floor are built to
Withstand the pressure Of two or more
tons to the square inch, and none OF
them may venture to swim upward out
Of its depths. 1t sometimes happens
that a deep-sea fish, chasing its prey
gets out Of its depth and goes tllmbling
upward. AS the pressure is relieved
1t swells and bursts and their bodies
are often found, torn and mutilated,
floating upon the surface. When
brought to the surface in the deep-sea
dredges these fish are always dead;
they fall to pieces.
The Titanic would sink slowly, ow-
ing to the resistance of her great bulk
to the water. AS she sank every square
inch Of space within her would be
gradually filled with water. The
doors Of closed state rooms would
burst in, the boilers and air-tight cyl
inders would be crushed and water
would take the place Of air every
where. Once filled with water the
pressure would be the same from the
inside as from the outside and the
hull would retain its shape.
The pressure would force sea water
into the pores of. every piece Of wood,
but she would sink too quickly for all
the pores to be filled and so the planks
Of the deck, the wooden finishings Of
the cabins, the furniture and all else
of wood would be compressed as In the
most powerful wise to about one-half
or one-fourth the original size. A
deep-sea dredge once sent down a
piece of oak flagstaff, six inches long
and two inches in diameter. When 1t
was brought up again 1t was only four
inches long and one inch thick. The
water pressure had squeezed 1t into
a solid almost as hard as steel.
There Is nothing Of vegetable life
where the Titanic lies. Plant life In
the ocean is limited to shallow waters,
but fishes and members Of the inver-
tebrate groups are distributed over
the floor Of the ocean at all depths.
The majority Of them live by eating
the mud, clay or ooze, or by catching
the minute particles Of organic matter
which fall from the surface. These
species, many Of which
are Of gigantic size, become the prey
Of numerous rapacious animals armed
with peculiar prehensile and tactile
organs.
Sunlight from above penetrates only
200 or 800 fathoms down, and even
at that depth the light is very dim.
Where the Titanic lies is an absolute
darkness as black as pitch, but many
Of the creatures Of this abysmal region
are phosphorescent and give out a
faint glow at intervals, like myriads Of
living lamps weaving about In the
dark. One of these has a long horn
from its snout with phos-
phorescent tip. 1t lies with open
mouth and attracts other fishes with
its lamp.
The Titanic went down just south
Of the south edge Of the Grand Banks
Of Newfoundland, where the bottom
begins to slope off into the abyss Of
"Sigsbee Deep" which Is five miles
to the bottom. These banks are a
vast expanse Of shoal water extending
$50 miles north and south and $50
miles east and west. The average
depth Of water there Is only 1S0 feet,
and there are many places where 1t
is much less. Had the Titanic gone
down 100 miles north Of where she did
she might have been reached by d.
vers. The bank is really an enormous
mountain with fiat top,
covered with seaweed and other ma
rine growths amid which the Goldfish
feeds. Here is where the fishing fleets
gather.
In flfty-six places In the oceans Of
the world the bottom has been found
at three miles, ten places at four
miles, in four places at five miles and
two places at eight miles. The great
est depth was found between the is
lands of Tristan and Acunha and the
mouth Of the Rio de Ia Plata, where
the water was eight and three-fourth
miles deep. Near the island Of Guam,
In the Pacific Ocean. a depth OF eight
miles was found.
No hand will ever touch the wreck
of the Titanic nor any contrivance OF
man ever raise any part Of her or her
dead. The abyss in which they lie will
forever defy the ingenuity Of man
kind. The limit Of deep-sea diving is
200 feet and instances in which that
depth have been reached are rare.
One Of the greatest feats Of diving
was done in the recovery Of specie
from the steamer Alfonso XII, which
sank in 1885 off Point Gando. Grand
Canary Islands. The Marine 1nsur-
ance company sent out three divers
with a promise Of large percentage
Of what might be recovered. At a
depth Of 100 feet they found and sent
up nine Of the ten boxes Of specie.
The reward of one diver was $4,000.
of another $1,000. One was stricken
with paralysis from water pressure
and was months in getting well.
Another went down again for the
tenth box and was squeezed to death
by the pressure.
The strongest submarine boat dare
not go deeper than 80 or 40 feet Tor
fear of the pressure Of the sea. When
one realizes that the ocean has depths
of upward of eight miles one feels the
utter feebleness Of man and the in
adequacy of his observation-disclosures
City Star.
The Difference in Ieebergs.-No two
icebergs appear to be exactly alike In
size and shape. Some look for all the
world like Arabs tents as they glide
along and others like cliffs, castles.