Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1913-07-05
Two Problems Confronting
Oceans Treasure Seekers.
Air Pressure and LIght-What is Re'
quisIte for Diver In Exploring
Depths Greater than a
Hundred Feet.

New York.-Hundreds of millions OF
dollars worth of gold. silver, copper
and precious stones are lying on the
bottom of the sea, ready TO the manu-
of the first person who will devise
means of recovering them. Inventors
in every part of the world are building
submarine boats, diving armor, dredg-
ing apparatus and other devices, sole
ly for the purpose of finding and bring
| ing to the surface these sunken treas
ures.
The two main problems to be solved
are those of protection against water
pressure and providing light in which
to work. The latter problem is more
easily solved than the former, MOO
ern DEVELOPMENTS in electric lighting
make It practically certain that power
full searchlights can be devised which
will give sufficient illumination TOT
salvage operations at depths as great
as 400 feet Divers who have been
down $50 feet agree that even when
the sun is shining brightly the ocean
depths are in semidarkness. which In
creases as one descends.
The other and more serious problem
is that Of pressure. The ordinary OIL
yer's equipment depends upon con-
slant supply Of air pumped in from
above. and a rubber suit with metal
helmet, all alright, or nearly so. TO
keen the water from rushing In the
minute the pressure Of air pumped
through the hose becomes less than
the water pressure from OUTSIDE.
Theoretically, Of course, the air pres
sure could be maintained at a point
that would equalize the water pres
sure. but what would become OF the
: diver? Men working in compressed
; air caissons under a pressure OF 20
: pounds to the square inch are risKlng
their lives. and As pounds means only
a depth of 1O4 feet Of water. At Zoo
feet the water pressure is little over
S6h pounds to the square incn; al
ESQ feet it is over 10S pounds; at 3Oo
4. feet 1t is 100 pounds. and many OF the
sunken treasures lie at even greater
depths.
). Very few divers have descended as
deep as 100 feet. One adventurous
, young man went down 1876 feet IN
Puget sound, but on a second attempt
\ his helmet was crushed by the 81
y pound water pressure and he was
hauled up dead. Two English nava
" officers are said to have descended
210 feet, but could remain at tha'
depth only a few seconds.
!. The problem of getting down to thu
n deep-lying treasure ships. therefore. II
!, essentially one of constructing me
chanism sufficiently rigid to Withstand
7 the terrific water pressure. 1t mus
carry its own supply of oxygen. since
any sort of flexible air tube would b.
crushed fiat long before a depth Of 40
feet is reached, and 1t must be so con
structed that the diver inside 1t cal
accomplish something after he reache
the wreck, even II he can do nothin
more than attach a graphing hook I
copper ingot.
The encouragement for inventor
working along these lines Is found !
the knowledge already at hand {
wrecks bearing treasure. some {
Il WHICH nave DScu ouuh III huhoA So
of years. In 1902 Spanish fleet ca
rying quantities of gold from SAINT
Domingo sank of the island of SAINT
Lucia at an unknown depth in hu
ricane that drove the ships of Christ
pher Columbus into a nearby harbt
! for safety. From then on, for tw
centuries, the record of the SPANS
u conquest of America Is filled viii
reports of sunken treasure ships bea
ing the riches of Peru and Mexit
to back to Spain.
the Probably no diver will ever reat
yal the wreck of the Titanic. which Ii
to two miles deep in mid-Atlantic. whe
no the water pressure reaches the II
,ng mendous force of 4,574 pounds to {
cal square inch. but 1t is easily possih
AMI that some of the inventors now VOL
sed ing on the main problems involv
Iiss will reap incalculable riches fro
res wrecks yet to be discovered at dept
of thousand feet or more.