The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-07-16
GOLD FROM THE SEA
Two Problems Confronting
Oceans Treasure Seekers.
Air Pressure and Llght-What 10 Re-
qulsite for Diver In Exploring
Depths Greater than I
Hundred Feet.

| ''A'S'S w USSes
New York.-Hundreds of millions o.
dollars worth of gold, silver, copper
and precious stones are lying on the
bottom Of the sea, ready to the hand
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. Mod.
eru Developments in electric lighting
make 1t practically certain that power.
full searchlights can be devised which
will give sufficient illumination for
salvage operations at depths az 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 di.
ver's equipment depends upon . con
slant supply of air pumped In from
above, and a rubber suit with q metal
helmet. all alright, or nearly 80, to
keep 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 q point
that would equalize the water pres
sure but what would become Of the
diver? Men working in compressed
air caissons under pressure Of As
pounds to the square inch are risking
their lives. and As pounds means only
depth of lO4 feet Of water. At 200
feet the water pressure is a little over
S61s pounds to the square inch; at
$50 feet it Is over 1903 pounds; at 300
feet it Is 1870 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 19G feet in
Puget sound, but on second attempt
his helmet was crushed by the IS
pound water pressure and he was
hauled up dead. Two English naval
officers are said to have descended
2l0 feet, but could remain at that
depth only few seconds.
The problem of getting down to the
deep-lying treasure ships, therefore. is
essentially one of constructing me-
chanism sufficiently rigid to Withstand
the terrific water pressure. It must
carry Its own supply of oxygen, since
any sort Of flexible air tube would be
crushed fiat long before depth Of 400
feet is reached, and it must be so con.
structed that the diver inside 1t can
accomplish something after he reaches
the wreck, even II he can do nothing
more than attach a graphing hook to
copper ingot.
The encouragement for inventors
working along these lines is found in
the knowledge already at hand of
wrecks bearing treasure, some OF
which have been sunk for hundreds
Of years. In 1902 a Spanish fleet car
rying quantities of gold from Santo
Domingo sank off the island OF Santa
Lucia at an unknown depth in a hur-
ricane that drove the ships of Christie
pher Columbus into nearby harbor
for safety. From then on, for two
centuries, the record of the Spanish
conquest Of America is filled with
reports of sunken trea sure ships bear.
ing the riches of Peru and Mexico
back to Spain.
Probably no diver will ever reach
the wreck of the Titanic, which lies
two miles deep in mid-Atlantic, where
the water pressure reaches the ire.
mendous force of 1874 pounds to the
square inch, but it is easily possible
that some OF the inventors now work
ing on the main problems involved
will reap incalculable riches from
wrecks yet to be discovered at depths
of thousand feet or more.