The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1913-07-11
Two Problems Confronting
Oceans Treasure Seekers.
Air Pressure and Llght-What Is Re-
qulslte 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 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
ern developments in electric lighting
make it practically certain that power
full searchlights can be devised which
will give sufficient illumination for
salvage operations at depths as great
as 800 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 d.
ver's equipment depends upon a con-
stant supply of air pumped in from
above, and a rubber suit with metal
helmet, all air-tight, or nearly so, 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 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 40
pounds to the square inch are risking
their lives, and As pounds means only
a depth Of 104 feet of water. At zoo
feet the water pressure is a little over
S6A pounds to the square inch; at
$50 feet it is over 10S pounds; at 300
feet it is 13O 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 second attempt |
his helmet was crushed by the S5
pound water pressure and he was
hauled up dead Two English naval
officers are said to have descended
21O feet, but could remain at that
depth only a few seconds.
The problem of getting down to the
1eep-lying treasure ships, therefore, is
essentially one of constructing me-
ehanism sufficiently rigid to Withstand
he terrific water pressure. 1t must
carry it's own supply Of oxygen, since
any sort Of flexible air tube would be
crushed fiat long before depth OF 400
'eet is reached, and it must be so con-
structed that the diver inside it can
accomplish something after, he reaches
he wreck, even If he can do nothing
more than attach a graphing hook to
4 copper ingot.
The encouragement for inventors
w vi hALlS dAOllS IIOOC AlLlCo - LGNA4A 49,
he knowledge already at hand Of
wrecks bearing treasure, some OF
which have been sunk for hundreds
If years In 1902 a Spanish fleet car
-ying quantities of gold from Santo
Domingo sank off the island of Santa
Lucia at an unknown depth in hur-
'icane that drove the ships of Christie
)her Columbus into nearby harbor
,or safety. From then on, for two
the record of the Spanish
conquest of America is filled with
Of sunken treasure ships bear
ng the riches of Peru and Mexico
back to Spain.
Probably no diver viii ever reach
he wreck of the Titanic, which lies
.wo miles deep in mid-Atlantic, where
he water pressure reaches the tre-
nendous force of 4.574 pounds to the
square inch, but 1t is easily possible
hat some Of the inventors now work
ng on the main problems involved
will reap incalculable riches from
wrecks yet to be discovered at depths
1f thousand feet or more.
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