Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1913-07-09
Two Problems Confronting
Oceans Treasure Seekers.
Air Pressure and Llaht-What ls 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 1t practically certain that power
full searchlights can be devised which
will give sufficient illumination for
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 d.
ver's equipment depends upon a con-
slant supply of air pumped in from
above, and a rubber suit with metal
helmet, all alright, 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 Al
. pounds to the square inch are riskine
their lives, and As pounds means only
depth of 104 feet of water. At 2O'
feet the water pressure is a little ovel
S6k pounds to the square inch; a
$50 feet 1t is over 10S pounds; at 30'
, feet it is 100 pounds, and many of thu
sunken treasures lie at even create
depths.
, Very few divers have descended al
deep as 100 feet. One adventurous
young man went down 1876 feet II
Puget sound, but on a second attemp
, his helmet was crushed by tts q
pound water pressure and he wa
hauled up dead. Two English naVa
En- dnuRpnnpf
20 feet, but could remain at tina
depth only a few seconds.
= The problem Of getting down to tn
n deep-lying treasure ships, therefore, /
q essentially one Of constructing me
chanism sufficiently rigid to withstan
I the terrific water pressure. 1t mus
| carry it's own supply Of oxygen, sine
| any sort of flexible air tube would b
crushed fiat long before depth of 40
feet is reached, and 1t must be so COZ
| structed that the diver inside 1t ca
accomplish something after he reache
the wreck, even If he can do nothin
more than attach graphing hook
| a copper ingot
| The encouragement for inventor
working along these lines is found
the knowledge already at hand {
wrecks bearing treasure, some {
which have been sunk for hundred
of years. In 1902 Spanish feet ca
rying quantities of gold from SAINT
Domingo sank off the island OF SAINT
Lucia at an unknown depth in hu
ricane that drove the ships Of Christi
pher Columbus into nearby harbc
fer safety. From then on, for tw
centuries, the record of the SPANS
= conquest Of America is filed wit
reports of sunken treasure ships bea
ing the riches of Peru and MexiC
to back to Spain.
he PROBABLY no diver will ever reaC
al the wreck of the Titanic, which liz
to two miles deep in mid-Atlantic, whe
10 the water pressure reaches the TT
lg mendous force of 4,574 pounds to Il
81 square inch, but 1t is easily possib
nj that some OF the inventors now wor
ed ing on the main problems involv,
ss will reap inEalcilable riches fro
es- wrecks yet to be discovered at dept
of a thousand feet or more.