Evening star., 1921-09-11
Vast Treasures of Ocean
Beds Are Awaiting Salvage
Simon Lake, Subm arinist, Tells of Great Wealth
In Coal Alone-Billions in Riches of Shell Fish
Gold of Ships, and Wonderful Pearls

have maintained my interest. / re-
gard as diversion of potential
good to evil purposes the use of the
| submarine, as of the drigible or
aeroplane, for war purposes.
lssTHE ocean is destined to produce
not little but many times
| more food for mankind than it does
now. Its possibilities may be fully
comparable to those which have been
developed in new dry-land territories
Every one of average intelligence
jcomprehends the great contribution
to the worlds food supply, which. for
example. was made by the opening of
the western plains of the United
States. first to cattle raising and then
| to grain and other crop-growing
"CneXplored and undeveloped, they
had produced little but the buffalo
and minor wild animals. useful prin-
cipally to savage tribes Under de-
velopment by civilized man they fur
nish food and many other things for
tens of millions. L believe similar
development will occur with regard
to ocean beds when the utilization
OF the submarine for noh-war pur-
poses fully begins.
II speak from actual knowledge in
predicting this In the exploration of
submarine surfaces l have seen with
my own eyes vast beds of edible
shellf1sh, capable of supplying perfect
food to hundreds of thousands in con-
tinuous supply, and these lie close to
the great centers of population. easily
lreachable by submarines designed for
such operations. Their extent quail
f1es them to solve any food-shortage
:problems which may arise for many
generations.
| CLAN fisheries have been exhausted
in SHALLOW waters. but clans are
sometimes washed up in winrows by
great storms. This indicates the gen
erosity of the deep-water supply.
which as yet has not been touched
by man.
Il have discovered explored and
sampled vast beds of hard-shell CLANS
and almost as exhaustive territories
in which evidence of the profuse ex-
istence of soft-shell CLAIMS was quite
as plain, although until / visited them
in my submarine the beds were un-
suspected. 1t is notable, also. that
polluted by sewage from the land as
SO many shallow-water beds have
been.
The famous oyster beds of Chesa-
peake bay are fished only by men who
go out in small boats and rake the
shellfsh up with rongs' and dredges.
Obviously such instruments can reach
but a few feet but they cannot dredge
them from rocky bottoms. where
many rich virgin beds exist. The
submarine can.
I'm a submarine Journey on the hot
, tom of that famous bay i saw and
Sampled. one day. such beds of oys-
tiers. never touched by 'tonsers' as
have not been dreamed of by the con-
ventional oysterman. The best shall
low-water beds already have been ex-
housed. Soft shell CLAIMS up to six
inches in Length used to be found by
. submarine along the shores of Long
Island sound in unlimited quantities
, They are not obtainable today. by
present methods and if found could
be sold at any price UP to 25 cents
each. They are waiting in the lower
depths by thousands of tons for the
fisher who goes after them in an un-
derwater boat.
=, "A great edible delicacy profusely
existent in the deeper waters is the
razor clam. 1t is the most wonder
full of shellfish and is now unavaila BILE
because it's shell is SO delicate that
tongs and other such appliances break
it SO that it cannot be dredged out. l
have perfected an apparatus for use
with NV deep sea fishing submarine
which is capable of gathering vast
quantities of this delicate and highly
nutritious food product in waters
easily accessible along the coasts of
both the Atlantic and the Pacific. II
does not dredge them. but stips the
bottom SO that they rise to the sur
face to be gathered there by those
who wait for the fine harvest.
NCOL X. M. FOsS of England. in
terested in the extensive pearl
fisheries. which are located variously
in British territory, spent several
weeks with me at Bridgeport last
summer studying the possibilities Of
the submarine for deep sea food
product fishing and pearl oyster re-
covery. He became entirely convinced
of the practicability of the submarine
in the pearl fisheries and. with him.
am satisfied that a great future i'm
pends for it, Notwithstanding the de-
crease in the price of pearls which
some expect. l think enormously. as
the result of Japanese pearl-culture
by artificial means.
I'm the sponge fisheries the subma-
rine will be the final implement, as
it will be in coral and shell-fish re-
covery. Sponges of great size and
superb quality are known to exist at
depths far. far beyond the reach of
present fishers. who. like the Coral
fishers. find their efforts limited by
the length of their rakes and other
graphing apparatus.
That the ocean bed is full OF treas
ures is indicated more dramatically
by the number Of these unrecorded
wrecks in that small area in Long
Island sound than by anything else
Of which think. l found one entirely
unrecorded three-masted schooner ly-
ing on her side and in really good
condition. yet have been unable to dis
cover any records of her loss or her
Identity. She was laden with build
ing tile. and this was not worth sal
vaging. but why was not the loss of
this valuable vessel made of record?
Such losses are accepted without rec
ord by sailormen and owners in an
|, extraordinary number of cases.
Upward Of 5000 ships other than
/, coal carriers are recorded as having
been sunk since 1879 in United States
, coastal waters. which We now know
to be easily explorable by commercial!
i submarines. OF course. SUCK records
are not even reasonably complete. for
1t is curious fact that it is no ones
job, in or outside of the government.
, to make them so.
Treasures? Millions lie awaiting
salvage. Millions. indeed. lie await
ling him who seeks intelligently at
the bottom of He'll Gate. or between
Execution Rock and the Battery in
New York's East river and harbor
alone, and there are many other
i. points where exploration by intelli-