Master of the Abyss Page #2

is the perfect base for exploration

of the deep Atlantic,

one of the few places in the world

where the sea floor plummets more

than a mile deep, just off shore.

Attracted by the new science

of oceanography,

and by the dynamism of

Beebe's character,

the lab at Nonsuch draws young,

talented researchers.

John Tee-Van, a New Yorker,

has been Beebe's assistant

since Teevan was nineteen-

Teevan is Beebe's personal planner-

harness for Beebe's

unstoppable energy.

Twenty-seven year old New Yorker

Gloria Hollister joins Beebe's team.

Hollister is typical of the young,

fashionable, and brilliant group.

The research team works long hours

at varying jobs,

but Bermuda life is comfortable,

and the climate ideal for

a mid-ocean outpost.

Beebe's boundless energy inspires

the group in discovery after discovery.

Gloria Hollister experiments

with Beebe's copper helmet,

continuing research in the shallows,

following Beebe's footsteps down

into the living sea.

But William Beebe cannot shed

his dreams of the deep waters

just off shore-filled with creatures

that he has only seen in nets.

He is three years into his quest,

and he still has no idea

how to reach the living deep.

The answer will come

from a rich stranger.

His name is Otis Barton.

Barton is 29, the high-spirited heir

of a New England retailer.

He has read about William Beebe's

deep ocean dream in New York papers,

and he has the money

to make it come true.

He offers to finance the design

and construction of a device

that can be lowered to at least

on one condition:

that he gets to ride along.

Barton's hopes and dreams

for the world's first working deep-

diving capsule start to take shape.

It is a hollow sphere of

inch-and-a-half thick steel.

Its strength lies in its round design-

withstanding the relentless ocean

pressure by equalizing its assault.

No glass is strong enough

for portholes.

Barton orders panes of fused quartz,

three inches thick.

These tiny windows might allow man's

first glimpse of the living deep-

but they too,

must withstand the pressure.

The factory work

takes more than a year.

Beebe is within reach of his dream.

Word comes from New York.

The diving globe is ready.

For Otis Barton,

the price tag of 12,000 dollars proves

to be a sizeable chunk of his fortune.

In May, 1930,

Barton arrives in Bermuda.

He has come with the vessel that,

if it works,

will transport two men to the

unknown deep-

making history, and changing science.

On the docks of Bermuda,

William Beebe inspects

the bizarre deep-sea capsule.

He calls the invention a bathysphere-

meaning "deep sea ball".

Barton's plan is simple.

The bathysphere will descend on

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