Master of the Abyss

By the beginning of the

Twentieth Century,

human explorers have navigated the

earth and soared through the skies.

Yet one earthly realm remains

silent and hostile.

The deep.

Its crushing pressures kill all

who attempt to invade

its forbidden darkness.

Then, in 1930, an adventurous

scientist and a wealthy dreamer

undertake a daring voyage

in a tiny steel capsule,

to a place no living man

has ever gone.

Success will make them

ocean science pioneers.

Failure will end in death.

Awaiting them-beckoning them-

is a fantastic unexplored universe.

This is the story of these first

intrepid descents into the abyss.

Earth is an ocean planet.

Water covers over seventy percent

at an average depth of two miles.

Yet at the beginning of

the twentieth century,

almost nothing is known about

the deep ocean.

Then, in 1925,

a charismatic explorer and scientist

turns his attention to the sea.

His name is William Beebe.

And his quest begins with a shallow

dive in a crude copper helmet.

At 48, Beebe has spent his life

bringing tales of jungle adventures

home to the American public.

Now he is re-born into a new world.

"As I peered down I realized that

I was looking toward a world of life

almost as unknown as

that of Mars or Venus.

William Beebe believes that

the only way to study the sea

is to explore it himself.

To date, few other scientists

have ventured into the ocean

and witnessed its wonders.

Modern oceanographic knowledge

of deep-sea fish

is comparable to the information of

a student of African animals,

who has trapped a small collection

of rats and mice,

but is still wholly unaware of

antelope, elephants, lions and rhinos."

Beebe is tantalized by the unknown

world in the depths below-

and the unseen creatures

which live there.

Beebe is already

a celebrity scientist.

He was the 25-year old prodigy

named curator of Birds

at the Bronx Zoo, today's

Wildlife Conservation Society.

He is a gifted writer,

and a restless traveler,

popularizing scientific observation

with a healthy dose of

exotic adventure.

His friends include former

President Theodore Roosevelt.

In what is believed to be his

last letter before his death in 1919,

Roosevelt praises Beebe's work.

At age forty, he turns his attention

and energy to the First World War

and volunteers as a pilot,

serving in skies over Europe.

When the war is over, William Beebe

returns to his explorations-

and in 1925, sets out on the ocean

journey that will change his life.

Beebe's ship is Arcturus, donated to

him by a wealthy patron.

A tireless promoter, Beebe knows

how to use adventure to sell science.

Several Manhattan millionaires

sponsor his expedition.

Beebe steers Arcturus for

the Sargasso Sea,

in search of the teeming aquatic life

amidst the rafts of floating

sargassum weed.

His team of fifteen scientists labor

tirelessly,

gathering fish and ocean animals,

recording and cataloging

their findings,

and preserving specimens for more

detailed study at the Bronx Zoo.

For 25 years,

Beebe has scoured the continents.

Now, he opens his eyes to

a new world, the living sea.

But does life exist

in the deeper ocean?

And if so, is it different?

Arcturus is specially equipped to

dredge the deep.

Beebe orders nets to be sent down

over half a mile

They return with hundreds

of creatures,

most are dead, many are alive,

and most importantly, many species

are completely unknown to science.

Beebe is astounded.

"When we realize the possibilities of

deep-sea life still unknown to us,

every haul of the dredge should be

welcomed by an enthusiasm

equaled only by the possible hope of

communication with our sister planets."

Beebe longs to know about life in this

sunless place, where plants cannot grow.

How do creatures thrive in an

animal world of total darkness?

Beebe wants to see this alien

ecosystem at work, with his own eyes.

Ocean life becomes Beebe's obsession.

He makes hundreds of descents,

pushing his copper helmet-

and his body-to its maximum depth.

At just over sixty feet,

he reaches his limit.

Even obsession can take him no deeper.

Below him are chasms deeper than

the Grand Canyon.

Barely beneath the surface,

the reach of human exploration ends.

To dive much deeper is foolish,

and deadly.

"I made my way to a steep precipice,

balanced on the brink,

and looked down,

down into the green depths.

It would have been exceedingly unwise

to go much farther.

At double the depth I had reached

I would probably become insensible

and unable to ascend."

Ocean pressure can crush

the unprotected human body

at just three hundred feet.

Even submarines in Beebe's day can

descend no deeper than four hundred.

Beebe is determined to descend

into the darkness-

and just as determined

to return alive.

He needs radical new technology.

Beebe's well-publicized shallow dives

make him an underwater icon-

the brave explorer

in the copper helmet

is the Jacques Cousteau of

the Roaring Twenties.

Back at the Bronx Zoo, Beebe sets

his sights on the ocean depths-

for two years, he draws up plan after

plan for a deep-sea diving device.

He abandons them all as impractical.

In 1928, Beebe decides to move to

the ocean to pursue his obsession.

His choice is Bermuda.

The Bermuda government donates

a hospital

on the outlying Island of Nonsuch.

Beebe knows that Bermuda

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