Master of the Abyss Page #3

a 3500-foot steel cable.

The hatch is just 14 inches wide,

sealed from the outside with

a 400-pound steel door.

The bathysphere is

unwieldy and untested,

but it is Beebe's best and only

prospect to get to the deep alive.

June 3, 1930. The journey

to deep waters begins.

Beebe and Barton hire a retired

British warship, the Ready,

to serve as mother ship

for the bathysphere.

The Ready isn't ready for much.

The tired old hulk must be towed to

the deep water site

so Beebe can make his first descent.

Beebe cannibalizes the winch from

his old research vessel Arcturus

and bolts it to the Ready's deck.

It will have to support

the bathysphere's

two-and-a-half ton weight,

plus two tons of steel cable.

If the cable snaps or snags,

the bathysphere, and the men,

will plummet to the ocean floor,

with no hope of rescue.

Beebe chooses a place a few miles

off shore,

where waters are a mile

and a half deep.

The Ready is halted.

First-an unmanned test-to see if

the bathysphere performs as planned.

As the power winch lets out

the steel cable,

an additional rubber-coated electric

line is deployed by hand.

This line will allow them to use

a searchlight,

and more importantly, to communicate

with the mother ship.

In just forty minutes the steel ball

dangles 2000 feet below the surface.

The simple test ends in disaster.

The vital electrical conduit

has snaked itself

around the top of the capsule

no fewer than forty-five times.

Beebe fears that his adventure may

be over, before it has even begun.

It looked as if we were to pay penalty

at the very start

for daring to attempt to delve into

the forbidden depths.

Beebe has learned his first lesson

in deep-ocean exploration.

Every attention must be paid

to mechanical matters.

The ocean is not forgiving-the

slightest miscalculation could kill.

It takes a full day

to unravel the cable.

No damage is found.

Three days later, on June 6,

Beebe tries another unmanned test.

This time, the cables do not tangle.

But upon inspection,

Beebe and Barton discover a small

pool of water in the sealed capsule.

All things considered,

Beebe declares the test a success.

He'll risk his life-and Barton's-

and attempt the decent.

Beebe and Barton outfit the capsule

with oxygen tanks and

purifying chemical trays:

soda lime for clearing

carbon monoxide,

and calcium chloride

for absorbing moisture.

Beebe hasn't forgotten

his first lesson-

he will concentrate solely

on the mechanics of his mission-

dive one is not for science,

but survival.

At the moment Beebe has waited

for and dreamed of-

he finds himself at a loss for words.

"I looked around at the sea and sky,

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