Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 176, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 July 1916 — MAY YET RAISE SUNKEN TREASURE [ARTICLE]

MAY YET RAISE SUNKEN TREASURE

Work of Navy Divers Shows What Can Be Cone at Great Depths. MAKES SALVAGE POSSIBLE Projects for Raising Long-Lost Rich Galleys and Warships Now More Favorably Considered Than Ever Before. Washington.—Must all the millions of dollars that now lie at the bottom of the sea in the form of ships and their sunken treasure be forever lost to the world? Most of the vessels that have been sunk, whether by accident or in the course of war, lie in comparatively shallow waters, many of them at a depth of less than 300 feet, and the problem of their recovery does not seem entirely hopeless in the light of recent improvements in deep-sea diving and the feats accomplished by the expert divers of the United States navy. The matter is the subject of an article in the bulletin of the Pan-Amer-ican Union at Washington. lirdiscussing the organization of companies in the United States whose purpose is the recovery of some of the wealth now lying in the ocean’s depth, the writer .of this bulletin says: “Certain it is that the project of recovering sunken ships or the most valuable of the treasures that have gone down with them is more feasible now than it was onlyjour or five years ago. S.uch great improvements In diving apparatus have recently been made that it is now possible for a diver to operate for a limited time even at the great depth of 300 feet below the surface. These improvements are largely due to the remarkable experiments in deep-sea diving conducted under the auspices of the Bureau of Construction and Repair of the Navy Department of the United States in 1914. Prior to that time the greatest depth reached by divers was 210 feet, two English officers having accomplished that feat during a series of tests carried on by the British admiralty In 1907. For the benefit of those who do not appreciate the difficulty of diving to such depths it may be stated that at a depth of ten feet below the surface the pressure is 4.33 pounds per square inch of surface of the body submerged. This pressure increases proportionately and at a depth of 100 feet it has Increased to 43.3 pounds and at a depth of 300 feet to 129.9 pounds. Makes Salvage Possible;

“Notwithstanding this tremendous pressure, the expert divers of the United States navy,” this bulletin declares, “have succeeded in not only reaching a depth of 300 to 350 feet, but In remaining at that depth for from five to twenty minutes at a time, making examinations and observations in regard to a sunken vessel that made Its subsequent salvage possible. This work was done in connection with the raising of the United States submarine F-4, which, it will be remembered, plunged to the bottom of the sea just off the harbor of Honolulu on March 25, 1915. Not only did the divers establish a new world’s record for deep-sea diving upon that occasion, but the subsequent raising and recovery of the F-4 is the only instance in history where a sunken vessel was recovered from a depth of 300 feet.” The bulletin writer thereupon gives a brief sketch of the history of diving as a useful art from the time of Aristotle down to the present, and after describing a modern diving out* fit and explaining in some detail the matter jof the diver’s being subjected to two pressures, viz., the pressure of the air inside the helmet and suit and the external pressure of the water, continues as follows: ■ “The necessity of having the air pressure within the diving dress compensate the external water pressure, thus subjecting the diver to pressure directly proportioned to the depth to which he descends, is the dangerous element in deep sea diving. At a depth, for instance.of 100 feet, a diver must be subjtgted" to a pressure of four atmospheres, or GO pounds per

square Inch, in order to compensate the external water pressure. Exposure to such pressure is apt to be followed by dungerous physiological effects, commonly known as ‘caisson disease,’ the symptoms of which Include pains in the muscles and joints, commonly called ‘bends,’ embarrassed breathing, vomiting, fainting, etc., sometimes resuiting In death. Danger in Removing Pressure. "" “These symptoms,” the bulletin says, “do not appear while the pressure is being raised nor so long as It is continued, but only after It has been removed; and the view now accepted Is that they are due to the rapid effervescence of the gases which are absorbed in the body fluids during exposure to pressure. Experiment has proved that when the pressure is suddenly relieved the gas is liberated in bubbles within the body and that these do the harm. Set free in the spinal cord, for Instance, they may cause partial paralysis, or in the heart lead to stoppage of the circulation. It has been found, however, that if the pressure Is relieved gradually the bubbles are not formed, because the gas comes out of solution slowly and Is got rid of by the heart and lungs. To prevent these effects the withdrawal of the air pressure—in other words, the decompression—should be slow. Hence the diver’s ascent must be regulated accordingly, rand the deeper he has been the slower and longer must be the periods of decompression. It was particularly in regard to this matter of decompression that the experiments of the United States navy department in 1914 led to the Improved methods enabling the divers to descend to 300 feet below the surface. Being able to safely observe and direct the work of rescue at such a depth and with modern lifting apparatus, who can say that, the recovery of ancient treasures of sunken Spanish galleons, or hundreds of more recent wrecks of merchant vessels, and finally of many of the magnificent war vessels that have been sent to the bottom during the present war, is an idle dream?” •