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US Coast Survey
President Thomas Jefferson signs a bill authorizing the United States Coast Survey. -
Life in the Deep Sea
Charles Wyville Thomson, dredging from the H.M.S Lightning, finds sea life at 4,389 meters (14,400 feet), shattering previous theories that the sea was lifeless below 549 meters (1,800 feet). -
The First Oceanic Research Vessel
The U.S. Fisheries Commission steamer Albatross begins operations as the first ship built to serve as an oceanographic research vessel. -
Titanic Sinks
In 1912 the Titanic hit an iceberg which made it sink, killing 1500 people onboard. -
First Acoustic Exploration of the Seas
Reginald Fessenden uses an oscillator to bounce a signal simultaneously off an iceberg and the seafloor, the first acoustic exploration of the seas. -
Creation of the Aqua-Lung
Jacques Cousteau and Emile Gagnan modify a demand breathing regulator to engineer the Aqua-Lung, forever changing the course of human interaction with the sea. -
The Trieste Explores the Mariana Trench
The bathyscaphe Trieste dives to what was believed to be the deepest point in the Mariana Trench, recording a depth of 10,912 meters (35,800 feet). Exploring the same area in 1998, a Japanese research vessel measured a depth of 10,938 meters (35,886 feet). -
Submersible Deep Dives
The Deep Submergence Vehicle Alvin is constructed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Alvin was the first U.S.-based deep-diving submersible, and has now made over 4,400 descents and led to numerous ocean floor discoveries. -
The Underwater Lab
Sealab II, an underwater habitat, is lowered off the coast of California. -
Seabed 2030
An international scientific team announces a plan that aims to map the entire floor of the Earth's oceans by 2030, using over a dozen tracking ships outfitted with advanced multibeam bathymetry technology. The effort, Seabed 2030, will fill in the considerable gaps in our knowledge of this massive region, of which less than 15 percent has been mapped in detail--less than some planets in our solar system
