ocean exploration

Diving used in Warfare

414 BCE

A greek Historian named Thucydides wrote about how members of the greek army during their siege of the city Syracuse went diving to remove obstacles out of the path of their ships.

Salvage Diving Flourishes

100 BCE

The major shipping ports of the Eastern Mediterranean at this time had an extremely well organized system for diving including laws establishing the pay of salvage workers.

first indicated use of Goggles

200

Artwork discovered on the side of Peruvian pottery depicting divers with goggles and with fish in their hands.

First Plans for a Submarine

1578

William Bourne, an English mathematician, drew plans for a boat that traveled under the water. This vessel was to be a wooden frame with a leather skin stretched across it and rowed from the inside. There is no documented construction of this preliminary submarine.

First Waterproof Suit

1715

A guard in the French Navy named Chevalier de Beauve designed and constructed a watertight suit with leaden boots and air given through leather tubes.

The Nautilus

1800

After inventing the steamboat Robert Fulton built a submarine which he named the Nautilus. it looked like a cigar and was comprised of wood put over iron plates. It's rudder system was horizontally alighned to control the vertical movement of the craft and this desighn is still used to this day.

First Modern Sounding

Jan 3, 1840

The first open Ocean deep-water sounding was performed by Sir James Clark Ross at Latitude 27 S Longitude 17 W (South Atlantic Ocean) to a depth of 2425 fathoms or 14450 feet. This sounding was conducted using a hemp rope lowed over the side of the ship.

proof of deep sea life

1867

Off the coast of Florida an American Natalist named Louis F. de Pourtales operated dredging operations which turned up a decent amount of life below 300 fathoms.

live Coelacanth Discovered

1938

Of the coast of South Africa a "living Fossil" was pulled up from the depths by fishermen. The creature was the identified as a Coelacanth, and was through to be extinct. since then this has not been the only one of these creatures discovered.

Deepest Ocean Dive

Jan 23, 1960

Jacques Piccard descend with two other men into the ocean and reached a depth of 35,797 feet. this dive was conducted in a bathyscaphe named Trieste which was designed by it's operator.

Titanic Found

Sep 1, 1985

After the Titanic sank on April 15th, 1912 is sat 12,500 feet below the surface of the Ocean 375 miles off the coats of Newfoundland in Canada by Dr. Robert Ballard with the help of a small submarine robot dubed Jason. Any chance of recovering the mighty vessel were put to rest by the fact that it was in two separate pieces.

First Solo Dive to the Mariana Trench

May 25, 2012

Three hours of in depth at filming 35,756 feet below the surface was perfomed by the visionary film director Lames Cameron. this dive was done alone by the man.