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Period: 5000 BCE to 1 BCE
5000 Bc
start -
4000 BCE
First Sailing Vessel
The ancient Egyptians developed the first sailing vessels. These vessels were probably only used for sailing in the eastern Mediterranean and near the mouth of the Nile river. -
325 BCE
Voyage of Pytheas
The Greek astronomer and geographer Pytheas sailed north from the Mediterranean and reaches the coast of England. He was the first person on record to describe the midnight sun north of the Arctic Circle. He also developed methods for using the Sun and the North Star to determine latitude. -
Period: 1 CE to
1 AD
start -
1492
Voyage of Christopher Columbus
The Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus sets out on his historic voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a passage to China and India. Instead, he discovers North and South America which lead to European colonization of these newly discovered continents. His expeditions were the first European contact with the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. -
1578
First Plans for a Submarine
An English mathematician named William Bourne draws up the first known plans for an underwater boat. These plans called for a leather-covered wooden frame craft that would be rowed from the inside. There is no evidence to suggest that this craft was ever built. -
Period: to
1601
start -
First Submarine
Dutch physician Cornelis Drebbel builds the world's first submarine. The boat is made of wood reinforced with iron and covered with leather. Inside, 12 oarsmen are seated six on each side. They row with oars that stick out the sides through tight fitting leather sleeves to keep the water out. Drebbel made several trips in his submarine in the Thames River near London at a depth of up to 15 feet (4.6 meters). -
First Enclosed Diving Device
Englishman John Lethbridge developed a completely enclosed, one-man diving dress. The device is made from a reinforced, leather-covered barrel of air, equipped with a glass porthole for viewing, and two arm holes with watertight sleeves. -
Period: to
1801
start -
First use of Scuba
Englishman William H. James designed a self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, or scuba. In James' design, the diver wears a helmet and carries a supply of compressed air in a cast-iron belt fastened around the waist. This device allows the diver to remain underwater for up to an hour. -
First Modern Electric Submarine
The French Navy launched the submersible Gymnote. It was the first electrically powered and fully functional military submarine. The steel-hulled craft is powered by a 204-cell battery. It completes over 2,000 successful dives before being scrapped for its limited range. -
Period: to
1901
start -
Titanic sinks
The White Star Liner RMS Titanic sinks after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean. Over 1,500 passengers lose their lives during one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters in history. This terrible tragedy leads to a concerted effort to devise an acoustic means of discovering objects in the water ahead of a moving vessel. -
First Deep Ocean Dive
William Beebe and Otis Barton embarked on a deep sea expedition in a tethered sphere known as a bathysphere. They reached a depth of a 3,000 feet (914 meters) off the coast of Bermuda and discovered a previously unseen world of bizarre, luminescent creatures. -
Period: to
1951
start -
Discovery of Mid-Atlantic Ridge
American geologist Marie Tharp studies sounding profiles from the Atlantic Ocean and discovered a rift valley. Later studies reveal it to be a continuous rift extending over 40,000 nautical miles (64,373 kilometers) along the ocean floor. This discovery provides evidence for the newly formed theory of continental drift, known today as plate tectonics. -
Sealab 1 Deployed
Sealab 1 was the first experimental underwater habitat developed by the Navy to research the psychological and physiological strain of extended periods spent living and working underwater. It is deployed off the coast of Bermuda at a depth of 192 feet (59 meters) below the ocean surface. Sealab 1 proves that saturation diving in the open ocean is viable for extended periods. It is currently on display at the Museum of Man in the Sea, in Panama City Beach, Florida -
Period: to
1971
start -
Atocha Found
Famed treasure hunter Mel Fisher finds the wreck of the Atocha off the coast of the Florida Keys. Lying in only 55 feet (17 meters) of water, the Atocha would soon yield the biggest treasure ever recovered from a shipwreck. The discovery would come at a price, however. Mel loses his son, Dirk, Dirk's wife, and another crewmember in a tragic boating accident in 1975 while searching for the wreck of the Atocha. -
Seabed 2030 Announced
A major new international innovative to map the ocean floor is announced. Seabed 2030 is a collaborative project between the Nippon Foundation of Japan and the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO). It aims to bring together all available bathymetric data to produce a definitive map of the world ocean floor by 2030.