1 00:00:14,647 --> 00:00:16,512 By the beginning of the Twentieth Century, 2 00:00:16,649 --> 00:00:21,313 human explorers have navigated the earth and soared through the skies. 3 00:00:21,454 --> 00:00:25,220 Yet one earthly realm remains silent and hostile. 4 00:00:25,358 --> 00:00:26,290 The deep. 5 00:00:26,426 --> 00:00:28,326 Its crushing pressures kill all 6 00:00:28,461 --> 00:00:31,589 who attempt to invade its forbidden darkness. 7 00:00:36,469 --> 00:00:40,337 Then, in 1930, an adventurous scientist and a wealthy dreamer 8 00:00:40,473 --> 00:00:43,874 undertake a daring voyage in a tiny steel capsule, 9 00:00:44,010 --> 00:00:47,446 to a place no living man has ever gone. 10 00:00:50,483 --> 00:00:54,544 Success will make them ocean science pioneers. 11 00:00:56,056 --> 00:00:59,082 Failure will end in death. 12 00:01:02,429 --> 00:01:08,061 Awaiting thembeckoning them is a fantastic unexplored universe. 13 00:01:08,134 --> 00:01:13,902 This is the story of these first intrepid descents into the abyss. 14 00:01:59,419 --> 00:02:01,250 Earth is an ocean planet. 15 00:02:01,387 --> 00:02:05,847 Water covers over seventy percent at an average depth of two miles. 16 00:02:05,992 --> 00:02:08,051 Yet at the beginning of the twentieth century, 17 00:02:08,194 --> 00:02:11,527 almost nothing is known about the deep ocean. 18 00:02:24,878 --> 00:02:26,402 Then, in 1925, 19 00:02:26,546 --> 00:02:31,381 a charismatic explorer and scientist turns his attention to the sea. 20 00:02:31,518 --> 00:02:33,713 His name is William Beebe. 21 00:02:33,853 --> 00:02:38,984 And his quest begins with a shallow dive in a crude copper helmet. 22 00:02:48,668 --> 00:02:50,932 At 48, Beebe has spent his life 23 00:02:51,070 --> 00:02:55,473 bringing tales of jungle adventures home to the American public. 24 00:02:55,942 --> 00:02:59,469 Now he is reborn into a new world. 25 00:03:04,317 --> 00:03:09,277 "As I peered down I realized that I was looking toward a world of life 26 00:03:09,422 --> 00:03:14,553 almost as unknown as that of Mars or Venus. 27 00:03:16,930 --> 00:03:20,388 William Beebe believes that the only way to study the sea 28 00:03:20,533 --> 00:03:22,524 is to explore it himself. 29 00:03:22,669 --> 00:03:26,196 To date, few other scientists have ventured into the ocean 30 00:03:26,339 --> 00:03:28,637 and witnessed its wonders. 31 00:03:31,211 --> 00:03:34,738 Modern oceanographic knowledge of deepsea fish 32 00:03:34,881 --> 00:03:39,545 is comparable to the information of a student of African animals, 33 00:03:39,686 --> 00:03:43,588 who has trapped a small collection of rats and mice, 34 00:03:43,890 --> 00:03:51,422 but is still wholly unaware of antelope, elephants, lions and rhinos." 35 00:03:55,668 --> 00:03:59,365 Beebe is tantalized by the unknown world in the depths below 36 00:03:59,505 --> 00:04:02,474 and the unseen creatures which live there. 37 00:04:11,084 --> 00:04:13,382 Beebe is already a celebrity scientist. 38 00:04:13,519 --> 00:04:16,920 He was the 25year old prodigy named curator of Birds 39 00:04:17,056 --> 00:04:20,992 at the Bronx Zoo, today's Wildlife Conservation Society. 40 00:04:21,127 --> 00:04:23,994 He is a gifted writer, and a restless traveler, 41 00:04:24,130 --> 00:04:26,598 popularizing scientific observation 42 00:04:26,733 --> 00:04:29,531 with a healthy dose of exotic adventure. 43 00:04:32,105 --> 00:04:35,472 His friends include former President Theodore Roosevelt. 44 00:04:35,608 --> 00:04:39,442 In what is believed to be his last letter before his death in 1919, 45 00:04:39,579 --> 00:04:42,275 Roosevelt praises Beebe's work 46 00:04:44,217 --> 00:04:48,711 At age forty, he turns his attention and energy to the First World War 47 00:04:48,855 --> 00:04:53,224 and volunteers as a pilot, serving in skies over Europe. 48 00:04:53,626 --> 00:04:57,460 When the war is over, William Beebe returns to his explorations 49 00:04:57,597 --> 00:05:03,502 and in 1925, sets out on the ocean journey that will change his life. 50 00:05:04,570 --> 00:05:09,166 Beebe's ship is Arcturus, donated to him by a wealthy patron. 51 00:05:11,144 --> 00:05:16,104 A tireless promoter, Beebe knows how to use adventure to sell science. 52 00:05:16,249 --> 00:05:19,912 Several Manhattan millionaires sponsor his expedition. 53 00:05:23,756 --> 00:05:26,850 Beebe steers Arcturus for the Sargasso Sea, 54 00:05:26,993 --> 00:05:28,756 in search of the teeming aquatic life 55 00:05:28,895 --> 00:05:32,387 amidst the rafts of floating sargassum weed. 56 00:05:45,812 --> 00:05:48,838 His team of fifteen scientists labor tirelessly, 57 00:05:48,981 --> 00:05:51,108 gathering fish and ocean animals, 58 00:05:51,250 --> 00:05:53,548 recording and cataloguing their fiindings, 59 00:05:53,686 --> 00:05:58,282 and preserving specimens for more detailed study at the Bronx Zoo. 60 00:06:01,260 --> 00:06:04,525 For 25 years, Beebe has scoured the continents. 61 00:06:04,664 --> 00:06:09,966 Now, he opens his eyes to a new world, the living sea. 62 00:06:32,792 --> 00:06:35,192 But does life exist in the deeper ocean? 63 00:06:35,328 --> 00:06:37,353 And if so, is it different? 64 00:06:37,497 --> 00:06:41,058 Arcturus is specially equipped to dredge the deep. 65 00:06:44,337 --> 00:06:48,296 Beebe orders nets to be sent down over half a mile 66 00:06:58,084 --> 00:07:00,518 They return with hundreds of creatures, 67 00:07:00,653 --> 00:07:02,712 most are dead, many are alive, 68 00:07:02,855 --> 00:07:07,554 and most importantly, many species are completely unknown to science. 69 00:07:07,693 --> 00:07:10,025 Beebe is astounded. 70 00:07:15,401 --> 00:07:20,100 "When we realize the possibilities of deepsea life still unknown to us, 71 00:07:20,239 --> 00:07:24,141 every haul of the dredge should be welcomed by an enthusiasm 72 00:07:24,277 --> 00:07:29,738 equaled only by the possible hope of communication with our sister planets." 73 00:07:32,018 --> 00:07:37,183 Beebe longs to know about life in this sunless place, where plants cannot grow. 74 00:07:38,458 --> 00:07:42,895 How do creatures thrive in an animal world of total darkness? 75 00:07:46,833 --> 00:07:52,294 Beebe wants to see this alien ecosystem at work with his own eyes. 76 00:08:05,117 --> 00:08:07,483 Ocean life becomes Beebe's obsession. 77 00:08:07,620 --> 00:08:10,487 He makes hundreds of descents, pushing his copper helmet 78 00:08:10,623 --> 00:08:13,683 and his bodyto its maximum depth. 79 00:08:15,895 --> 00:08:19,058 At just over sixty feet, he reaches his limit. 80 00:08:19,198 --> 00:08:22,133 Even obsession can take him no deeper. 81 00:08:24,403 --> 00:08:28,066 Below him are chasms deeper than the Grand Canyon. 82 00:08:28,207 --> 00:08:32,473 Barely beneath the surface, the reach of human exploration ends. 83 00:08:32,612 --> 00:08:36,446 To dive much deeper is foolish, and deadly. 84 00:08:38,251 --> 00:08:42,312 "I made my way to a steep precipice, balanced on the brink 85 00:08:42,455 --> 00:08:46,391 and looked down, down into the green depths. 86 00:08:46,526 --> 00:08:49,859 It would have been exceedingly unwise to go much farther. 87 00:08:49,996 --> 00:08:51,588 At double the depth I had reached 88 00:08:51,731 --> 00:08:56,225 I would probably become insensible and unable to ascend." 89 00:08:59,005 --> 00:09:02,099 Ocean pressure can crush the unprotected human body 90 00:09:02,241 --> 00:09:04,038 at just three hundred feet. 91 00:09:04,176 --> 00:09:08,977 Even submarines in Beebe's day can descend no deeper than four hundred. 92 00:09:13,386 --> 00:09:16,321 Beebe is determined to descend into the darkness 93 00:09:16,455 --> 00:09:19,515 and just as determined to return alive. 94 00:09:21,227 --> 00:09:24,196 He needs radical new technology. 95 00:09:31,704 --> 00:09:36,164 Beebe's wellpublicized shallow dives make him an underwater icon 96 00:09:36,309 --> 00:09:38,334 the brave explorer in the copper helmet 97 00:09:38,477 --> 00:09:41,412 is the Jacques Cousteau of the Roaring Twenties. 98 00:09:47,687 --> 00:09:52,215 Back at the Bronx Zoo, Beebe sets his sights on the ocean depths 99 00:09:53,826 --> 00:09:58,354 for two years, he draws up plan after plan for a deepsea diving device. 100 00:09:58,497 --> 00:10:01,466 He abandons them all as impractical. 101 00:10:03,769 --> 00:10:09,173 In 1928, Beebe decides to move to the ocean to pursue his obsession. 102 00:10:11,143 --> 00:10:13,270 His choice is Bermuda. 103 00:10:19,986 --> 00:10:21,920 The Bermuda government donates a hospital 104 00:10:22,054 --> 00:10:24,887 on the outlying Island of Nonsuch. 105 00:10:38,070 --> 00:10:39,196 Beebe knows that Bermuda 106 00:10:39,338 --> 00:10:42,569 is the perfect base for exploration of the deep Atlantic, 107 00:10:42,708 --> 00:10:44,175 one of the few places in the world 108 00:10:44,310 --> 00:10:48,906 where the sea floor plummets more than a mile deep, just off shore. 109 00:10:54,086 --> 00:10:56,577 Attracted by the new science of oceanography, 110 00:10:56,722 --> 00:10:58,781 and by the dynamism of Beebe's character, 111 00:10:58,924 --> 00:11:02,655 the lab at Nonsuch draws young, talented researchers. 112 00:11:02,795 --> 00:11:04,490 John TeeVan, a New Yorker, 113 00:11:04,630 --> 00:11:07,861 has been Beebe's assistant since Teevan was nineteen 114 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:10,127 Teevan is Beebe's personal planner 115 00:11:10,269 --> 00:11:13,261 harness for Beebe's unstoppable energy. 116 00:11:20,780 --> 00:11:24,614 Twentyseven year old New Yorker Gloria Hollister joins Beebe's team. 117 00:11:24,750 --> 00:11:28,948 Hollister is typical of the young, fashionable, and brilliant group. 118 00:11:41,100 --> 00:11:44,228 The research team works long hours at varying jobs, 119 00:11:44,370 --> 00:11:45,962 but Bermuda life is comfortable, 120 00:11:46,105 --> 00:11:49,506 and the climate ideal for a midocean outpost. 121 00:11:52,878 --> 00:11:58,316 Beebe's boundless energy inspires the group in discovery after discovery. 122 00:12:20,139 --> 00:12:23,165 Gloria Hollister experiments with Beebe's copper helmet, 123 00:12:23,309 --> 00:12:25,277 continuing research in the shallows, 124 00:12:25,411 --> 00:12:29,006 following Beebe's footsteps down into the living sea. 125 00:12:34,653 --> 00:12:37,713 But William Beebe cannot shed his dreams of the deep waters 126 00:12:37,857 --> 00:12:42,590 just off shore fiilled with creatures that he has only seen in nets. 127 00:12:44,163 --> 00:12:46,154 He is three years into his quest, 128 00:12:46,298 --> 00:12:50,257 and he still has no idea how to reach the living deep. 129 00:12:51,937 --> 00:12:54,701 The answer will come from a rich stranger. 130 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:57,502 His name is Otis Barton. 131 00:12:58,110 --> 00:13:02,604 Barton is 29, the highspirited heir of a New England retailer. 132 00:13:02,748 --> 00:13:06,775 He has read about William Beebe's deep ocean dream in New York papers, 133 00:13:06,919 --> 00:13:09,717 and he has the money to make it come true. 134 00:13:09,855 --> 00:13:13,291 He offers to fiinance the design and construction of a device 135 00:13:13,425 --> 00:13:16,360 that can be lowered to at least 3000 feet, 136 00:13:16,495 --> 00:13:20,124 on one condition: That he gets to ride along. 137 00:13:20,966 --> 00:13:23,935 1929, In a New Jersey machine shop, 138 00:13:24,069 --> 00:13:25,468 Barton's hopes and dreams 139 00:13:25,604 --> 00:13:30,007 for the world's first working deep diving capsule start to take shape. 140 00:13:30,142 --> 00:13:33,578 It is a hollow sphere of inchandahalf thick steel. 141 00:13:33,712 --> 00:13:36,374 Its strength lies in its round design 142 00:13:36,515 --> 00:13:41,043 withstanding the relentless ocean pressure by equalizing its assault. 143 00:13:41,187 --> 00:13:43,849 No glass is strong enough for portholes. 144 00:13:43,989 --> 00:13:48,016 Barton orders panes of fused quartz, three inches thick 145 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:52,597 These tiny windows might allow man's first glimpse of the living deep 146 00:13:52,731 --> 00:13:55,564 but they too, must withstand the pressure. 147 00:13:56,435 --> 00:13:59,427 The factory work takes more than a year. 148 00:14:17,489 --> 00:14:19,719 Beebe is within reach of his dream. 149 00:14:19,859 --> 00:14:23,351 Word comes from New York The diving globe is ready. 150 00:14:23,495 --> 00:14:24,655 For Otis Barton, 151 00:14:24,797 --> 00:14:29,996 the price tag of 12,000 dollars proves to be a sizeable chunk of his fortune. 152 00:14:48,554 --> 00:14:52,217 In May, 1930, Barton arrives in Bermuda. 153 00:14:52,358 --> 00:14:54,519 He has come with the vessel that, if it works, 154 00:14:54,660 --> 00:14:57,561 will transport two men to the unknown deep 155 00:14:57,696 --> 00:15:01,223 making history, and changing science. 156 00:15:10,042 --> 00:15:11,168 On the docks of Bermuda, 157 00:15:11,310 --> 00:15:14,905 William Beebe inspects the bizarre deepsea capsule. 158 00:15:15,047 --> 00:15:19,575 He calls the invention a bathysphere meaning "deep sea ball". 159 00:15:19,718 --> 00:15:21,310 Barton's plan is simple. 160 00:15:21,453 --> 00:15:26,117 The bathysphere will descend on a 3500foot steel cable. 161 00:15:40,272 --> 00:15:42,399 The hatch is just 14 inches wide, 162 00:15:42,541 --> 00:15:46,602 sealed from the outside with a 400pound steel door. 163 00:15:47,379 --> 00:15:49,847 The bathysphere is unwieldy and untested, 164 00:15:49,982 --> 00:15:55,420 but it is Beebe's best and only prospect to get to the deep alive. 165 00:16:04,930 --> 00:16:10,197 June 3, 1930. The journey to deep waters begins. 166 00:16:13,872 --> 00:16:17,273 Beebe and Barton hire a retired British warship, the Ready, 167 00:16:17,409 --> 00:16:20,378 to serve as mother ship for the bathysphere. 168 00:16:27,019 --> 00:16:29,146 The Ready isn't ready for much. 169 00:16:29,288 --> 00:16:32,223 The tired old hulk must be towed to the deep water site 170 00:16:32,358 --> 00:16:35,191 so Beebe can make his first descent. 171 00:16:40,966 --> 00:16:44,800 Beebe cannibalizes the winch from his old research vessel Arcturus 172 00:16:44,937 --> 00:16:46,928 and bolts it to the Ready's deck 173 00:16:47,072 --> 00:16:48,801 It will have to support the bathysphere's 174 00:16:48,941 --> 00:16:53,378 twoandahalf ton weight, plus two tons of steel cable. 175 00:16:53,512 --> 00:16:57,141 If the cable snaps or snags, the bathysphere, and the men, 176 00:16:57,282 --> 00:17:01,378 will plummet to the ocean floor, with no hope of rescue. 177 00:17:08,827 --> 00:17:11,227 Beebe chooses a place a few miles off shore, 178 00:17:11,363 --> 00:17:13,627 where waters are a mile and a half deep. 179 00:17:13,766 --> 00:17:15,791 The Ready is halted. 180 00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:27,005 Firstan unmanned testto see if the bathysphere performs as planned. 181 00:17:37,089 --> 00:17:39,353 As the power winch lets out the steel cable, 182 00:17:39,491 --> 00:17:43,427 an additional rubbercoated electric line is deployed by hand. 183 00:17:43,562 --> 00:17:45,826 This line will allow them to use a searchlight, 184 00:17:45,964 --> 00:17:49,764 and more importantly, to communicate with the mother ship. 185 00:17:51,336 --> 00:17:57,468 In just forty minutes the steel ball dangles 2000 feet below the surface. 186 00:18:03,048 --> 00:18:05,915 The simple test ends in disaster. 187 00:18:07,719 --> 00:18:10,119 The vital electrical conduit has snaked itself 188 00:18:10,255 --> 00:18:15,022 around the top of the capsule no fewer than fortyfive times. 189 00:18:21,767 --> 00:18:26,670 Beebe fears that his adventure may be over, before it has even begun. 190 00:18:44,823 --> 00:18:47,553 It looked as if we were to pay penalty at the very start 191 00:18:47,693 --> 00:18:51,857 for daring to attempt to delve into the forbidden depths. 192 00:19:06,411 --> 00:19:10,040 Beebe has learned his first lesson in deepocean exploration. 193 00:19:10,182 --> 00:19:13,583 Every attention must be paid to mechanical matters. 194 00:19:13,719 --> 00:19:19,055 The ocean is not forgiving the slightest miscalculation could kill. 195 00:19:46,185 --> 00:19:49,120 It takes a full day to unravel the cable. 196 00:19:49,254 --> 00:19:51,222 No damage is found. 197 00:20:00,566 --> 00:20:02,363 Three days later, on June 6, 198 00:20:02,501 --> 00:20:05,095 Beebe tries another unmanned test. 199 00:20:05,237 --> 00:20:07,467 This time, the cables do not tangle. 200 00:20:07,606 --> 00:20:08,664 But upon inspection, 201 00:20:08,807 --> 00:20:13,676 Beebe and Barton discover a small pool of water in the sealed capsule. 202 00:20:14,213 --> 00:20:17,944 All things considered, Beebe declares the test a success. 203 00:20:18,083 --> 00:20:22,383 He'll risk his life and Barton's and attempt the decent. 204 00:20:25,090 --> 00:20:26,921 Beebe and Barton outfit the capsule 205 00:20:27,059 --> 00:20:30,825 with oxygen tanks and purifying chemical trays: 206 00:20:30,963 --> 00:20:34,296 Soda lime for clearing carbon monoxide, 207 00:20:34,766 --> 00:20:37,860 and calcium chloride for absorbing moisture. 208 00:20:43,041 --> 00:20:45,475 Beebe hasn't forgotten his first lesson 209 00:20:45,611 --> 00:20:48,637 he will concentrate solely on the mechanics of his mission 210 00:20:48,780 --> 00:20:52,409 dive one is not for science, but survival. 211 00:20:56,822 --> 00:20:59,586 At the moment Beebe has waited for and dreamed of 212 00:20:59,725 --> 00:21:03,058 he fiinds himself at a loss for words. 213 00:21:03,762 --> 00:21:08,995 "I looked around at the sea and sky, the boats and my friends, 214 00:21:09,134 --> 00:21:11,295 and not being able to think of any pithy saying 215 00:21:11,436 --> 00:21:13,836 which might echo down the ages, 216 00:21:13,972 --> 00:21:17,840 I said nothing, crawled painfully over the steel bolts, 217 00:21:17,976 --> 00:21:23,414 fell inside and curled up on the cold, hard bottom of the sphere." 218 00:21:31,556 --> 00:21:34,582 On deck John Teevan supervises the mission. 219 00:21:34,726 --> 00:21:37,194 He has served William Beebe for half his life. 220 00:21:37,329 --> 00:21:40,321 Now Beebe's life is in his hands. 221 00:21:46,838 --> 00:21:50,296 Beebe and Barton are big men both of them, six feet tall, 222 00:21:50,442 --> 00:21:54,071 crammed into a sphere less than five feet across. 223 00:22:02,387 --> 00:22:05,117 Heavy hammers pound steel bolts tight, 224 00:22:05,257 --> 00:22:08,624 a deafening experience inside the sphere. 225 00:22:16,168 --> 00:22:19,228 Gloria Hollister will communicate with Beebe by telephone 226 00:22:19,371 --> 00:22:21,566 the first to record his observations, 227 00:22:21,707 --> 00:22:25,609 or to hear his fiinal words in the event of a catastrophe. 228 00:22:27,813 --> 00:22:29,508 The fiinal bolt. 229 00:22:46,665 --> 00:22:49,862 On deck the team is tense, each person concentrating, 230 00:22:50,001 --> 00:22:52,697 hoping for the best, imagining the worst. 231 00:22:52,838 --> 00:22:54,499 Nothing has been left to chance, 232 00:22:54,639 --> 00:22:58,473 yet no one has ever attempted anything like this before. 233 00:23:04,082 --> 00:23:06,983 At one PM, on June 6, 1930, 234 00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:09,986 the bathysphere is swung over the side. 235 00:24:00,672 --> 00:24:01,570 In less than a minute, 236 00:24:01,706 --> 00:24:06,075 they are sixty feet down, the range of Beebe's old copper helmet. 237 00:24:06,211 --> 00:24:08,509 They are suspended by a thread of steel, 238 00:24:08,647 --> 00:24:10,979 with a mile and a half of ocean beneath them 239 00:24:11,116 --> 00:24:14,643 and no hope of rescue if their equipment fails. 240 00:24:20,592 --> 00:24:22,389 150 feet. 241 00:24:22,527 --> 00:24:26,327 200, 250. 242 00:24:27,566 --> 00:24:30,626 Barton closely monitors the oxygen supply. 243 00:24:30,769 --> 00:24:32,862 Too little, and they will slowly suffocate. 244 00:24:33,004 --> 00:24:35,871 Too much, and they can become disoriented. 245 00:24:49,821 --> 00:24:55,054 At 600 feet, Beebe speaks from a place no living man has ever been. 246 00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:58,887 "Only dead men have sunk below this." 247 00:25:09,241 --> 00:25:10,799 Beyond the tiny windows, 248 00:25:10,942 --> 00:25:15,038 the two ocean pioneers witness an eerie twilight. 249 00:25:15,413 --> 00:25:19,577 "We were the first living men to look out at the strange illumination: 250 00:25:19,718 --> 00:25:23,779 An indefiinable translucent blue." 251 00:25:29,027 --> 00:25:30,085 Then, at 800 feet, 252 00:25:30,228 --> 00:25:33,994 with all going well, Beebe suddenly calls off the descent. 253 00:25:34,132 --> 00:25:37,033 His instincts tell him, stop. 254 00:25:37,168 --> 00:25:39,466 "Some hunch some mental warning 255 00:25:39,604 --> 00:25:42,767 which I have had at half a dozen critical times in my life, 256 00:25:42,908 --> 00:25:45,376 spelled bottom for this trip." 257 00:25:48,179 --> 00:25:51,307 At this depth, Beebe knows that the ocean pressure would kill them 258 00:25:51,449 --> 00:25:54,509 in a way much more terrifying than drowning. 259 00:25:55,987 --> 00:25:58,615 "There was no possible chance of being drowned, 260 00:25:58,757 --> 00:26:00,247 for the first few drops would have shot 261 00:26:00,392 --> 00:26:04,089 through flesh and bone like steel bullets." 262 00:26:07,999 --> 00:26:10,695 He orders Teevan to haul them home. 263 00:26:15,674 --> 00:26:17,767 Two strangers in a strange device 264 00:26:17,909 --> 00:26:21,709 have dived deeper than any living men in history. 265 00:26:43,501 --> 00:26:46,197 Consumed by the operation of the sphere itself, 266 00:26:46,338 --> 00:26:49,705 Beebe has paid little attention to the world of the deep 267 00:26:54,212 --> 00:26:59,206 but he has proven that humans can descend into the abyss and return alive. 268 00:27:15,500 --> 00:27:20,870 His team greets him with congratulations, elation, and relief. 269 00:27:23,141 --> 00:27:25,803 William Beebe and Otis Barton will descend again, 270 00:27:25,944 --> 00:27:29,744 deeper - not just for adventure, but for science. 271 00:27:30,081 --> 00:27:32,743 Their journey has only begun. 272 00:27:49,267 --> 00:27:53,033 The unlikely partnership of William Beebe and Otis Barton has created 273 00:27:53,171 --> 00:27:58,165 an entirely new field of science manned exploration of the deep ocean. 274 00:27:58,309 --> 00:28:01,244 They know they can get there but what's down there? 275 00:28:01,379 --> 00:28:05,440 Now the real work of scientific observation begins. 276 00:28:11,589 --> 00:28:16,526 On June 11, 1930, they are lowered again into the Bermuda chasm 277 00:28:28,573 --> 00:28:31,007 more than three thousand tons of water pressure 278 00:28:31,142 --> 00:28:34,509 assaults the steel hull, but again it holds firm 279 00:28:34,646 --> 00:28:36,079 and offers Beebe and Barton 280 00:28:36,214 --> 00:28:39,741 a first look at the creatures of the ocean abyss. 281 00:29:05,243 --> 00:29:06,107 Beyond the windows, 282 00:29:06,244 --> 00:29:09,680 the strange animals that had perished in the nets of Arcturus 283 00:29:09,814 --> 00:29:13,079 now move majestically in the deep darkness. 284 00:29:17,889 --> 00:29:22,019 "When I came again to examine the deepsea treasures in my nets, 285 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:24,924 I would feel as an astronomer might who looks through his telescope 286 00:29:25,063 --> 00:29:29,898 after having rocketed to Mars and back or like a paleontologist 287 00:29:30,034 --> 00:29:36,803 who could suddenly annihilate time and see his fossils alive." 288 00:29:37,075 --> 00:29:41,603 The animals Beebe describes, such as shimmering jellyfish, appear fragile 289 00:29:41,746 --> 00:29:46,683 yet they are superbly adapted to the pressure, the cold, and the darkness. 290 00:29:48,987 --> 00:29:52,946 It is a scientific revelation in a realm of constant peril. 291 00:29:53,091 --> 00:29:57,960 Each square inch of the quartz windows holds back 650 pounds of water 292 00:29:58,096 --> 00:30:02,499 stresses that no submarine or diving suit has ever withstood. 293 00:30:02,634 --> 00:30:09,130 They reach a depth of 1426 feet and come home alive. 294 00:30:14,245 --> 00:30:18,147 On June 13, 1930, in a telegram to the NY Times, 295 00:30:18,283 --> 00:30:21,081 the scientist and the inventor announce to the world that 296 00:30:21,219 --> 00:30:24,746 they have joined the ranks of history's great explorers. 297 00:30:27,926 --> 00:30:30,451 Armed with confidence in the bathysphere's safety, 298 00:30:30,595 --> 00:30:34,759 Beebe permits John TeeVan and Gloria Hollister to dive to 400 feet. 299 00:30:34,899 --> 00:30:37,766 Hollister sets a new depth record for women. 300 00:30:41,005 --> 00:30:44,338 In the weeks to come, the bathysphere is taken on repeated dives, 301 00:30:44,475 --> 00:30:46,636 testing its capabilities. 302 00:30:53,051 --> 00:30:55,679 The impressionable Barton, in an act of generosity, 303 00:30:55,820 --> 00:30:58,550 grants William Beebe ownership of the bathysphere, 304 00:30:58,690 --> 00:31:02,251 on the condition that he be called back for future dives. 305 00:31:07,866 --> 00:31:11,859 In October, the coming winter puts an end to field work off Bermuda. 306 00:31:12,003 --> 00:31:14,028 The bathysphere is put in storage. 307 00:31:14,172 --> 00:31:18,871 It is time for Beebe to return to the Bronx Zoo and write his reports. 308 00:31:28,653 --> 00:31:30,382 But Beebe knows that writing reports 309 00:31:30,521 --> 00:31:34,514 is not the way to keep the public informed and the money flowing. 310 00:31:37,829 --> 00:31:41,026 In newspaper interviews, magazine articles and a lecture tour, 311 00:31:41,165 --> 00:31:46,034 William Beebe promotes oceanography in a popular and accessible way. 312 00:31:47,005 --> 00:31:51,704 He likens his dives to visiting outer space without leaving the Earth. 313 00:31:55,914 --> 00:31:58,644 Beebe enlists an artist, Else Bostelmann, 314 00:31:58,783 --> 00:32:03,584 to illustrate the haunting images of the creatures seen from the bathysphere. 315 00:32:08,192 --> 00:32:10,660 Bizarre marine animals that, at the time, 316 00:32:10,795 --> 00:32:14,390 no one but William Beebe has seen alive in the deep. 317 00:32:33,685 --> 00:32:37,143 Beebe joins the ranks of the great explorers of his era, 318 00:32:37,288 --> 00:32:40,451 household names such as Charles Lindbergh and Richard Byrd, 319 00:32:40,591 --> 00:32:42,115 heroes of the skies. 320 00:32:42,260 --> 00:32:46,492 Beebe believes his ocean exploration is of greater value. 321 00:32:48,599 --> 00:32:53,468 The concrete intellectual returns from aviation are most superficial... 322 00:32:53,604 --> 00:32:57,301 but adventuring under sea is an unearthly experience, 323 00:32:57,442 --> 00:33:01,071 and we are actually entering a new world." 324 00:33:13,424 --> 00:33:15,915 In the press, it is 'Beebe and his Bathysphere. 325 00:33:16,060 --> 00:33:20,190 The man who built itand paid for it Otis Bartonis rarely mentioned. 326 00:33:20,331 --> 00:33:22,060 Barton is stung. 327 00:33:34,412 --> 00:33:38,576 In Spring, 1931, despite the devastation of the Great Depression, 328 00:33:38,716 --> 00:33:41,082 the resourceful Beebe raises enough funding 329 00:33:41,219 --> 00:33:45,121 for a scaleddown year of ocean research off Bermuda. 330 00:34:22,593 --> 00:34:26,359 He returns to methods perfected on Arcturus six years earlier 331 00:34:26,497 --> 00:34:28,931 deepocean dragging with nets. 332 00:34:39,110 --> 00:34:41,340 As before, specimens are retrieved 333 00:34:41,479 --> 00:34:44,846 creatures Beebe has seen alive from the bathysphere. 334 00:34:47,885 --> 00:34:50,820 Nonsuch Island hums with activity. 335 00:34:50,955 --> 00:34:53,116 But the bathysphere remains in storage, 336 00:34:53,257 --> 00:34:57,660 while Beebe writes another book to further promote his ocean science. 337 00:35:07,872 --> 00:35:09,737 The year passes into another. 338 00:35:09,874 --> 00:35:13,401 Then, Beebe makes a decision that makes headlines. 339 00:35:27,291 --> 00:35:32,456 He and Otis Barton will attempt to descend to a depth of half a mile 340 00:35:32,597 --> 00:35:34,792 and his communication with Gloria Hollister 341 00:35:34,932 --> 00:35:37,628 will be broadcast live on NBC Radio 342 00:35:37,768 --> 00:35:40,794 and on affiiliate stations around the world. 343 00:35:50,548 --> 00:35:53,039 Beebe is determined that his bathysphere adventure 344 00:35:53,184 --> 00:35:55,516 not to go down in history as a stunt. 345 00:35:55,653 --> 00:36:00,522 He must go back and deeper, seeking a major discovery in the name of science 346 00:36:00,658 --> 00:36:03,786 even if it means risking his own life. 347 00:36:23,948 --> 00:36:27,782 September, 1932. Storms lash Bermuda. 348 00:36:27,919 --> 00:36:30,547 A bad omen for events to come. 349 00:36:32,757 --> 00:36:36,284 Otis Barton decides to install a new window in the diving ball 350 00:36:36,427 --> 00:36:39,419 to permit better photography, despite Beebe's fears that 351 00:36:39,564 --> 00:36:42,397 any modification to the quartz ports would be dangerous. 352 00:36:45,069 --> 00:36:49,301 The decrepit barge, Ready has been replaced by a tugboat called Freedom. 353 00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:52,739 But the new mothership leaks and wallows under its heavy load, 354 00:36:52,877 --> 00:36:55,573 and on one occasion almost sinks. 355 00:37:06,424 --> 00:37:07,891 Waiting for weather to clear, 356 00:37:08,025 --> 00:37:10,186 they make an unmanned test of the new design, 357 00:37:10,328 --> 00:37:12,888 sending it down to 3000 feet. 358 00:37:16,467 --> 00:37:21,427 But the bathysphere is unusually heavy, straining at its fragile lifeline. 359 00:37:29,814 --> 00:37:30,803 When the capsule surfaces, 360 00:37:30,948 --> 00:37:36,545 it is fiilled with an explosive cocktail of hyperpressurized water and air. 361 00:37:58,042 --> 00:38:00,943 Anyone in the bolt's path would have been decapitated. 362 00:38:01,078 --> 00:38:05,208 Anyone inside would have been pulverized into a liquid. 363 00:38:09,353 --> 00:38:13,119 It is a sober reminder of the brutal power of the deep. 364 00:38:30,941 --> 00:38:36,345 For two weeks, Atlantic storms ground the world's first deep sea explorers. 365 00:38:40,718 --> 00:38:43,915 Beebe and Barton remove the leaking window of the bathysphere 366 00:38:44,055 --> 00:38:46,922 and fit the hole with a heavy steel plug. 367 00:38:48,959 --> 00:38:52,417 For the journalists Beebe has invited to witness his historic dive, 368 00:38:52,563 --> 00:38:54,497 there's nothing to report. 369 00:39:06,077 --> 00:39:10,741 On September 22, Beebe decides to give the press their story. 370 00:39:12,249 --> 00:39:14,547 He will risk his life, and Otis Barton's, 371 00:39:14,685 --> 00:39:16,710 on a perilous dive. 372 00:39:31,035 --> 00:39:35,699 These are the worst conditions in which they have ever attempted a descent 373 00:39:37,341 --> 00:39:41,903 Again, Beebe and Barton endure the painful climb across the steel bolts, 374 00:39:42,046 --> 00:39:43,911 squeeze through the narrow hatchway, 375 00:39:44,048 --> 00:39:47,506 and tumble onto the capsule's hard steel floor. 376 00:39:50,855 --> 00:39:52,948 Beebe has set a goal of half a mile 377 00:39:53,090 --> 00:39:55,888 almost twice as deep as they have gone before. 378 00:39:56,026 --> 00:40:00,122 He is willing to dive dangerously deep to give the press what he's promised 379 00:40:00,264 --> 00:40:04,633 the discovery of new forms of life, broadcast live. 380 00:40:19,316 --> 00:40:21,807 Beebe and Barton pass 1400 feet, 381 00:40:21,952 --> 00:40:26,013 shattering their previous record, and continue down. 382 00:40:41,439 --> 00:40:46,433 At 1700 feet, they are enveloped in eternal darknessa new milestone. 383 00:40:46,577 --> 00:40:49,944 Beebe has reached a realm where no light has ever shone. 384 00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:53,846 "I was beyond sunlight as far as the human eye could tell, 385 00:40:53,984 --> 00:40:57,147 and from here down, for two billion years 386 00:40:57,288 --> 00:40:59,449 there had been no day or night, 387 00:40:59,590 --> 00:41:05,825 no summer or winter, no passing of time until we came to record it." 388 00:41:08,833 --> 00:41:11,358 He is rewarded for the risk he has taken. 389 00:41:11,502 --> 00:41:17,236 At 2200 feet, thousands of pinpoints of light appear out of the blackness. 390 00:41:20,711 --> 00:41:24,670 Strange creatures, thriving in the black cold ocean depths. 391 00:41:24,815 --> 00:41:29,878 Beebe witnesses these amazing animals in a flood of bioluminescence. 392 00:41:36,260 --> 00:41:37,955 The number of creatures illumined, 393 00:41:38,095 --> 00:41:40,859 and the strength and color of these lights 394 00:41:40,998 --> 00:41:45,025 all these have been far beyond all my expectations. 395 00:41:54,578 --> 00:41:58,605 He broadcasts his fantastic discovery to the radio audience. 396 00:41:58,749 --> 00:42:04,153 The world listens to this firsthand account of life at 2200 feet below. 397 00:42:11,495 --> 00:42:14,157 But on the surface, the Freedom pitches and rolls, 398 00:42:14,298 --> 00:42:17,096 threatening to sever the capsule's lifeline. 399 00:42:18,869 --> 00:42:22,828 Beebe calls off the dive, short of his halfmile goal. 400 00:42:25,676 --> 00:42:26,904 On the return to the surface, 401 00:42:27,044 --> 00:42:30,138 Beebe announces the most extraordinary sight of all 402 00:42:30,281 --> 00:42:33,876 a 6footlong predator with vicious, glowing fangs 403 00:42:34,018 --> 00:42:37,647 he names it the "Untouchable bathysphere fish." 404 00:42:40,190 --> 00:42:44,092 Beebe's sighting remains, to this day, the one and only. 405 00:42:59,743 --> 00:43:02,211 In a lifetime of wellpublicized adventures, 406 00:43:02,346 --> 00:43:04,439 this is Beebe's fiinest hour. 407 00:43:04,582 --> 00:43:06,641 He has broken his own depth record 408 00:43:06,784 --> 00:43:09,082 described creatures never seen before 409 00:43:09,219 --> 00:43:12,655 and broadcast the entire event to the world. 410 00:43:17,328 --> 00:43:21,162 The achievement and William Beebe make frontpage news 411 00:43:22,533 --> 00:43:26,162 a triumph Beebe hopes will translate into dollars. 412 00:43:34,912 --> 00:43:38,370 At the age of 55, Beebe's energy is inexhaustible, 413 00:43:38,515 --> 00:43:40,915 and his ambition unfettered. 414 00:43:42,052 --> 00:43:44,213 He decides to make one more expedition 415 00:43:44,355 --> 00:43:47,984 to smash the halfmile barrier which has eluded him. 416 00:43:50,628 --> 00:43:54,189 But the Great Depression has made private money scarce. 417 00:43:54,598 --> 00:43:57,658 Beebe works for over a year, seeking funding. 418 00:43:57,801 --> 00:44:00,634 Finally, the National Geographic Society agrees 419 00:44:00,771 --> 00:44:05,265 to fiinance a series of dives in summer, 1934. 420 00:44:06,477 --> 00:44:08,809 Otis Barton has not been as fortunate. 421 00:44:08,946 --> 00:44:10,311 A victim of hard times, 422 00:44:10,447 --> 00:44:14,008 he is scrambling to make a living for the first time in his life. 423 00:44:14,151 --> 00:44:16,949 Barton launches a career as a movie producer, 424 00:44:17,087 --> 00:44:21,490 and spends 1933 fiilming an underwater adventure. 425 00:44:28,365 --> 00:44:30,333 The fiilm is a flop. 426 00:44:47,718 --> 00:44:49,743 But William Beebe has not forgotten the man 427 00:44:49,887 --> 00:44:52,185 who has helped make him an international luminary. 428 00:44:52,322 --> 00:44:57,259 In 1934, he remembers his pledge to include Barton on his bathysphere dives, 429 00:44:57,394 --> 00:44:59,692 and invites Barton to join him. 430 00:45:04,501 --> 00:45:05,229 For four years, 431 00:45:05,369 --> 00:45:09,100 Barton has slipped into the shadows as Beebe's star has risen. 432 00:45:09,239 --> 00:45:13,733 Despite his grievances, Barton agrees to join Beebe once again. 433 00:45:18,048 --> 00:45:20,846 John TeeVan and Gloria Hollister also return 434 00:45:20,984 --> 00:45:24,647 for what is to be the bathysphere's most dangerous descent. 435 00:45:37,801 --> 00:45:40,361 After countless hours at deepocean pressures, 436 00:45:40,504 --> 00:45:42,938 the capsule needs an costly overhaul. 437 00:45:43,073 --> 00:45:45,405 The price tag includes new quartz windows, 438 00:45:45,542 --> 00:45:50,172 a new oxygen purifier, and improved communication lines. 439 00:46:02,559 --> 00:46:07,929 On August 7, 1934, an unmanned test reaches 3,020 feet. 440 00:46:08,065 --> 00:46:11,228 The refitted capsule performs perfectly. 441 00:46:15,873 --> 00:46:19,809 Satisfied, Beebe and Barton squirm into the steel chamber. 442 00:46:19,943 --> 00:46:23,208 While Beebe's personal goal is to break the halfmile barrier, 443 00:46:23,347 --> 00:46:25,645 he will continues to relay his observations, 444 00:46:25,783 --> 00:46:29,617 convinced that the deeper he goes the more he'll discover. 445 00:46:39,830 --> 00:46:41,229 And Beebe delivers. 446 00:46:41,365 --> 00:46:44,493 He announces his discovery of three more new creatures 447 00:46:44,635 --> 00:46:47,069 and gives them fanciful names. 448 00:46:49,940 --> 00:46:51,669 Pallid Sailfiin 449 00:46:52,976 --> 00:46:55,570 ThreeStarred Anglerfish 450 00:46:56,346 --> 00:46:59,577 Five LinedConstellation Fish 451 00:46:59,716 --> 00:47:03,948 And once again, no one since has seen these fish. 452 00:47:13,063 --> 00:47:16,032 Barton attempts to document the sights outside the sphere, 453 00:47:16,166 --> 00:47:19,795 but his movie fiilm shows only faint, blurred images. 454 00:47:19,937 --> 00:47:22,838 Only Beebe's descriptions endure. 455 00:47:27,878 --> 00:47:32,042 The dive drops Beebe and Barton to 2,510 feet, 456 00:47:32,182 --> 00:47:37,279 shattering all old records, but still short of the halfmile goal. 457 00:47:52,903 --> 00:47:55,428 Then, eight days later on August 15, 458 00:47:55,572 --> 00:47:58,632 Beebe pushes the ball to its absolute limit. 459 00:47:58,775 --> 00:48:03,337 It comes to a rest at a depth of 3,028 feet. 460 00:48:03,480 --> 00:48:06,643 The spool of cable has nearly run out. 461 00:48:07,251 --> 00:48:09,549 One more revolution could send the capsule 462 00:48:09,686 --> 00:48:13,452 in an unstoppable death plunge to the ocean floor. 463 00:48:20,197 --> 00:48:22,757 At this depth, the bathysphere's steel and quartz 464 00:48:22,900 --> 00:48:27,667 withstands more than a thousand pounds per square inch of pressure. 465 00:48:28,472 --> 00:48:32,169 Steel and quartz hold firm. 466 00:48:39,283 --> 00:48:42,275 William Beebe and Otis Barton pause at a depth 467 00:48:42,419 --> 00:48:47,823 no explorer before them has ever reached, for a moment of contemplation. 468 00:49:17,154 --> 00:49:21,488 "The only other place comparable to these marvelous nether regions, 469 00:49:21,625 --> 00:49:27,029 must surely be naked space itself, where the blackness of space 470 00:49:27,164 --> 00:49:30,395 must really be closely akin to the world of life 471 00:49:30,534 --> 00:49:34,231 as it appears to the eyes of an awed human being, 472 00:49:34,371 --> 00:49:38,774 in the open ocean, one half mile down." 473 00:49:46,283 --> 00:49:48,217 Even after his recordbreaking descent, 474 00:49:48,352 --> 00:49:51,583 William Beebe remains obsessed with the deep ocean. 475 00:49:51,722 --> 00:49:55,158 But by the mid30's the Depression has claimed too many victims, 476 00:49:55,292 --> 00:49:59,023 and privately funded exploration fades into memory. 477 00:50:06,403 --> 00:50:10,931 Beebe must abandon his Bermuda headquarters in 1937. 478 00:50:19,316 --> 00:50:21,250 Beebe returns to jungle research 479 00:50:21,385 --> 00:50:25,788 for the Bronx Zoo, now known as the Wildlife Conservation Society. 480 00:50:25,922 --> 00:50:28,823 He spends the last years of his life in Trinidad, 481 00:50:28,959 --> 00:50:33,328 and never loses the love for action that once made him a household name. 482 00:50:33,463 --> 00:50:35,954 But his fame slips away as years pass, 483 00:50:36,099 --> 00:50:42,902 and Beebe dies quietly, far from the limelight, in 1962, aged 85. 484 00:50:46,643 --> 00:50:49,635 Otis Barton leaps from one scheme to another. 485 00:50:49,780 --> 00:50:54,114 In 1948, he returns to the ocean in an improved bathysphere 486 00:50:54,251 --> 00:50:58,915 and breaks his own record by descending alone to 4,500 feet. 487 00:50:59,056 --> 00:51:05,291 But the world takes little notice Barton dies in 1992, aged 93, 488 00:51:05,429 --> 00:51:08,660 and five people attend his funeral. 489 00:51:12,235 --> 00:51:14,795 Barton's record endures until 1960, 490 00:51:14,938 --> 00:51:19,671 when the US Navy submersible Trieste descends to 35,000 feet 491 00:51:19,810 --> 00:51:21,641 more than six miles. 492 00:51:21,778 --> 00:51:23,803 That record stands. 493 00:51:30,887 --> 00:51:34,721 Today, most of Beebe's discoveries have been verified. 494 00:51:34,858 --> 00:51:39,022 The risks he took opened up a new era of exploration. 495 00:51:39,162 --> 00:51:42,256 His gift to us is a new way of looking at the ocean, 496 00:51:42,399 --> 00:51:46,426 that thrives today as the modern science of oceanography. 497 00:51:46,570 --> 00:51:49,937 In a crude copper helmet in a primitive steel ball 498 00:51:50,073 --> 00:51:53,907 William Beebe dared to challenge the ignorance of the ages, 499 00:51:54,044 --> 00:51:57,571 to search for life in a dark and hostile world. 500 00:51:57,714 --> 00:52:00,979 His legacy is one of adventure and knowledge 501 00:52:01,118 --> 00:52:05,111 a pioneer and a wanderer in the living sea.