MAN IN THE SEA

[Music] consider a city on the edge of the sea at the rim of a Nation dependent on the sea on a continent surrounded by the Waters of the sea a mere Island as are all those minority parts of the planet we call the land from here at nation's end see the unending sea as a kind of symbolic road to distant responsibilities distant friends and enemies resources we must have to survive let alone Prosper consider the shore as somewhat more than just a beach for it is in fact a dividing line for the two parts of the Earth the only place in all the universe so divided for all we know to date talk no more of Seven Seas but of one sea indivisible this single sea that Rings the planet that covers our world from northern ice to Southern ice the single sea covering Untold empires of mountain and Canyon of plain and desert a home for living things far more akin to us perhaps than life elsewhere if any out in space a treasure Trove for Vital resources as we are just beginning to know but one sea for all its Swirls and Roars for all its restlessness and yet for all its nearness a realm unto itself float over it fly over it move within it wrapped in your old familiar atmosphere there enjoy the Hobbies the sports the diversions of it all but before the immensity and The Wonder of the sea before all that it is that we do not know we have but dipped our [Music] toes to begin at long last to do more to go further men have begun to go down to the Sea not to cross it not to play Within it but to dwell to live for a while consider for example the bermudan neighborhood of the sea here in Sea Lab 1 four men lived and worked for 11 days at a depth of 193 ft but how long can how many men work live and survive at how great a depth without coming up we do not know the limit yet but now it is a year later and men are ready to extend the limits if they can here another adventure is in the readying stage another exploration into that hostile alien place we call the sea [Music] here within the Sovereign Waters of our America the political Frontier is but 3 mi from the shore but the intellectual Frontier is only a few feet below the waves for we know so little about so much of our planet which is the sea this unknown Empire that begins before our very eyes on every Shore Captain Lewis melson commanding along with George Bond also a captain in the United States Navy and a doctor of medicine now make ready for CA lab 2 one mile off the shore of La Hoya California gon commen flooding C Tower what's our absolute pressure in Sea laab uh we have 44.1 lb absolute as navy divers and riggers prepare to lower caab 2 to the bottom 205 ft below low the question becomes can men go even deeper stay even longer and work not only hard but skillfully too what indeed are the limits on Flesh and Blood beneath the waves never before CB one had men lived so long within the sea at such a depth but to State a record is to State a challenge that Eternal American question what next if man need not return to the surfice periodically taking a long time to decompress those potentially fatal bubbles within his body he can be infinitely more productive down below but suddenly a sea laab is being lowered command van we're losing pressure pretty fast I uh would imagine we have a leak here we'll have the divers check for a leak this was an unconventional kind of leak where the helium atmosphere inside the sea laab was being forced by its own pressure to escape C amonia divers report leaks at all for V are we still losing gas rapidly are losing gas fairly rapidly I think we could uh probably stay ahead very well diving station let's continue to lower away Way We Can't Stop I repeat we can't stop at 60t for check we're losing gas we have only 8,000 cubic feet of helium to get to the bottom we must continue to lower away it became a race get Sea Lab to the bottom right now where the approximately equal pressures would keep the water out the vital gases [Music] in and so 205 ft down got cab on the bottom I pressure is holding at about 102 lb absolutely very well the Personnel transfer capsule or PTC goes down first in case anything goes wrong in the calab capsule the PTC kept at the same pressure as the caab itself will be the one refuge for the men it will also be their elevator for the ride back to the surface when they're day is over 15 days [Music] later two other 10man teams will follow this one each to remain 15 days accepting Scott Carpenter however the astronaut who is to become an aquanut will remain below 30 consecutive days among the 10 men are a doctor an engineer and two oceanographers Master diver price and Captain Walter Mazon in charge of physiological and Atmospheric control witnessed the departure the first team is to get the Sealab habitat operating to explore the sea around it to study marine life and the flow and temperature of the water and to be in themselves human experiments in the physiology of man as he exists and labors within the sea down here you can pay stiff prices for what would be small mistakes on the land or near the surface while Wilbur Eaton rigged a Lifeline to the Sea Lab Commander Scott Carpenter the team leader enters through an open interface of water held at Bay by the equal pressures within the [Music] capsule diving station aquanut Carpenter and Eden have entered caab 2 all command van the second aquanuts are getting dressed and we'll be ready in about five minutes and so toward the end of August the 45-day caab 2 experiment Begins the men go down into an opaque and murky bit of the ocean far more typical of the ocean as a whole than those crystaline Technicolor deep soft Bermuda down they go accompanied always never alone in deep sea diving you owe your life sooner or later to the buddy system inside caab you begin your life as an alien to this realm by breathing an atmosphere of 80% helium 16% nitrogen and only 4% oxygen for ordinary air would be a deadly gas mixture at these pressures of 100 lb per square in seven times those of sea level it is almost as if you were on another planet though you are within the territorial Waters of the United States aquanot Carpenter exchanges greetings with astronaut Gordon Cooper orbiting the Earth in Gemini 5 history's first chat between the bottom of the sea and alter space hell how you doing SC almost we just left out this afternoon imagine now the routine of 45 days Beneath the Sea exploring the cold depths where water temperatures ranged between 48 and 52° setting out lines to the underwater weather station mapping the sea bottom even taking a sensus of the fish a kind of sample inventory of a future food supply for the proliferating human race this offshore region of the ocean is known as the Continental shell which hugs all the continents an explorable realm three times the size of the United States for seafood and minerals a new realm for travel and rest study and work today's Fantasy turns out to be tomorrow's routine often enough already if you take the fishee view The Interlopers are making themselves at home [Music] what is physiological normaly at seven times the pressure of the land breathing a strange gas mixture day after day Dr sunnenberg Medico in Residence [Music] attending topside captains Bond and Mazon decide to have aie at their charges 205 ft down since they will be down only a short time they will get off easy on the decompressing stopping every few feet on the way back up in the diving bell a very cold 73 minutes coming up with the scant 13 minutes they are allowed on the bottom it turns out that captains Bond and Mazon intend to witness the reenlistment swearing in ceremony of aquanut Kaufman proving that officers will sink to any depths to hold on to a good man if you are a marine biologist can you imagine a more ideal aquarium than the sea itself to which you too at least for a while [Music] belong the cold black water was not an attractive medium for work but in their early foras the Aquanauts managed to install the underwater weather station a permanent implacement and so from the shifting Sands of the bottom Land from the force and direction of the internal waves the sea will yield in good time and bit by bit a few of its Mysteries Man Too has his Mysteries and he submits to frequent mathematical testing and even to electrocardiograms both in and out of the water as a constant check on his heart the question always what is normaly under high pressure and a strange gas mixture [Music] Food Supplies mail and newspapers come to you via United States Navy pressure pot an exclusive service Others May imitate but never quite duplicate happy birthday Dr sunnenberg but it was your loving wife who was responsible not the United States Navy pressure pot express service anyhow you can't strike a match in a helium at of spare there just isn't enough oxygen to make it burn good place to kick the smoking habit whenever you exit for a look Sea Bear in mind that the sea laab habitat is your compulsory home cannot just rise to the surface emergency or not rapid decompression would kill you you must take care not to get lost in the dark Waters among the hazards of the deep are the Scorpion pish the first aan ought to be stung by one was Carpenter who was hit on the right index finger causing his arm to swell all the way up to the Elbow the pain was sharp and intense but no matter how serious the wound even if it were potentially fatal you do not return to the surface you are now an inhabitant of the sea until you decompress for 30 hours or [Music] more under Dr Bond's topside instructions Dr sonenberg treated the wound aided by special drugs stocked right in the ca laab with three members of Team two already on board the first team waits to depart 15 days after sdown it's farewell to Carpenter who will remain below another 15 days the ascent will be a matter of a 54-minute elevator ride in the Personnel transfer capsule after which 31 hours in the deck decompression chamber will return the nine men to terrestrial cus you keep in touch with topside by Electro writer and topside keeps an eye on you big brother like with its one-way television monitor while the rest of Team 2 makes its way down what one of them called the longest 200 ft in the world [Music] Carpenter holds quarters with the members of the second team he who had worked with the most sophisticated technology of our age in the prototypical space program contrasted it with the man in the sea program which he called a newly legitimatized child represented by a nucleus of 50 dedicated men working with mail order equipment in marginal conditions but it is Pioneers like these members of this new establishment the descendancy who are helping this nearly legitimatized child grow up today's sonar cupping Its listening ear to the sounds of the deep will give way to better more sensitive longer range sonar and the current measurement device is but the progenitor of oceanwide systems to chart the nature of the waters and the migration of marine life in terms of temperature and parent for all that man is as a child down here his basic motor skills cannot be taken for granted nor can he depend much on his five senses in this cold murky topheavy realm of water you develop a certain gladness to be home again home sweet helium breathing crowded celibate KET toling home with its constant tests and measurements and [Music] checks relieved now and then by Papa topside's folk [Music] Symphony I you like that one oh that was very the zab's own Symphony comes complete with the Curious sound that breathing helium imparts to the human [Music] voice good night R good night ring I'll see you in my [Music] dream into this ocean realm of mountains and canyons Plains and Plateau who will play the role of St Bernard dog to Aid those in distress who learn to come at once through an acoustic signal who learn to carry mail and a Lifeline to a diver pretending to be lost who visited the acrona during their bottomland fores who but Tuffy the porpus first of the train breed who may become Man's Best Friend within the sea [Music] Sunday was normally a day of comparative rest the day made more meaningful by the Sea Lab prayer sa guarding care in all the many hours of their life Under the Sea give unusual wisdom to each of us topside who might somehow control their work and safety as they perform their duties below and when their work and thy will together be done grant us all a safe and worthy restant from our labors for a time to come we ask all of this in the name of Jesus Christ Our Lord amen thus did 30 days pass a methodical and persistent sequence of work inside and outside the habitat of catch's catch can meals and housekeeping of human measurement and evaluation under high pressure now the second team makes ready to depart Scott Carpenter along with them after their span of 15 days his of 30 into the Personnel transfer capsule and as medical wisdom has it 33 hours of decompression on the support vessel in the deck decompression chamber decompression is the cross the divers bear meanwhile the third team of 10 men prepares to depart for Inner Space bed by Master diver Robert sheets at 50 the oldest of the aquanuts it's getting to be a kind of routine the almost in itable Destiny of things that seem fantastic at their very outset whether it be a flight across the ocean or even a man in orbit to make the far out an everyday Affair is after all the prime purpose of all our technology while he decompresses Commander carpenter has a phone chat still in his helium voice with his commander-in chief than SC do you read me all right yes sir Mr President loud and clear how may fine well Scott I'm Mighty glad to hear from you you've convinced me and all the nation that whether you're going up or down you have the courage and the skill to do a fine job well thank you very much there were a lot of other people who demonstrated the same kind of that's a great crew out here and we're all very and pleased that you Ser to call us and uh let us know that you are interested in what we're doing then comes that happy moment when you become except for your memories like other men again breathing in the natural atmosphere of Mother [Music] Earth while down below Dr sunnenberg who has returned for a second 15-day stint wrestles with that electrically heated diving suit that will permit three-hour Journeys away from caab in comparative [Music] Comfort the prime objective of the third team was to try new underwater Salvage techniques using a special foam they raised barrels and an aircraft Hulk from the [Music] bottom with special torree tools working on the explosive principle they attached plates and lifting surfaces to part of a submarine [Music] Hull older tools like the spear and the Fish Hook can be very useful too you may not like Sashimi that Japanese delicacy roughly translated as raw fish but frying is foten down here hydrocarbon smoke doesn't mix well with helium in a delicate man-made [Music] atmosphere this team and team two made Excursion Di to the rim of the underwater canyon 266 ft below the surface Master diver sheets however went with another man to the 300t mark followed thereafter by other members of the team afterward they dined on Plankton that floating microscopic life of the sea saying it tasted like nuts but always you dive with another man not far away the brief history of deep diving has proved time after time that the best of divers needs help desperately sooner or later equipment can fail and men can go astray in this pathless [Music] world in the MC of the seaf floor you see a hint of the future mining by bottom coring a miniaturized sample of what one day may be gigantic machines get Gathering minerals from the bottom [Music] land work to be done where existence alone is a kind of Triumph where the acrona discovered you could make brief Dives 100 ft lower than cab and return to it without decompressing this in itself is a bonus from [Music] nature 45 5 days have passed since the first 10 men came to live here and now the time has come for anchors away for men and Hardware too and the last swim toward the PTC elevator for the men of caab 2 command the aquan report the lower hatch has been shut and D they are standing by ready to come up very well train operator this is command van PTC is ready for liftoff leftt away a crucial moment as the Personnel transfer capsule breaks water it contains 10 men still under sea bottom pressure who must decompress slowly or die a faulty valve a leak a single mistake of the many that are possible could turn the capsule into a coffin as it is the ancient art of rigging is not the least of the skills you need in this particular kind of [Music] oceanography the mating of the Personnel transfer capsule with the deck decompression chamber now Begins the long wait decompression from 100 lb per square in to 14 and 710 lb per square in from 25 ft below to sea level but at the 28t Mark almost home trouble bad trouble okay Bob we got the report on your possible hit would you like to give me a rund down on please yes Captain uh I have a pretty deep seas pain in my right leg it started about an hour ago it started at the right knee and has now progressed up to my hip and uh pain is increasing in intensed I thought I report okay uh we one let me check here off uh I think we better hold at 26 ft uh I would recommend that we put nine people into the outer Rock bring them up run the Corman in and have uh uh have the Inter Lock brought on down to 60 ft and drive Bob on the oxgen the table and see how it goes there [Music] being and so from the outer lock in a quiet tired moment after the requisite 35 hours nine men emerged from decompression [Music] [Music] it was not until more than 12 hours later that Bob Sheets emerged free of pain and in good shape even the home away from home a shell empty of men is once more upon the surface floatable Elsewhere for another chapter in this ongoing adventure of man within the sea perhaps we shall see her again as Sea Lab 3 the commendations of today the just Pride for work well done set the stage for the Eternal question of all Adventure Where Do We Go From Here perhaps we will routinely send men to 800 ft soon to 1700 and more fet within some years to live to work to study a new world man looks to distant planets to plant his flag across the Great born of lonely space while at his very doorstep an unmeasured Universe abides [Applause] [Music] [Applause]