The Advance of Science - Underseas (1978)

e [Music] we call it Earth but a better name might be water after all 3 fifths of its surface is really water and it's deep water too push the highest mountain in the world Mount Everest beneath the deepest part of the sea and fish can still swim unruffled over it the peak is 8,000 M from the ocean bed but it's still 3,000 M from the surface for centuries we've wondered what it's like down there the unexplored waters have challenged and frightened our fertile imaginations ever since we can remember but for most of that history the only way to go underwater is in our imaginations one early 17th century dreamer suggests this kind of a ship to get around underwater off the stern is a nice practical net for deep sea [Music] fishing off the bow is a sportier fish [Music] catcher our dreamer firmly insists that there must be freshwater springs on the floor of the [Music] sea these conveniently provide plenty of drinking water for the crew and their families it's an old dream to return to the beginnings of all life to retire Beneath The Waters undisturbed by the madness above but there's another dream too a more practical dream a certain Mr van dreel promises that his submarine will be able to sink 100 ships a [Music] day fortunately however his leather covered Robo doesn't make a very good submarine and he can only sync ships on paper but within about a hundred years we're getting more successful this egg is in fact an early submarine its inventor the American David Bushnell uses hand operator propellers to move it forward and upward this is the rudder and this is the screw and here's the mine this is the chamber for water ballast all submarines are based on the same principle well it's the time of the American Revolution and Mr Bushnell is moved to do his part one dark night he undertakes the first submarine attack against the hated British ships in his historic excitement though he goes out with the tide far past his Mark with typical forefather resolve he returns to battle and in no time is under the despised British flagship where he attacks with a large screw the hull however is covered with copper [Music] plates 25 years later we're still trying Robert Fulton submarine is already spindle shaped but still uses a muscle powered propeller it can remain underwater for 4 hours before it surfaces to become a sailboat finally Fon loses interest in the underwater and uses his head for moving boats on the [Music] surface the years go by and other briads are still fascinated by the idea of submarines This one belongs to to a Mr Bower his submarine is also driven by muscle power to be exact by two assistants one day at a depth of about 18 M water starts pouring in the clever Mr bow Saves the Day by doing nothing he just waits till the air pressure equals the water pressure then he opens the hatch and shoots up in a giant air [Music] bubble he's much luckier than lader Phillip the daring Shoemaker who quits his business to descend into Lake Erie but like scores before him doesn't come back up until now all the inventors have relied on muscle power to move their submarines [Music] but by the 1860s steam engines appear on submarines electric motors even compressed air motors which the Frenchmen bis and Brun install on their surprisingly modern looking vessel unfortunately stability is a [Music] problem by the end of the 60s the world is introduced to the first submarine to overcome all the problems with ease unfortunately the giant Nautilus exists only in the mind of the French writer Jules ver but what an imagination with a huge electrom motor the submarine is a self-sufficient world with every convenience it's the old dream of living in the [Music] sea the second half of the 19 18th century is full of dreamers and inventors of all kinds of things we're beginning to explore the sky surely we can explore the sea all that's needed as a First Rate inventor if we can make workable airships we ought to be able to make reliable submarines the idea of a workable submarine catches the world's fancy it seems that everyone has an [Music] idea the results of their submarine efforts are imaginative [Music] a Frenchman mure gub comes up with the first family sub he floods the magazines and newspapers with ads about the benefits of his brand of submarine [Music] be the first in your town to have your own Leisure sub while away the hours in a water Paradise invite your friends aboard there's always plenty of room yes friends our after hour of underwater pleasure and what better place to enjoy truly Gourmet [Music] cooking and in the evening thrilled with a cozy crew quarters where everything you need is just an arms length [Music] away and Cafe o sardine why not just because you're at Sea doesn't mean you can't enjoy the Finer Things in life so come on in you always have a friend at dubay's grandm Marine underc Emporium oddly enough Mr guay's invention doesn't catch sh with the [Music] public despite the efforts of amateur inventors we do continue to make progress and by the beginning of the 20th century we have several practical submarines at last we can begin to enjoy the underwater world but more important things first many governments see more immediate practical uses for this [Music] sub a number of designs emerge all of them having having one thing in common the torpedo for the next 30 Years most of the advances in the design of submarines are used for Warfare [Music] in spite of the wars the dream of underwater exploration is not forgotten the old designs are still [Music] remembered a quiet Observatory hanging from a boat on the surface work continues in exploring under the water a deep waterer submarine A Bosher is invented a sturdy steel ball strong enough to withstand immense pressures with room enough for just one man its inventor the Italian Delo down he plunges deeper and deeper into a world no one before him has ever seen in the inky hostile Blackness he sees life bizar self-illuminated fish thriving under water pressures that would kill any other living thing nevertheless deep water exploration remains fraught with danger for every bathos spere must hang from one's thin lifeline deep sea Studies have to look for new [Music] possibilities the year of 1931 the place up in the air a balloon with a steel chamber hermetically sealed Rises to a height of 13 km although the Swiss physicist August Bard just manages to break the record for height he is already considering trying for the record for depth The Vessel he invents is called a Bosca and it really is very much like his air vessel in both cases the crew sits in an airtight steel chamber and in both cases ascent and descent are regulated by ballast in 1953 peard reaches a record depth of over 3,000 m a few years later he breaks his own [Music] record Picard dies in 1962 but his son continues his research after careful preparation the young Picard decided to take a dangerous step he aims to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench more than 10,000 M Beneath the Sea it's a kind of reverse Mount [Music] Everest he successfully descends into a world of Eternal darkness and yet even here at the bottom of the sea he finds [Music] life today in the last quarter of the 20th century we have begun the conquest of the heavens and of the [Music] Seas soon we may not only colonize outer space but Inner Space as well already we have nuclear submarines which can stay underwater for months at a time we have begun deep sea Mining and we are experimenting with ocean farming somay soon we'll have self-sufficient cities Under the Sea who knows perhaps your grandchildren will live there [Music] a [Music]