Thread by @realscientists

Hey hey hey! Good evening to everyone! You wouldn’t believe how busy the last two days have been, but I promise I’m about to make up for it – I’m going to tweet about how friggin awesome ocean exploration really is. Plus some volcano stuff, obvs.

Personally, I’ve been fortunate enough to board two research vessels - the R/V Roger Revelle and the E/V Nautilus. These cruises took me to, respectively, the Lau Basin (black smokers!) and Kick’em Jenny (undersea volcano!). (Photo: Kick'em Jenny vent, c/o @EVNautilus )

Today’s (ok, yes, tonight’s) thread will be on the history of humanity’s achievements in marine exploration, starting all the way back in the time of the Greeks. Tomorrow, I’ll go into the more modern-day stuff, e.g. recent discoveries and exploration methods.

So, without further ado, let’s begin our history lesson with the legendary Aristotle, who mentioned the first diving bell in his Problematum way back in the 4th century B.C.:

"...in order that these fishers of sponges may be supplied with a facility of respiration, a kettle is let down to them, not filled with water, but with air, which constantly assists the submerged man...."

Some say that even Alexander the Great used a version during the siege of Tyre in 332 B.C., during which he was towed out to sea and lowered with two others. During this trip, he saw that “the world is damned and lost. The large and powerful fish devour the small fry."

The story of Alexander the Great in a diving bell (or bathysphere, depending on who is doing the telling) is prevalent enough that it made it onto a Greek stamp in 1977, shown here:

1620 A.D. - Dutch physician Cornelis Drebbel builds the first submarine, which is made of wood and reinforced with iron and leather. Over the next few years, it made multiple dives, 12 to 15ft deep, in the Thames River, including one with King James I as guest of honor.

1681 A.D. - French priest Abbe Jean de Hautefeuille explains, for the first time, why “it is not possible for man to breathe air at normal atmospheric pressure when he is himself underwater at depth” in his book, the Art of Breathing Underwater.

1690 A.D. - Edmund Halley, of comet fame, develops the first replenishing diving bell, in which air is added to the bell by sending weighted barrels of air down from the surface. (Sketch from "A Course of Experimental Philosophy" by Jean-Théophile Desaguliers, 1744)

1698 A.D. – Edmund Halley, again of comet fame, makes (possibly) the first scientific voyage to determine variations of the magnetic compass, during which he also contributes to understandings of trade winds.

1715 A.D. - Two separate English inventors developed diving suits: one, a leather covered barrel of air with a porthole and sleeves (John Lethbridge), and the other, a leather suit with a spherical helmet and 3 surface-reaching tubes for air (Becker). (Photo: unknown, ~1800s?)

1768 A.D. – Lieutenant James Cook voyages across the Pacific Ocean to observe a transit of Venus across the Sun. During this expedition, as well as during 2 following, he explores and maps the Pacific and is the first to accurately place himself longitudinally w/ a chronometer.

1776 A.D. - Submarines are first recognized for military use. A Yale student, David Bushnell, built a 7ft, pear shaped submarine called ‘Turtle’, which was sent to destroy British flagship H.M.S. Eagle in New York Harbor. The mission failed. (Drawing by LCdr F. M. Barber, 1875)

1788 A.D. - The first modern diving bell is produced by an American, John Smeaton. It is made of cast iron, has a hand-operated pump for air via a hose, has an air reservoir system, and a nonreturn valve.

1800 A.D. – Inventor of the steamboat, Robert Fulton, builds an early submarine, the Nautilus. It is cigar-shaped, made of iron plates under wood, and uses horizontal wings to control vertical movement – an invention still in use today. (Image: 18th century drawing of Nautilus)

1807 A.D. – Thomas Jefferson establishes the US Coast Survey, which studies the US east coast and returns data about tides, sea floor characteristics, and the depths and physical features of coastal waters.

1825 A.D. – The first self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) is designed by Englishman William H. James. The diver wears a helmet and carries compressed air in a cast-iron belt around his waist. (Image: Public domain, 1825)

1831 A.D. – Charles Darwin boards the H.M.S. Beagle, upon which he posits the theory of evolution. He suggests in his book, the Origin of Species, that the deep ocean is likely a sanctuary for living fossils.

1840 A.D. – The first modern, open ocean, deep-water sounding is conducted by Sir James Clark Ross, producing a depth of 2425 fathoms (14,450ft) in the South Atlantic. The sounding is done with the traditional method of lowering a hemp rope over the side of the ship.

1843 A.D. – Edward Forbes, a British nationalist, starts a 20-year debate about whether or not it is possible to have life below 300 fathoms (1,800 ft) in the deep sea – or, as he calls it, the ‘dead zone’ or ‘azoic zone’.

(Yes, 20 years of debate. I'd love to witness it.)

1849 A.D. – The US Coast Survey discovers the existence of the continental shelf break and the continental slope while sounding during investigations of the Gulf Stream.

1853 A.D. – The ‘dead zone’ debate continues when Louis F. de Pourtales (with the US Coast Survey) suggests that USCS (i.e. US Coast Survey) sounding operations found indications of life at depths of more than 1,000 fathoms (6,000ft.).

(Only 10 years have passed. Still 10 to go)

1857 A.D – The first deep sea canyon is discovered in the center of Monterey Bay, off the coast of California. It was found by Captain James Alden of the US Coast Survey, and is now known as Monterey Canyon (depth – 11,800 ft)

(Image from apl.washington.edu/projects/monte…)

1860 A.D. – The US Coast Survey publishes the first chart of the Gulf Stream, which has a massive impact on ship travel!

1868 A.D. – Naturalist Charles Wyville Thomson aboard the H.M.S. Lightning ends the ‘dead zone’ debate via dredging equipment, which pulls up sea life from 14,400ft (4,389m).

(25 years later. They've done it! Yes, life lives in the deep ocean!)

1872 A.D. – Swiss naturalist Louis Agassiz collects over 30,000 (!!!!)specimens of marine life during a biological survey of the Americas, which began on the east coast of the United States, continued through the Straits of Magellan, and went on to San Francisco.

1872 A.D. (again) – The H.M.S. Challenger begins its 4-year expedition around the world, during which scientists test seawater salinity, temperature, and density. This was a big expedition! (Image c/o NOAA)

During the Challenger expedition, the crew discovers underwater mountain chains, hundreds of new species, and collects data about ocean currents, sediments, and meteorology.

Eventually, the research from this incredible (and 7incredibly long) voyage is collected into the fifty-volume Challenger Report, which formed the basis for modern oceanography.

(Image: Plate from vol. 7 of the Report, by H. N. Moseley)

1882 A.D. – The first vessel built for the sole purpose of oceanographic research, the steamer USS Albatross, begins operations. It would perform for nearly forty years until its decommissioning in 1921. (Image c/o NOAA)

1888 A.D. – The French built the first modern electric submarine, the Gymnote. It is fully functional as a military submarine, and completes over 2,000 dives before being scrapped due to its limited range.

(Image c/o The Navy and Army Illustrated)

1899 A.D. – Alexander Agassiz studies coral reefs in the Pacific. Over 6 yrs, the crew make soundings and collect specimens from islands and atolls in areas previously remote and unexplored by the West.

----ok, that's a good two millennia of history for you. It's now 1am here and I've got to be up in 5 hours! I'll continue into the 20th century tomorrow, so keep an eye out... let's keep exploring together ;)