Bathyscaphe
Trieste
A real-life Nautilus, the Bathyscaphe
Trieste explored the deepest parts
of Earth’s oceans, remaining to this
day one of the only manned
vehicles to have reached the bottom
of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific
A
fter passing 9,000 metres (30,000
feet), one of the Plexiglas
windows cracked. Over 1,000
atmospheres – a pressure over si x tons
per square inch – relentlessly bore down
upon the Bathyscaphe Trieste. The hull
shook violently, threatening to collapse
under the might y strain. If fractured on
even a microscopic scale, the weight of
the Earth’s deepest ocean would rip the
vessel in two, triggering explosive
decompression and instantly killing
both oceanographer Jacques Piccard
and pilot Lieutenant Don Walsh of the US
Nav y. 23 Januar y 1960, however, was not
their day to die. The men had still not
reached the bottom of the Mariana
Trench’s Challenger Deep; the structure
had to hold – there was no plan B.
Descending further into the black
void, completely cut off from the outside
world – the sonar/hydrophone
communications system had packed up
hours ago – the Trieste continued to
dump iron pellets into its ballast system.
A fter all, you don’t descend vertically
nine kilometres (nearly six miles)
beneath the surface of the ocean only to
quit so close to your goal. Then fi nally,
out of nowhere and after four hours and
48 minutes w ithin a t wo-metre
(seven-foot) pressurised sphere, Piccard,
Walsh and the Trieste touched dow n.
Clouds of diatomaceous ooze (made of
the skeletons of dead sea-creatures)
diffused from the seabed on contact,
fi lling the surrounding water w ith a
liquidated organic haze.
Half an hour later, after periodically
observing this alien environment with
high-powered quartz arc-light lamps –
periodically as when activated they
caused the water to v iolently boil – and
discovering a multitude of life including
a white fl atfi sh, several shrimp andjellyfi sh, Piccard initiated the Trieste’s
ascent. The vessel had held, but at a
depth of 10,916 metres (35,814 feet) the
temperature of the pressure sphere was
dropping continuously (the minimum
recorded was just seven degrees
Celsius/45 degrees Fahrenheit); if they
were not caref ul, there would be no
return. Three hours and 15 minutes later,
the Trieste re-emerged into the daylight
and human civ ilisation. The vessel and
its crew had been to a world only
envisioned in fi ction and returned w ith
fi eld-changing information.
Key to the data gathered was
establishing the existence of life at the
bottom of Earth’s deepest ocean. This
revealed that not only were there
creatures impervious to extreme
atmospheric pressures, but also that
water at this depth wasn’t stagnant.
This was a clear indication that ocean
currents even penetrated these extreme
depths, so they should not be used as a
dumping ground for radioactive waste.
Unfortunately, despite this fi rst-hand
evidence, dumping of this kind still
continues throughout large parts of the
world to this day.
Today the legac y of the Trieste is being
built upon, with numerous programmes
currently under way focused on
designing new vehicles to return to this
uncharted territor y. The most high
profi le of these is Richard Branson’s
Virgin Oceanic, which intends to return
to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in
the near f uture.Water tanks
At fore and aft of the hull lay t win
water-filled ballast tanks.Quartz lamp
High-powered quartz arc-light lamps
enabled the Trieste’s crew to obser ve
their immediate environment. These
were mounted to the bottom of the hull.Propellers
The Trieste could largely only
move up and down on a vertical
plane. However, small,
top-mounted propellers allowed
a little horizontal movement.A close-up v iew of the Trieste’s pressure
sphere, clearly show ing the Plexiglas
obser vation window and instrument leadsHISTORIC