Reel and Slide (Jan-Sep 1919)

REEL and SLIDE 15 By John S. Bird, A. B. AN ambitious but interesting project, which, it is claimed, will soon be a reality, is being promoted by two Chicago engineers, which, if successful, will salvage from the uttermost depths of the sea hundreds of treasure ships which have been sunk there. The equipment necessary for this effort is said to be ready for action and already a beginning has been made on certain liners, known to have contained great treasure during the war. In addition to this salvage work, according to the promoters, moving pictures can be made by means of the same powerful submarine lights used in salvage work and thus open to the classroom the wonders under the sea by means of cinematography. In addition, it is planned to make moving pictures of the salvage work itself as an exposition of the great strides made in submarine engineering recently. Perhaps the bottom of the sea remains more of a blank to science than any other part of the universe. Scientists know about the flora and fauna on the ocean bed a relatively shallow depth, but below a certain point they must guess; the difficulty is chiefly one of not being able to see. Students of the subject nearly all agree that authentic pictures of undersea life would be a most valuable addition to scientific knowledge. The investment necessary to get practical results could scarcely be warranted in case educational moving picture work was the sole aim. But, since salvaging is a lucrative business and will make the money forthcoming, education may expect a benefit accordingly along with profits, providing the present plans fully materialize. A word about the equipment which is intended to make undersea moving pictures possible, might be interesting. The inventors of what is called the Schneider-Lipski Monitor describe their idea as follows : These submarine monitors are nothing more than deep-sea "tanks," built like the caterpillar tractors used in battle, but having on their backs cages made of six-inch steel and weighing around forty-five tons. With these monitors the divers are orotected against the water pressure and able to work and move around on the bottom of the sea, slowly, but with almost as great freedom as they would on land. By the time this article appears, salvage operations will be under way to recover valuable ships and cargoes sunk during the war and now lying beyond the reach of divers in ordinary diving suits. The locations of these ships are accurately known in nearly all cases as well as their value, which, with cargoes, is conservatively estimated by men who know to run into billions of dollars. To raise sunken vessels, Schneider-Lipski engineers first locate the derelict by government and shipping records, and by means of special instruments which give the exact location. Then the salvage crews lay a huge rectangular raft, large enough to permit the sunken vessel to rise inside of her, and made of solid timbers with steel pontoons for additional buoyancy. This raft is anchored at all four corners and sides and the water inside and outside of it for a considerable distance is covered with a thin film of crude oil to quiet the waves in rough weather. Protected nitrogen lights are then dropped to illuminate the ocean bed where the ship lies. The submarine monitor is lowered by a huge crane and by a cable having a capacity of 1,125 tons. As the Schneider-Lipski operator descends to his work, he takes with him on the outside of his steel turret all the cables, chains, motors and drilling apparatus necessary to attach one length of cable to the side of the ship. Having surveyed the vessel and decided where the first unit is to be attached, he drives up to it with his tractor and then adjusts his operating table outside so that it brings the disc of steel at the lower end of the cable into the correct drilling position. The drills, which are screw-headed, are in place so that all the operator has to do is to start his drilling motor, which then makes the circle of drills and attaches the cable securely. All of the drills, motors, etc., with which the diver does this are outside of his steel turret and are controlled through (Continued on page 17) Island Selected for Filming Wonders Under the Sea M OST readers are more or less familiar with the first undersea cinematography accomplished by the Williamson Brothers of New York two or three years ago. Their films attracted widespread attention and focused the attention of the scientific world upon the possibilities of enlisting the film as a medium by which science might reveal many hitherto unfathomed mysteries of J the ocean bed. The Williamsons spent many months and a fortune perfecting ■ 5 I their diving bell, but their original plans merely called for a demonstration of the feasibility of their ideas and inventions. Only a few thousand feet of pictures were made at that time which have been incorporated in various photodramas and other productions as interpolations. There was, however, an excellent film of submarine flora and some footage of fauna, taken in the West Indies. These films went the round of the theaters as a novelty and proved to be commercially attractive. It has always been the intention of the Williamsons to make some really serious attempts at pedagogical moving pictures by means of their apparatus and quite recently an actual move in this direction has been made by them. An island has been purchased, situated in the West Indies, to which point the Williamson undersea cinematographic outfit has already been shipped. This island was purchased because of its location in the tropical seas where the water is sufficiently clear to meet the needs of the camera and where an adequate supply of unusual specimens are to be found. Mr. J. E. Williamson, who has only recently returned from the scene of future activities, will, at the beginning, give considerable attention to filming the habits and characteristics of the octopus. The resultant films will be used not alone for purposes of school room study, but will get theater exhibitions and will be sold to producers of industrial, dramatic and novelty reels as well. In fact, the distribution along these lines will be ffeneral. Concerning his plans, Mr. Williamson recently told a representative of Reel and Slide: "My little island, 'Sandy Cay,' is an ideal place for this work. You might think from the picture that the smooth, sandy beach ran all around it like a race track; but it is deceiving in appearance, for one side is a mass of jagged reefs, torn by wind and storms which most always drive in from that side. "The reefy side of the island is a natural home for the octopus. I have a great big one which seems to be getting quite friendly, but I am not sure yet. Then there are plenty of sharks near by, though there is nothing friendly about them. Their cold, china eyes tell that. So I watch out and expect the worst at all times. It is hard to know the limit of size these monsters attain in the great depths of the sea, but as far as the records show I might quote from the Smithsonian Report, 1916, Bartsch: 'While Pennant states that in those seas the eight-armed cuttlefish has "been found of such size as to measure 12 feet in breadth across the central part, while each arm was 54 feet in length, thus making it extend from point to an earthquake. point about 120 feet.' One is reminded by this of the Kipling story of the sea-monster spewed up from the sea floor by "He further states that 'the natives of the Indian Isles, when sailing in their canoes, always take care to be provided with hatchets, in order immediately to cut off the arms of such of these animals as happen to fling them over the sides of the canoe, lest they should pull it under water and sink it.' " 1 1 if i tir ■**■« iw^fc. *»*■ *» j* ^j$iw?uXmH*w'<***^<wi##N