DIVISION HISTORY

HISTORY OF SUBMERSIBLES
In oceanography and marine biology as in other sciences, important discoveries often follow upon the development of new research tools. Today's marine scientists have access to a wide array of highly sophisticated equipment - research ships, submersibles, robots, sensors, and advanced diving gear. These technologically complex tools are allowing today's marine scientists to discover previously undiscoverable places, species, and ecosystems. Yet, the oceans are such a vast scientific frontier that every day, important new discoveries are made using tools and techniques that have been around for many years.

More than any other scientific tool, submersibles typify the excitement and adventure of ocean exploration. Both manned and unmanned, these spaceships of the sea deepen our understanding of marine physics, biology, chemistry, geology, and geography. Unlike military submarines that operate without a support vessel, submersibles require a ship for launch and recovery.

MANNED SUBMERSIBLES
The first manned systems were little more than heavy chambers dangled into the sea by cables or ropes. Even such primitive designs showed the promise of immersing marine scientists directly within their subject of research to record deep-water species and phenomena in their native environments.

Engineer, Otis Barton and naturalist William Beebe were the first humans to observe the deep ocean during their more than 35 historic dives in the waters off Bermuda. In the 1930s, these two brave explorers entered the bathysphere, a crude steel ball, and descended 1000 meters (3280 feet). The original bathysphere can be seen on display at The Smithsonian Institution.

The dives took place along the northeast slope of the Bermuda Platform.

A major improvement on the bathysphere was the untethered bathyscaphe. TRIESTE, designed by Swiss explorer Auguste Piccard, was purchased by the US Navy in 1958. Piccard had previously ascended to unprecedented heights in a balloon fitted with a pressurized gondola. The TRIESTE had a similar gondola or sphere, suspended below a 60-foot hull containing gasoline.

On January 23, 1960, Piccard's son Jacques and Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh descended 35,802 feet to the Challenger Deep (in the Marianas Trench near Guam). This achievement still stands as the world’s deepest dive.

The DEEP DIVER, a research submersible designed by Edwin Link and John Perry for Ocean Systems, Inc., was the first diver lockout submersible. It was capable of diving to a depth of 1250 feet. It had a lockout chamber where two divers could exit through a hatch in the bottom, work in the sea, and return.

The JOHNSON-SEA-LINK research submersibles were designed by Edwin Link and built by HBOI with financial support from HBOI founder, J. Seward Johnson. Link - an inventor, industrialist and aviator - is perhaps best known for developing the world's first flight simulator, The Link Trainer.

JOHNSON-SEA-LINK I (JSL I) was commissioned in 1971 and its twin, JSL II was commissioned in 1975. Early activities involved lockout diving from the sub's aft chamber.

Today, research submersibles boast state of the art engineering and a wide array of capabilities geared to facilitate scientific exploration. The evolution of specialized equipment such as manipulator arms, suction devices, and rotary plankton samplers has made it possible for scientists to accomplish almost any work from within the subs that was once done by lockout divers.

In mid-February 1986, almost a month after the ill-fated Space Shuttle Challenger accident, Harbor Branch ships, submersibles and ROVs were asked to assist NASA and the US Navy in the search for the space shuttle wreckage. JSL's were designed to operate in the powerful Gulf Stream current and were able to locate and identify parts of the wreckage, including pieces of the right solid rocket booster containing the failed O-ring that is believed to have caused the explosion. HBOI assets worked on this 160 square mile wreckage site through the month of May that year, mostly identifying and assisting in recovery of pieces of wreckage as deep as 1300 feet.

Since their commissioning in the early 1970s, the two JOHNSON-SEA-LINKs have logged over 7400 dives all over the world. They routinely take four passengers to a maximum depth of 3000 feet and typically stay there for up to four hours. The JSLs are completely autonomous—they have no connection to the surface other than acoustic signals for voice communications and tracking. Upon surfacing from a dive, the sub is recovered by the support ship and secured to the deck for preparation for the next dive. These preparations include charging the batteries, replenishing gas supplies and consumables, and readying the next scientific experiment.

With this schedule, a standard day consists of a morning and afternoon dive, with a total of eight hours of bottom time. The maximum speed of the sub is about two miles per hour, so even on a search mission, the sub rarely covers more than one or two miles. However, with total blackness occurring at an average depth of 1000 feet, high speeds are not recommended or desired while looking for small scientific samples and avoiding any safety hazards.

CLELIA was built by Perry Oceanographics in 1976, and was refitted by Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in 1992 to address the needs of the shallow-water scientific community.

Highly maneuverable and certified to a maximum depth of 1000 feet, this versatile research sub can accommodate two scientists and a pilot. CLELIA is outfitted with active sonar, still and video cameras, as well as a seven function hydraulic manipulator equipped with a suction sampler, a clam bucket scoop, and jaws capable of handling bottom cores and other sampling devices.

SO, YOU WANT TO BE A SUB PILOT?
As jobs go, 'submersible pilot' ranks high on the coolness scale. Not many people get to spend the working day far beneath the ocean surface. But, behind the glamorous title and the choicest office window on the planet, there is a substantial amount of work every day. Sub pilots are an integral "part" of the sub, using their skills to maneuver in tight spots, collect delicate sea life or accomplish any tricky task. Potential Harbor Branch pilots must have a technical background, such as electronics or mechanics.

A background in diving doesn't hurt either because of the operational similarities. Pilot hopefuls first join the sub team as technicians. After spending time learning the finer points of communications, tracking, sub launching and recovery, and after spending lots of dive-time in the sub's aft observation compartment, the techs enter the pilot training program which can take up to two years to complete.