A legendary naturalist and a wealthy engineering student come together in the name of science in this highly readable look at the discoveries that made William Beebe and Otis Barton international celebrities of the Depression era. Journalist and nature-doc producer Matsen shows how Barton, who'd long dreamed of undersea adventure, convinced the already-famous Beebe that his diving device will be the key to Beebe's success. Barton would pay for the bathysphere—a four-and-a-half-foot steel ball dangling from a wire rope and ventilated by its occupants waving a palm leaf fan—and thus go along for the ride. The men were personally incompatible, but they made an effective team; from 1929 to 1934, they made more than 20 dives off Bermuda and many improvements in their vehicle. Matsen devotes greater energy to Beebe, noting how his scientific credentials were often questioned—a bon vivant, he wrote for Ladies' Home Journal as well for Science.

List of Illustrations

Prelude: Coney Island

Part One SURVIVAL

 1 Barton

 2 Beebe

 3 A Day at the Zoo

 4 Sphere

 5 Bermuda

 6 Bathysphere

 7 The Abyss

 8 Infinitesimal Atoms

 Interlude, 1931

PartTwo BEYOND SUNLIGHT

 9 Renaissance

 10 Disaster

 11 On the Air from Bermuda

 12 Voices from the Deep

 13 Animals Faintly Seen

 Interlude, 1933

PartThree MARVELOUS NETHER REGIONS

 14 Grosvenor and the Geographic

 15 New Eyes

 16 Blotches of Light on a Black Field

 17 World Records

 18 Half Mile Down

 Epilogue: Titans of the Deep

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index