Until a few decades ago, the ocean depths were almost as mysterious and inaccessible as outer space. Oceans cover two-thirds of the earth's surface with an average depth of more than two miles - yet humans had never ventured more than a few hundred feet below the waves.
Robert Ballard discovered the wreck of the "Titanic". He led the teams that discovered hydrothermal vents and "black smokers" - cracks in the ocean floor where springs of superheated water support some of the strange life-forms on the planet. He was a diver on the team that explored the mid-Atlantic ridge for the first time. Today, using a nuclear submarine from the US Navy he's exploring the ancient routes of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea for the remains of historic vessels and their cargo.
In this book Ballard combines science, history, spectacular illustrations and first-hand stories from his own expeditions in a uniquely personal account of how twentieth century explorers have pushed back the frontiers of technology to take us into the midst of a world we could once only guess at.
Beginning in 1930 with William Beebe and Otis Barton, pioneers of the ocean depths who made the world's first deep-sea dives in a cramped steel sphere, Ballard introduces us to Auguste and Jacques Piccard, whose "Bathyscaph" descended in 1970 to the lowest point on the ocean floor.
He reviews the celebrated advances made by Jacques Cousteau. He describes his own major discoveries as well as his technological breakthroughs, including the development of remote-operated underwater vehicles and the revolutionary search techniques that led to the discovery and exploration of the Titanic, the Nazi battleship Bismarck, ancient trading vessels, and other great ships.
