Roosevelt High School - Bwana Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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93 BWEIHH feet, Beebe saw strange fish. As he watched them, from the sides of several of them flashed six or eight bright greenish lights, which had such a blinding effect on his eyes that the fish vanished completely, leaving not a trace of light behind them. To this day, Beebe has no idea what they were. At the surface of the ocean the fish are usually ultramarine blue on top and white underneath to match the colors of the open sea. Surface fish are seen to a depth of one hundred feet. A little deeper, most of the fish are rather transparent, and still deeper the fish are semi-transparent, silver, or pink. About five hundred fathoms downward is the scarlet and black zone. Most of the fish are black, and the majority of the worms and crustoceans are flame-red. As far down in the ocean as the sunlight penetrates, there are minute plants that furnish food to numberless fish, shrimp, and other sea creatures. Beginning half a mile down, however, is a world of non-vegetarians. The surface creatures form the food of the tenants of the twilight zone, and these in turn are devoured by the monsters of the black depths. Beebe noticed that ocean life was still abundant at twelve hundred feet. At twelve hundred fifty feet several of the silver hatchets passed, going upward. Suddenly Beebe saw not one form of ocean life, and between twelve hundred fifty and thirteen hundred feet were fifty feet of terrible emptiness. Not one light or organism was seen, and the ocean appeared to be an entirely different shade of blue. It seemed to Beebe that its most prominent characteristic was its transparency. At thirteen hundred feet, much to Beebe's relief, life, mostly luminous, again became visible. Barton had just read the thermometer at seventy-two degrees when he saw three squids shoot in and out of the light, changing from black to barred white as they moved. At fourteen hundred feet Beebe saw several creatures of remarkably large size which hovered in the distance. On June 20, l930, Beebe had made fifteen descents, one to fourteen hundred feet and several to eight hundred feet. Beebe said that several times he saw an amazing change of courtesy between the larger and smaller fish. To the ever-occuring question of how did he feel, Beebe can only quote the words of Herbert Spencer. l-le felt like an infinitesimal atom floating in illimitable space. SALLY CHASE 2 Twenty-three

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BWEHE however, the lower half of his body was practically paralyzed, and his legs and feet were sound asleep. The most impressive thing about the descent was, to Beebe, the slow change of color from dark blue to blacker blue. After his first trip, Beebe began to wish for all sorts of new apparatus. The next trip he made was five days later, and he and Otis Barton had devised a number of improvements. There were shelves for books, writing materials, and sample colors, and the inside of the sphere was painted black so that there would be no reflections. A camera was placed in a tight brass box so that moving pictures could be taken, and sheets of zinc and pads of waterproof paper were taken to make needed notes. The most exciting places to dive are probably the reefs and shallows far from shore, like those of Bermuda. ln the Galapagos, jet black rocks, over which crawl crabs, cast jet black shadows, and red octopi creep out of the crevices. The Australian barrier reef is shrouded in mystery, and expeditions are just beginning to explore it. Alaskan ocean life, however, is certainly the most weird. Sharks, although not Arctic as a race, are frequently seen in Alaskan waters. To dive there, it was necessary for Beebe to encase himself in a heated wool-lined suit. The waters in the South Pacific are exactly the opposite of the Alaskan waters. There are the most luxuriant reefs and shal- lows. Many types of fish exist, and a thousand printings need never repeat species, form, pattern, or color in their composition. The thing that impressed Beebe most when he dived in the tropics was the brilliance of color. The fish are rainbow-tinted, and corals send up unearthly purple branches. Here one can climb into growth formed from boulders six to eight feet across. After Beebe had dived down one place in the tropics many times, he said that the individual fish could be recognized immediately and were claimed as friends. It is hard to picture what it is like a mile beneath the surface. lt is darker than anything or any place at all in the upper world-a darkness so intense that nothing can penetrate it. The temperature lies between the freezing point of fresh water and salt water. Some deep-sea fish are soft when brought to the surface, others have scales as hard as a surface fish. The fish have two alternatives to find their way in the dark. They may develop long tenacles, called feelers. ln this case, the eyes in time become reduced and are not visible at all. On the other hand, as they enter the lightless zone, Nature may come to the aid of some of the deep sea beings and provide illumination from their own bodies. On some fish there are searchlights on cheeks, fore- heads, and tails, which no doubt are of great importance in signalling and answering in the search for mates. Others have glows of fire on their sides which perhaps send messages of friendly recognition to scattered members of the school. The lantern-fish, instead of having half a dozen scales like those caught in the net, are ablaze with their full armor of iridescence. Beebe caught the Hash of their light organs for only an instant. At eleven hundred Twenty-two 93

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EWENE w Cnurlfsy of St, Louis Post-Dispatch DR. BEEBE'S FLOAT ln the 1934 Veiled Prophet's Parade, the outstanding float, that of Dr. William Beebe's bathysphere, was one of most suggestive and interpretive that the city has seen for some time. The blue and green indirect lighting showed the beauty of the sea floor. It was a color scheme of interminglecl pink, white, and soft purple tints. The pink sea anemones and corals made one almost gasp with their startling likeness to these animals of the sea. Nothing was too vivid: nothing was out of place. One saw devil-fish, sharks, and lesser animals of numerous descriptions seemingly swimming around in the depths. The representation of the bathysphere itself was very convincing. It was a silver sphere with openings on all sides, representing the quartz windows in the original. MARGARET HILL Twenty-four 935