Vancouver’s Submarine Graveyard and the History of the Bathysphere

Emanuel-Smedbøl

Top photo of a bathysphere from a Vancouver junkyard.

In 1928, the American naturalist William Beebe was given permission by the British government to establish a research station on Nonsuch Island, Bermuda. Using this station, Beebe planned to conduct an in-depth study of the animals inhabiting an eight-mile-square area of ocean, from a depth of two miles to the surface.

As of the late 1920s, the deepest humans could safely descend in diving helmets was 100 feet, since beyond that point the pressure becomes too great. Beebe’s initial design called for a cylindrical vessel, and articles describing his plans were published in The New York Times. These articles caught the attention of the engineer Otis Barton, who had his own ambition to become a deep-sea explorer.

Bostelmann_Bathysphere

WCS_Beebe and Barton

Emanuel Smedbøl’s on Instagram via Messy Nessy Chic for the full article and a lot more submarines from all over. Including one abandoned submarine base.
Quoted text via Wikipedia.

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About

I design video games for a living, write fiction, political theory and poetry for personal amusement, and train regularly in Western European 16th century swordwork. On frequent occasion I have been known to hunt for and explore abandoned graveyards, train tunnels and other interesting places wherever I may find them, but there is absolutely no truth to the rumor that I am preparing to set off a zombie apocalypse. Nothing that will stand up in court, at least. I use paranthesis with distressing frequency, have a deep passion for history, anthropology and sociological theory, and really, really, really hate mayonnaise. But I wash my hands after the writing. Promise.

2 thoughts on “Vancouver’s Submarine Graveyard and the History of the Bathysphere

  1. Sir, would greatly appreciate if you could give me the location of the bathysphere that you located in Vancouver that you posted July 9 2013. I am a submarine buff and am interstd in history of older underwater vehicles. Thanks

    Reply
    • on said:

      I couldn’t get confirmation, but I did get a few leads you could follow up on.

      Photographer Emanuel Smedbøl seems to be the photographer, so he should know where it is exactly. http://emanuel.smedbol.ca/ is his site.

      Reddit consensus seems to think it is probably Oceanworks at:

      If you do nail it down, I would love to hear about it here.

      Hope this helps.

      Reply

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