Clank! The sound of the overhead hatch closing. I was in the 7-foot diameter pressure hull of the deep diving submersible DEEP QUEST. I was the chief naval architect for the design and this was it—a test dive to 5,000 feet in the Pacific Ocean, 90 miles west of San Diego. The crew insisted that I go along on this dive.

The pilot pumped mercury into the forward tank to trim Deep Quest 30 degrees down by the bow. He then drove Deep Quest down with the twin stern propellers mounted to the outer hull. We were on our way.

It was very quiet except for the hum of the electronic equipment and the air conditioning fan. I was sitting between the chief pilot and copilot looking out through a plexiglass conical viewport mounted in the steel hull. Outside it was totally dark except for about 30 feet Illuminated by the submersible flood lights. We were moving at the "blinding" speed of 4 knots. The pilot navigated using the sonar scope to show forward obstacles. You had to have faith in electronic technology.

There was an air of excitement and anticipation. Talk, however, was limited to the business at hand. The chief pilot drove the vehicle and controlled it's motions. The copilot provided navigation information. I was watching the depth gage to see how far down we were, and the x-y plotter to see our position relative to the bottom target location.

I was also taking quick looks on the sonar scope to make sure we were not going to run into unforeseen obstacles. The pilot noticed my furtive looks and smiled. He assured me that there are no sea mounts in the area. I felt foolish and tried to explain that it was not my lack of confidence and then felt even more foolish. The rest of the trip to the bottom was uneventful, but for me quite euphoric. Here was my baby doing its thing, descending to the bottom of the ocean.

The depth meter indicated 4,700 foot. We were slowing down straining to see the bottom. A 4 foot fish swam past the viewport, What was it doing there and where does it get food?

No time to answer, we were getting close to the bottom. I can see it, the bottom, flat clay-like sediment with occasional ridges running in the same direction

Oops, there is a can lying on the bottom. I can see the label. It's a beer can—a Budweiser. Darn it, you can't get away from them even here. The pilot eased the sub gently to sit on the. Bottom. We sat there for a while, looking out, looking at each other with silly grins on our faces.

These were new frontiers of deep ocean space and we were there. It was too good to be true.

~ Gideon Wizansky