Bathyscaphs, a Mediterranean Adventure in Marine Dialogues Between France and Japan

Abstract

In the history of deep diving in the oceans, bathyscaphs have played an eminent role. For the first time in the exploration of the earth, mankind constructed machines with the capability to reach depths of several thousand meters and the capacity to carry observers in order to collect information on an unknown world: the deepest parts of the seas.

Such an unprecedented adventure was born mainly along the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and attracted almost worldwide attention, especially of the maritime countries and particularly Japan.

This paper relates the first steps in deep diving bathyscaphs, the difficulties and the successes of these dives in different parts of the oceanic world and in Japan.

It also relates the great impact of the dives in the seas surrounding Japan on the scientific research community and also on Japan’s population. An indirect consequence at that time was the creation of the Société franco-japonaise d’Océanographie of Japan (Nichi-Futsu Kaiyo Gakkaishi) by several Japanese oceanography professors.