Preparations For The Nautilus Expedition
In 1930 Wilkins and his wife Suzanne were vacationing with a wealthy friend and colleague Lincoln Ellsworth. During this outing Wilkins and Ellsworth hammered out plans for a trans-Atlantic expedition involving a submarine. Regarding the purpose of this expedition Wilkins said:
In short, the expedition is for the purpose of gathering data in connection with a plan for comprehensive meteorology study, including the polar areas and with the hope that once polar meteorological study, including the polar areas and with the hope that once polar meteorological stations are established it will be possible to forecast for several years in advance, the seasonal conditions, and to collect scientific data of academic and economic interest from an area hitherto unapproached by a scientific staff equipped with a complete scientific laboratory and facility for comfortably carrying out their investigation and provided with adequate means of sustenance and means of safe retreat. Millions of dollars are spent each year by various institutions in oceanographical and geophysical research. A submarine will provide means for similar investigations in an economic and safe manner, in areas as yet untouched by scientists.
An expedition of this magnitude would not be inexpensive. Wilkins had to be creative in financing this undertaking. Lincoln Ellsworth contributed $70,000, plus a $20,000 loan. Newspaper tycoon Randolph Hearst added $61,000 for exclusive rights to the story. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute pitched in $35,000. Finally, Wilkins himself doled out $25,000 of his own money. Since Wilkins was not a U.S. citizen he was unable to purchase the 1918 submarine that was scheduled to be decommissioned. However, he was permitted to lease the vessel for a period of five years at a cost of one dollar annually from Lake & Danenhower, Inc. Wilkins renamed the submarine The Nautilus after Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The ship was 175 feet in length and weighed in at 560 tons. It was capable of diving to a depth of 200 feet and could support a crew of twenty men for five days. The submarine was outfitted with a custom designed drill that would allow it to bore through ice pack overhead for ventilation. The crew of eighteen men was chosen with great care. Among their ranks were U.S. Naval Academy graduates as well as navy veterans of WWI.
Read more about this topic: Hubert Wilkins
Famous quotes containing the words preparations for, preparations, nautilus and/or expedition:
“The most evident difference between man and animals is this: the beast, in as much as it is largely motivated by the senses and with little perception of the past or future, lives only for the present. But man, because he is endowed with reason by which he is able to perceive relationships, sees the causes of things, understands the reciprocal nature of cause and effect, makes analogies, easily surveys the whole course of his life, and makes the necessary preparations for its conduct.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“At the ramparts on the cliff near the old Parliament House I counted twenty-four thirty-two-pounders in a row, pointed over the harbor, with their balls piled pyramid-wise between them,—there are said to be in all about one hundred and eighty guns mounted at Quebec,—all which were faithfully kept dusted by officials, in accordance with the motto, “In time of peace prepare for war”; but I saw no preparations for peace: she was plainly an uninvited guest.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We are taking the Nautilus down for the last time.”
—Earl Felton, and Richard Fleischer. Captain Nemo (James Mason)
“Writing a novel is not merely going on a shopping expedition across the border to an unreal land: it is hours and years spent in the factories, the streets, the cathedrals of the imagination.”
—Janet Frame (b. 1924)