IN THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA
It will be interesting to look into conditions that exist in deep water. Somehow the notion has gone forth that a ship will not surely sink to the very bottom of the deep sea, but on reaching a certain level will find the water so dense that even solid iron will float, as if in a sea of mercury, and that here the ship will be maintained in suspension, to be carried hither and yon by every chance current. Indeed, it makes a rather fantastic picture to think of these lost ships drifting in endless procession, far down beneath the cold green waves, and destined to roam forever like doomed spirits in a circle of Dante's Inferno.
But the laws of physics shatter any such illusion and bid us paint a very different picture. Liquids are almost incompressible. The difference in density between the water at the surface of the sea and that at a depth of a mile is almost insignificant. As a matter of fact, at that depth the water would support only about half a pound more per cubic foot than at the surface. The pressure, however, would be enormous. Take the Titanic, for instance, which lies on the bed of the ocean in water two miles deep. It must endure a pressure of about two long tons on every square inch of its surface. Long before the vessel reached the bottom her hull must have been crushed in. Every stick of wood, every compressible part of her structure and of her cargo, must have been staved in or flattened. As a ship sinks it is not the water but the ship that grows progressively denser. The Titanic must have actually gained in weight as she went down, and so she must have gathered speed as she sank.
We may be certain, therefore, that every victim of Germany's ruthless U-boats that sank in deep water lies prone upon the floor of the sea. It matters not how or where it was sunk, whether it was staggered by the unexpected blow of the torpedo and then plunged headlong into the depths of the sea, or whether it lingered, mortally wounded, on the surface, quietly settling down until the waves closed over it. Theoretically, of course, a perfect balance might be reached which would keep a submerged vessel in suspension, but practically such a condition is next to impossible. Once a ship has started down, she will keep on until she reaches the very bottom, whether it be ten fathoms or ten hundred.