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International
Under Pressure
All that progress came with a price: Deeper water means greater water pressure. As the pressure on a diver's body increases, more oxygen and nitrogen dissolve in the bloodstream. If you rapidly ascend to the surface, the nitrogen forms bubbles, blocking tiny blood vessels. This condition is known as the bends, or decompression sickness. It can result in joint pain, ruptured blood vessels in the lung, heart attack, spasms, paralysis and stroke.
The bends remained a common condition for divers up until the early twentieth century, when a better understanding of the affliction led to improved protocol. Regardless of medical knowledge and modern technology, compression sickness remains an occupational hazard for underwater explorers.
Waiting for Cousteau
Piping compressed air down to divers proved effective, but it kept underwater explorers tethered to the surface. To overcome this, divers needed to bring their air supply down with them. Centuries of invention and research eventually led to the self-contained underwater-breathing apparatus, or scuba.
In 1943, Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan developed the Aqua-Lung. Redesigned from a common automobile regulator, this device provides compressed air to a diver at the slightest inhalation. Modern developers continue to fine-tune this technology, for example, by replacing divers' oxygen supplies with an enriched blend of oxygen and nitrogen called Nitrox.
Alvin and Zeus
Unlike divers which aren't used by Odyssey, submersible operators typically don't have to worry about the bends. Once you move below depths of 1,312 feet (400 meters), diving with pressurised air becomes a non-issue. Instead, humans have to bring hospitable air pressure down with them by way of submersibles. The disadvantage, however, is that submersibles require heavy-duty materials to prevent excessive outside pressure from crushing the lower air pressure on the inside.
Today, we've not only developed such groundbreaking manned submersibles as Alvin, which can operate at depths of 14,764 feet (4,500 metres) for two hours at a time, but we've also developed remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).
For example, Odyssey's unmanned Zeus II can explore depths of more than 8,200 feet (2,499 meters). Other work-class ROVs can venture up to 19,685 feet (6,000 meters) below the sea. However, they haven't eliminated human occupied vehicles yet. Work is underway to develop a new replacement human occupied vehicle that will allow divers to pilot an Alvin-like craft down to depths of 21,326 feet (6,500 metres).
Oil Saves the Day
As always, intense water pressure and low temperatures pose challenges for underwater exploration, but the rise of offshore oil drilling has increased demand for high-performing underwater technology. As technology improves, savvy human explorers are able to explore shipwrecks that have lain beyond our reach for centuries.
