Tom Swift and His Undersea Search | Page 4

there is, in various places on
the bottom of the ocean today, wrecks of ships that carried, when they
went down, gold, silver, copper and other metals to the value of at least
ten billions of dollars!"

Tom Swift did not seem to be at all surprised by the explosive
emphasis with which Ned Newton conveyed this information. He gazed
calmly at his friend and manager, and then handed the paper back.
"I haven't time to look at it now," said Tom. "But is there anything new
in the story? I mean has any of the wealth been recovered lately--or is it
in a way to be?"
"Yes!" exclaimed Ned. "It is! A company has been formed in Japan for
the purpose of using a new kind of diving bell, invented by an
American, it seems. The inventor claims that in his machine he can go
down deeper than ever man went before, and bring up a lot of this lost
ocean wealth."
"Well, every so often an inventor, or some one who calls himself that,
crops up with a new proposal for cleaning up the untold millions on the
floor of the Atlantic or the Pacific," replied Tom. "Mind you, I'm not
saying it isn't there. Everybody knows that hundreds of ships carrying
gold and silver have gone down in storms or been sunk in war. And
some of the gold and silver has been recovered by divers--I admit that.
In fact, if you recall, my father and I perfected a new style diving dress
a few years ago that was successfully used in getting down to a wreck
off the Cuban coast. A treasure ship went down there, and I believe
they recovered a large part of the gold bullion--or perhaps it was silver.
"But this diving bell stunt isn't new, and it hasn't been successful. Of
course a man can go down to a greater depth in a thick iron diving bell
than he can in a diving suit. That's common knowledge. But the trouble
with a diving bell is that it can't be moved about as a man can move
about in a diving suit. The man in the bell can't get inside the wreck,
and it's there where the gold or silver is usually to be found."
"Can't they blow the wreck apart with dynamite, and scatter the gold on
the bottom of the ocean?" asked Ned.
"Yes, they could do that, but usually they scatter it so far, and the ocean
currents so cover it with sand, that it is impossible ever to get it again. I
admit that if a wreck is blown apart a man in a diving bell can perhaps

get a small part of it. But the limitations of a diving bell are so well
recognized that several inventors have tried adjusting movable arms to
the bell, to be operated by the man inside."
"Did they work?" asked Ned.
"After a fashion, yes. But I never heard of any case where the gold and
silver recovered paid for the expenses of making the bell and sending
men down in it. For it takes the same sort of outfit to aid the man in the
diving bell as it does the diver in his usual rubber or steel suit. Air has
to be pumped to him, and he has to be lowered and raised."
"Well, isn't there any way of getting at this gold on the floor of the
ocean?" asked Ned, his enthusiasm a little cooled by the practical "cold
water" Tom had thrown.
"Oh, yes, of course there is, in a way," was the answer of the young
inventor. "Don't you remember how my father and I, with Mr. Damon
and Captain Weston, went in our submarine, the Advance, and
discovered the wreck of the Boldero?"
"I do recall that," admitted Ned.
"Well," resumed Tom, "there was a case of showing how much trouble
we had. An ordinary diving outfit never would have answered. We had
to locate the wreck, and a hard time we had doing it. Then, when we
found it, we had to ram the old ship and blow it apart before we could
get inside. Even after that we just happened to discover the gold, as it
were. I'm only mentioning this to show you it isn't so easy to get at the
wealth under the sea as writers in Sunday newspaper supplements think
it is."
"I believe you, Tom. And yet it seems a shame to have all those
millions going to waste, doesn't it?" And Ned spoke as a banker and
financial man, who is not happy unless money is earning interest all the
while.
"Well, a billion of dollars is a lot," Tom admitted. "And when you think

of all that have been sunk, say