Otis Barton
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
deep-sea diver
Underwater diving
Underwater diving is the practice of going underwater, either with breathing apparatus or by breath-holding .Recreational diving is a popular activity...
, inventor and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
.
Born in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, the independently wealthy Barton designed the first bathysphere and made a dive with William Beebe
William Beebe
William Beebe, born Charles William Beebe was an American naturalist, ornithologist, marine biologist, entomologist, explorer, and author...
off Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
in June 1930. They set the first record for deep-sea diving by descending 600 feet. In 1934 they set another record at 3028 feet.
Barton wrote the book "The World Beneath the Sea," published in 1953. He also acted in the Hollywood movie, Titans of the Deep
Titans of the Deep
Titans of the Deep is a 1938 film inspired by the early 1930s deep sea dives made by William Beebe and Otis Barton. Beebe and Barton were the first to set ocean depth records in a device invented by Barton.The film was written by Les Adams...
. In 1949, he set a new world record with a 4,500 foot (1,372 m) dive in the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, using his benthoscope (from the Greek benthos, meaning 'sea bottom', and scopein, 'to view'), which he designed himself.
Like Beebe, Barton was also interested in exploring tropical rain forests, and spent considerable time in places like Gabon
Gabon
Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...
. In 1978 Barton successfully tested a "jungle spaceship" (actually an airship
Airship
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...
) that was intended to film wildlife.