Around the World Submerged: The Voyage of the Triton

If we were to complete our voyage within the allotted time, keeping on course was essential, and I had frequent navigation conferences with Lieutenant Commander Robert W. Bulmer, Operations Officer (left), and Lieutenant Commander Will M. Adams, Jr., Executive Officer (right).

^{Photo by J. Baylor Roberts, © National Geographic Society}

While galelike winds and twelve-foot waves boiled the waters at Cape Horn, we sat safely sixty-five feet below the surface with a barely perceptible roll to hint at the strong currents and high seas.

^{Photo by J. Baylor Roberts, © National Geographic Society}

The radar in the Combat Information Center, operated by Chief Radar-man Bernard E. Pile, clearly outlines the nodule shape of Cape Horn.

^{Photo by J. Baylor Roberts, © National Geographic Society}

Hospitalman First Class “J” “C” Meaders checked the film badges of each crewman regularly to determine if anyone had endured excess radiation.

^{Photo by J. Baylor Roberts, © National Geographic Society}

Part of our mission was a study of ocean currents, so Torpedoman First Class Robert R. Tambling ejected brightly colored bottles along our route. Within each bottle was a message asking the finder to report his discovery to the United States Navy Hydrographic Office in Washington, D.C., indicating the position and date of his find.

^{Official U.S. Navy Photo}

Lieutenant Milton R. (“Whitey”) Rubb was our custodian of sea water. From each of the seven seas we gathered separate samples, and in one bottle we combined waters from each of the seas to present to the superintendent of the United States Naval Academy for use at the annual midshipmen’s Ring Dance.

^{Official U.S. Navy Photo}

The nerve center of any ship is its Combat Information Center. Here is where we maintained our contact with the outside world and plotted the track of the Triton.

^{Photo by J. Baylor Roberts, © National Geographic Society}

With this newly designed control panel, Seaman David E. Boe guides the ship in a manner similar to a pilot flying an airplane, while Chief Radarman Bernard E. Pile observes.

^{Photo by J. Baylor Roberts, © National Geographic Society}

With precise instruments, such as our fathometer and precision depth recorder, we could chart our track across the ocean floor.

^{Official U.S. Navy Photo}