I leave here, at my impending demise, an account of the past several months of my life. Believe me when I say that I expect you will find them not simply miraculous, but very likely fantastical, unbelievable, and even more surely, impossible. Indeed, if one were to describe these events to me I would exclaim "Hogwash!" myself, and feel safe in the knowledge that impossible things are only possible for our Lord God, not mere mortal man. But having, in fact, experienced those impossible events, I can only believe God's hand truly did touch upon me, as I can find no earthly cause for them, and therefore must admit they were of heavenly nature.
I must give some reference of my earlier life, since I do not think that anyone should recognize me by my name, Samuel Bonham. I was raised in predictable manner the young child of a well-off father and mother who traveled quite extensively. I spent a great deal of my very young years being raised by various nannies while my parents were away on field studies, the household income coming quite naturally through previously arranged investments. While I missed my parents during these periods, I always managed to amuse myself in study, our library having a great number of practical books of very nearly every subject known to man. Our was apparently a knowledge-hungry family, and I was no exception.
When old enough to be useful my parents began to take me along on these adventures. In my youth I suppose I took for granted the opportunities these travels gave me to learn much about a variety of different subjects. Looking back today I can hardly believe the things I've done even compared to most adventurers. Ah, but that is for another time and place. I can't afford to describe all of those past experiences here, and in any case they pale in comparison to the story I shall put to paper now.
Suffice it to say that those happy days of adventuring had an end. My parents were both killed in a native revolt while exploring the interior of Africa. It was a secret that they were searching, as many had, for the rumoured lost tribe of white people amongst the savages. I had stayed at home to finish my studies at the university and did not receive news of their demise for several months after. I mourned their loss, as is natural, and then I felt a great urge to not just learn all I could, but to find information previously unknown to an man. The swell of my family's natural inclinations suddenly rose to new heights within me, and I became restless as the caged cat.
It seemed to me that there were two places where man had very little knowledge, the natural underground, and deep underwater. I chose to explore the depths of the oceans, as my previous travels had made me shipbound for weeks at a time and I had always found life in the oceans to be extremely interesting. Til now man had known only the ocean that he could dive into, which is the first small mark on a yardstick, or less. And I had an idea.
I took to designing a large sphere of steel, hollow within, and with a circular door that closed from the outside and beveled so that the great weight of the depth of the ocean would help it seal and prevent leakage. The sphere itself was to be many inches thick to prevent the heavy sea water from crushing it. The side of the sphere was to have a thick plate of glass, also circular, and in similar fashion as the door, would be self-sealing from the pressure of many feet of sea water. The whole sphere was to be suspended by a chain underwater, and oxygen supplied by pressurized tanks stored within the vessel. This is not ideal, as anyone can imagine, but hoped the amount of oxygen supplied would be enough to allow me to test the sphere and later devise a system for unlimited supply. I did the numbers many, many times and became convinced that such a device would be safe to a great depth, and if built properly, would allow a person to see far below the surface of the sea and experience what wonders may exist therein.
The great sphere was cast and openings for the door and window carved to a perfect shape. The door and window themselves were also cast and the window ground and polished so as to make it very clear to see through. While this was going on I sought and found several men to be my crew for testing the device, and paid them handsomely for their discretion. You see, I preferred to experiment without the fuss of newspaper men getting int he way, and, truth be told, if there was failure, I did not want it to go against me. Therefore the men were given orders such that if there was accident, they were to make no note of it, and to share it with no one.
Tests were carried out the next year and progressed unmanned until I felt it absolutely safe to ride inside the sphere. In fact, I was anxious to do so. My curiosity was causing me undo stress, and I longed to succeed in my endeavour and further push the boundaries of human knowledge. In June, my ship and I sailed to the Mediterranean sea where there was a particularly well-suited location for an unencumbered dive. All haste was made to prepare for the "launch" of the sphere, which I had named the Black Ball, simply from it's outward appearance. I indicated to the crew that I wanted to go down to a depth of 200 feet for 10 minutes, which was, I felt, perfectly reasonable given the air supply. I entered the sphere, containing nothing more than 2 tanks of pressurized oxygen, and myself, and the door was quickly set in place (Time was of utmost importance, due, obviously, to the limited supply of breathable air.)
A crane,. specially fitted for this purpose, quickly lifted the ball and swung it over the side of the ship, and I began a quick descent to the agreed upon depth. However, something went wrong.
*-* I just looked at my reports & the like 11/26. I'm back in the top 40 in the UK & top 80 in the US! At least something's going right this week...
:rockin:
