The Deep Atlantic: Life, Death, and Exploration in the Abyss

Author of the acclaimed Monsters of the Deep and The Book of Whales, Ellis turns his attention here to the bottom of the sea--to the Atlantic floor. He reviews the history of deep-sea exploration from the 19th-century British Challenger expedition to William Beebe's bathysphere to modern submersibles, charting the various advances in technology. Ellis takes us on an imaginary submarine voyage across the bottom of the Atlantic, into its canyons and past the remains of the Titanic. Then he describes the strange and wonderful fauna of the depths, from luminescent sea cucumbers to giant squid (scientists have seen only parts of the animal, never an entire one) to cookie-cutter sharks and whales. Both text and the many white-on-black drawings by Ellis provide an illuminating introduction to Earth's last frontier. Illustrations. (Oct.)