28SPRING 2015Hay’s Illustrations of CairoThe Sultan Hassan Mosque is one of the subjects featured inHay’s Illustrations of Cairo, produced by Robert Hay of LinplumHouse, Haddington. The book, which measures some 55cmby 39cm, contains nearly 30 of Hay’s exquisite illustrations ofCairo, drawn on stone by J C Bourne and published by Tilt &Bogue of London in 1840. RSGS was gifted a copy of the bookin the 1920s; it is inscribed as a gift to Helen B Ainslie fromher mother in 1841.Hay left Cairo for the last time in the spring of 1834, after aneight-year spell exploring ancient temples and tombs alongthe Nile. He created sketches and brief descriptions, as earliertravellers had done, but also architectural plans and detailedcopies of murals and inscriptions – producing one of the mostthorough studies undertaken at that time.His wonderful sketches of monuments and panoramasmake this book one of the most beautiful in the RSGS’sarchive, showing buildings in intricate detail as they wouldhave appeared nearly two hundred years ago. Many of thesedrawings were produced in sweltering heat, and conditionsfor much of the work were difficult. A large number of thebuildings depicted are no longer standing, but the SultanHassan Mosque Mosque is still intact. As you can see from themodern-day photograph, however, the surrounding landscapehas changed remarkably, subsuming the mosque within thecity of Cairo.This book is the only work of Hay’s that was ever published.On his return to Scotland in 1835 he was confronted by ageneral disinterest in his findings and was inhibited by thehigh cost of publication. This book of sketches by Bournewas lavishly printed but did not sell well, losing Hay almost£2,000, the equivalent of around £180,000 in today’s prices.
Dr Robert D Ballard, RSGS Livingstone Medallist 2001Jo WoolfFURTHER READINGThe Eternal Darkness by Robert D Ballard (Princeton UniversityPress, 2000)NOAA profile: oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/edu/oceanage/05ballard/CBS News video interview: www.cbsnews.com/news/bobballard-the-great-explorer-25-11-2009/TheGeographer 14- 29SPRING 2015“Most of the Earth remainsunexplored – never seen by humaneyes. Scientists have barely looked intoour own dark abyss.”We are familiar with the openingsequence of James Cameron’s epicmovie, Titanic. A small deep-seaprobe shines its lonely beam of lightinto the hull of the wrecked ship,illuminating a world of perpetualdarkness as shoals of sea creaturesscuttle away in surprise; while at thesurface, 12,000 feet above, a team ofscientists rejoice at the discovery.The truth behind the fiction is just asdramatic. On 1st September 1985, ateam led by the explorer Bob Ballardsucceeded in pinpointing the lastresting place of the doomed cruiseliner at the bottom of the NorthAtlantic; and the method that theyused, which employed two unmannedprobes, was the brainchild of Ballard himself.“…a revolutionary newidea that would allowthe eyes of the world togaze into our deepestoceans.”Dr Ballard (left) received his Medal from RSGSChairman Professor Proudfoot.Surprisingly, although it was one of Ballard’s dreams tolocate the Titanic, this is not the achievement that he wouldmost like to be remembered for. Even before that momentousdiscovery, he had enjoyed a long career in underwaterexploration, observing and recording some of the mostextraordinary natural sights on our planet. For Ballard,the sight of six-feet-long tube worms growing in completedarkness at depths of 8,000 feet around the GalápagosIslands was one of the most jaw-dropping experiences in hislife.“We had been told that all life on the planet owed its existenceto the sun... It didn’t make sense to us initially. It was a discoveryof massive dimensions.”As a child, Ballard had always been intrigued by the ocean.He devoured books such as Jules Verne’s 20,000 LeaguesUnder the Sea, and studied the sea life of rock pools nearhis home on the coast of California. Graduating in chemistryand geology, he worked as an oceanographer in the US Navy,and when his military service ended he began exploring theocean around Florida and Maine in a manned submersible.In 1979 he and the geophysicist Jean Francheteau staredopen-mouthed as vents of super-heated liquid, blackenedwith minerals, billowed from the sea bed in the Pacific. Theirstartling observations and temperature readings alteredalmost everything we already knew about hydrothermalactivity.“Then the bulb in my head went off. Why not bring all of thistogether – my love of the undersea world and a desire to sharethat love with everyone in a way that would not destroy the verything we loved?”At first, Ballard was convinced that the future of underwaterexploration lay in manned submersibles; but his plansunderwent a sea-change of their own, and he came up with arevolutionary new idea that would allow the eyes of the worldto gaze into our deepest oceans. His brainwave consistedof two unmanned capsules launched from a research vesselat the surface and connected to each other by a cable. Thelarger capsule would act as acontrol base, while the smallervessel, nicknamed a ‘tetheredeyeball’, could dive even deeper,venturing into confined spaces andprobing depths where no human could safely go.Using fibre-optic cable, live video images can besent back to the research vessel and beamedaround the world in seconds. Volcanic activityhas been measured, geological faults have beenexplored, and strange new life forms have beendiscovered, defying the laws of science yet thrivingin an abyss of perpetual darkness. It’s easy toimagine that we have explored all of our planet, butwe forget that over 70% of it is covered by ocean.And so far, metaphorically speaking, all we havedone is dip our toe in it.For scientists, Ballard’s achievements are akinto landing a space module on a distant planet,because they have opened up a whole new worldof knowledge. Ballard was obviously aware of theanalogy when he named the Inner Space Center,which is his research base at the University of Rhode Island’sGraduate School of Oceanography. In 2008 he foundedthe Ocean Exploration Trust, whose purpose is to conductscientific projects using Ballard’s specially-commissionedship E/V Nautilus and the underwater vessels Hercules andArgus. Ballard’s lifelong passion is now helping to educateand inspire a new generation of scientists – but millions ofpeople with no scientific background have found themselvesequally enthralled, because he is opening doors onto a worldthat is completely new to human eyes.Now in his seventies, Robert Ballard is still endlesslyfascinated by the world that lies beneath the waves. In recentyears he has been searching for ancient shipwrecks in theMediterranean, and he admits that the thrill never fades.“Discovery is an unbelievable feeling. People ask, ‘What is yourgreatest discovery?’ and I say, ‘It’s the one I’m about to make.’”In 2001, the RSGS awarded Robert Ballard the prestigiousLivingstone Medal, in honour of his amazing achievements,acknowledging him as “one of the world’s best known deepseaexplorers, having logged more hours in the deep than anyother marine scientist.”
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