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Applied Underwater
Acoustics
Leif Bjørnø
UltraTech Holding, Taastrup, Denmark
Edited by
Thomas H. Neighbors III
David Bradley
Elsevier
Radarweg 29, PO Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, United Kingdom
50 Hampshire Street, 5th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Details on how to
seek permission, further information about the Publisher’s permissions policies and our
arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the
Copyright Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www.elsevier.com/permissions.
This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by
the Publisher (other than as may be noted herein).
Cover image: HISAS 1030eproduced image of a sunken WWII oil tanker copyright
©Kongsberg Maritime AS and Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI).
Reprinted with permission.
Notices
Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and
experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional
practices, or medical treatment may become necessary.
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in
evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described
herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety
and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.
To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or
editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a
matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any
methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN: 978-0-12-811240-3
For information on all Elsevier publications

visit our website at https://www.elsevier.com/
Publisher: John Fedor

Acquisition Editor: Anita Koch
Editorial Project Manager: Amy Clark
Production Project Manager: Paul Prasad Chandramohan
Designer: Maria Inês Cruz
Typeset by TNQ Books and Journals
This book is dedicated to the memory of
Professor Walter G. Mayer

Department of Physics
Georgetown University
Washington, D.C.
List of Contributors
D.A. Abraham
Ellicott City, MD, United States
L. Bjørnø
UltraTech Holding, Taastrup, Denmark
Ph. Blondel
Department of Physics, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
M.J. Buckingham
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego,
La Jolla, CA, United States
A. Caiti
University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
N.R. Chapman
University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada
B. Dushaw
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
D. Fattaccioli
LMA-CNRS, Marseille and DGA Naval Systems, Toulon, France
P. Gambogi
A. Gavrilov
Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia
G. Grelowska
Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland
P. Grenard
CTBTO, Vienna International Centre, Vienna, Austria
G. Haralabus
R.A. Hazelwood
R&V Hazelwood Associates LLP, Guildford, United Kingdom
S. Ivansson
Swedish Defence Research Agency, Stockholm, Sweden
D.R. Jackson
Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, WA,
United States
xiii
xiv List of Contributors
E. Kozaczka
Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland
P.A. Lepper
Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
J.F. Lynch
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States
P. Mikhalevsky
Leidos Inc., Arlington, VA, United States
J.L. Miksis-Olds
University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States
T.H. Neighbors III
Leidos Corporation (Retired), Bellevue, WA, United States
A.E. Newhall
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States
L. Pautet
M. Prior
M.D. Richardson
Marine Geosciences Division, Naval Research Laboratory,
Stennis Space Center, MS, United States
S.P. Robinson
National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, United Kingdom
D. Scaradozzi
J.-P. Sessarego
LMA-CNRS, Marseille and DGA Naval Systems, Toulon, France
C.C. Tsimenidis
Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
M. Zampolli
Preface
The preface is a personal introduction to the book, with some comments about the
contents as seen by the author, the intent of the work, and recognition of those who
have contributed. The last is easy: the team of authors who contributed chapters or
sections of chapters are, without qualification, an outstanding group of experts who
have given their time and knowledge to make this book a valuable and useful text for
those working in the world of undersea science and technology. They have been a
joy to work with and are complemented and thanked for their efforts. From conver-
sations with Leif, we know his intent was to provide the undersea community with a
science-based text, yet an easily understood and practical reference to the details of
Underwater Acoustics. From these same conversations, it was clear his concept was
to draw on multiple expertises, vice singular authorship, as he felt strongly that the
readership would benefit from the depth that a group of experts would provide.
The introduction is “short and sweet”: Consider the following to be a practical
compendium of the knowledge of Underwater Acoustics; it is meant to be a working
document that readers can draw on to accomplish their specific task and a reference
base for further study, if required.
Leif wished to dedicate this book to Walter G. Mayer, late Professor of Physics at
Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., USA, a close personal friend and
colleague for many years.
I thank Irina, my wife, for her support, encouragement, and patience; her presence
at my side is critical in endeavors like this.
For Leif Bjørnø,
Tom Neighbors and Dave Bradley
xv
CHAPTER
General Characteristics
of the Underwater
Environment 1
L. Bjørnø1,y, M.J. Buckingham2
1
UltraTech Holding, Taastrup, Denmark ; Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States2
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Over the past about 100 years the exploitation of the seas and their resources has
continuously increased. Acoustic waves have turned out to be a very useful tool
for detecting resources and objects in the water column and on the seafloor. Other
methods have been used with varying degrees of success depending on the objects
to be detected or investigated. These methods include magnetics, magnetic anomaly
detection, where minor changes in the earth’s magnetic field due to presence of an
object can be measured; optical methods; electric field changes; hydrodynamics
such as pressure changes; thermal methods; and electromagnetic waves. While
radar is very useful for detection of objects above water, electromagnetic radar
waves are strongly absorbed in seawater. While electromagnetic waves in the visible
frequency band from 4 to 8$1014 Hz are much less absorbed, with a minimum ab-
sorption coefficient of 3$103 cm1 in the green-blue light near 455 nm wavelength
(i.e., 6.59$1014 Hz), electromagnetic wave absorption in the normally used radar
bands is several orders of magnitude higher than in the visible band. Seawater salt
contains magnesium that makes the water conduct electricity since the Mg2 þ cation
constitutes 3.7% of seawater salt. A 1 GHz radar wave in the ultra-high frequency
(UHF) band with a 0.3 m wavelength has a 1400 dB/m absorption coefficient while
the same wavelength in the 5 kHz sound wave has a 3$104 dB/m absorption coef-
ficient. Therefore, radar systems are not useful for detecting objects under water.
Underwater sound is used in many applications, such as hydrography, off-shore ac-
tivities, dredging, defense and security, marine research, and fishery.
Hydrography includes harbor and river surveys, bathymetric surveys, flood damage
assessment, engineering inspection, pipeline and cable route surveys, exclusive eco-
nomic zone (EEZ) mapping, breakwater mapping, and so on. Off-shore activities
include pipeline and cable installation and inspection, leakage detection, route and
site surveys, subsea structure installation support, renewables, remotely operated
vehicle (ROV) intervention guidance, decommissioning, reconnaissance surveys,
y
30 March 1937e24 October 2015.
Applied Underwater Acoustics. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-811240-3.00001-1 1
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
2 CHAPTER 1 General Characteristics of the Underwater Environment
search and recovery, oil and gas prospecting, and prospecting for minerals and re-
sources on and in the seafloor. Dredging includes sonars used by rock and stone
dump vessels, excavator and trailing suction hopper dredgers, cutter suction and
bucket dredgers, clamshell grab cranes and underwater plow vessels, and
placement support. Defense and security includes mine counter measures,
submarine and torpedo detection, obstacle avoidance, search and recovery, underwa-
ter communication, vessel and fleet protection, waterside security, diver detection, and
so on. Marine research includes environmental monitoring, ambient noise measure-
ments, marine archeology, marine mammal research, and fishery research.
Fishery includes fishery operations, fish school detection, catch monitoring and
control, trawl position control, phytoplankton and zooplankton investigations,
communication between monitoring sensors on fishing gear and the fishing vessel,
seabed mapping, bottom discrimination, and so on.
The counterpart to radar above water is sonar under water. SONAR is the
acronym for sound navigation and ranging. It was originally used during World
War II as an analog to the name “radar” and as a replacement for the name “asdics”
for underwater detection systems using sound, which were used by the British Royal
Navy during World War I. The two most common sonar types are passive and active.
In a passive sonar system, the acoustic signal originates at a target and propagates to
a receiver, where the acoustic signal is converted to an electrical signal for process-
ing. In an active sonar system, an electrical signal is converted to an acoustical signal
by a transmitter and the sound waves propagate from the transmitter to a target and
back to a receiver, where conversion from acoustical to electrical signal takes place
followed by electronic signal processing. Signal processing is aimed at enhancing
the return signal from the target or reducing the noise in which the return signal
may be embedded, as discussed in Chapter 11. The transmitter is normally called
the projector and the receiver is called the hydrophone, as discussed in Chapter
10. If the return signaldthe echodfrom a target is detected, the position and the
potential target movement are determined by the time delay of the echo from the
target and the direction of the echo, respectively. The speed of a moving target
can be estimated from the frequency shiftdthe Doppler shiftdin the echo from
the target, as discussed in Chapter 2.
When a sound wave is produced in water it propagates from the site where it is
produced. Sound sources can be natural, such as breaking waves, rain falling on the
water surface, seismic activities in the seafloor, and so on, or man-made such as
sonar signals, underwater explosions, ship noise, and so on, as discussed in Chap-
ter 6. During propagation the sound signal is exposed to a number of processes
which may change the sound signal and its propagation, such as sound signal
amplitude attenuation due to absorption, divergence, and scattering, as discussed
in Chapter 4. Scattering takes place during the sound wave’s interaction with
the sea surface, seafloor, and inhomogeneities in the water column, as discussed
in Chapter 5. These inhomogeneities can be natural, such as plankton, fish and
sea mammals, and variations in the sea temperature and salinity. Scattering and
reflection of sound signals may cause sound waves to follow different paths, pro-
ducing multi-path sound propagation, which can make detection of objects in the
1.1 Introduction 3
water column and on the seafloor difficult. The scattering of underwater sound may
lead to reverberation which limits detection. Use of advanced signal processing on
the transmitted and received signal opens up the possibility to avoid or reduce the
degradation of the propagated sound signal, as discussed in Chapter 11. Ambient
noise in the sea can also become a limiting factor for signal detection. The sound
signal received by a hydrophone carries information about the signal source and
what the signal has encountered while propagating from the source to the hydro-
phone. The signal received by the hydrophone is processed to extract information
of value to the user. This complicated “underwater world,” where sound propaga-
tion is influenced by many individual sources with effect on the sound signal’s
amplitude, phase, and spectral composition, is the basis for this book, “Applied
Underwater Acoustics.”
Each chapter is introduced with a section giving the necessary definitions and
describing the physical background for the subsequent sections of the chapter. The
man-made sources of sound from sonar systems of various types are described in Chap-
ter 10. This chapter also describes the different transducer types, their charge forming
elements, and their geometries. Chapter 10 illuminates the sonar types available today,
characteristic features, as well as their design, calculation, and calibration. Hydro-
phones, including array types, and their characteristics are also a part of Chapter 10.
The sound wave propagation through the water and the different factors which
influence the propagation path are discussed in several chapters. The oceanographic
features with influence on sound propagation are illuminated in Chapter 2. Chapter 2
also includes definitions and describes important acoustic wave concepts, such as
wave geometries, divergence, convergence, reflection and transmission at interfaces,
refraction and diffraction, and propagation through inhomogeneous media.
Chapter 3 discusses the capability to calculate sound propagation in the sea using
available models.
Absorption of sound in fresh and in seawater is caused by the several mecha-
nisms described in Chapter 4. The interplay of these mechanisms and their depen-
dence on frequency are discussed in detail, and the best formulations for
calculating sound absorption are provided.
When a sound wave in the sea hits a boundary, such as the seafloor, sea surface,
or an object in the water column, the sound wave is reflected and scattered. Chapter 5
describes the scattering dependence on the geometry of the scattering object and its
surface qualities. Useful expressions for scattering calculations including
perturbation approximations and the HelmholtzeKirchhoff method are provided.
Also scattering from one and two scales of surface roughness are presented. Chapter
5 provides an in-depth discussion of scattering which can lead to reverberation,
which in turn can limit sound signal reception in the sea.
Chapter 6 discusses ambient noise in the sea produced by natural sources, such as
seismic activities, breaking waves, bubbles formed near the sea surface, precipitation,
biological activities, ice, and man-made sources, such as shipping, prospecting for oil
and gas, and so on. The spectra, directivity, and ambient noise coherence are pre-
sented, and self-noise produced by the ship making, the noise measurements, and
procedures for noise reduction are an integral part of Chapter 6. The temporal and
spatial variability of noise and statistical methods for characterizing noise are
emphasized.
Sound propagation in shallow water is strongly influenced by the physical prop-
erties and geometries of the sea surface and seafloor. These boundaries form a sound
channel through which the underwater sound is guided. It is possible by using
information about the boundaries to produce models for calculating sound
propagation through the channel. Many experiments have given valuable informa-
tion about sound propagation in shallow water, the continental shelf, and ice-
covered water. Chapter 7 provides up-to-date results and procedures for measuring
and calculating sound propagation in shallow water.
The seafloor has frequently the strongest influence on sound propagation in
seawater, in particular in shallow waters. This influence is produced by the nature
of the seafloor sediments, their elastic qualities and porosity, and the seafloor surface
geometry. Also, rocks and boulders on and in the seafloor influence reflection and
scattering from the seafloor. Practical models for calculating scattering from the sea-
floor at high and at low sound frequencies are provided in Chapter 8. The chapter
also includes an in-depth discussion of the physical properties important for seafloor
sound propagation, reflection, and scattering. Methods for measuring sediment geo-
acoustic properties, seafloor roughness spectra, and statistics for seafloor heteroge-
neity including methods for seafloor identification and characterization by using
sonar are presented in Chapter 8.
Underwater sound is used to investigate oceanographic and environmental sea
qualities. Sound velocity profiles are created by variations with water depth in tem-
perature, salinity, and pressure, which form sound ducts in the sea that can be used
for sound propagation over great distances. This sound propagation is used to detect
and describe oceanographic phenomena such as gyres and eddies, fronts, influx of
warmer into colder water, and water flow with different salinity, by measuring
acoustic signal arrival time to known positions around an acoustic source. This
process, which is named tomography, is used for studies at basin scale down to
shorter distances in shallow water. Acoustic tomography is described in Chapter
9. The acoustic thermometry of the ocean, where long-time variations in the ocean
temperature are detected by measurements of the arrival time of coded acoustic sig-
nals propagated over thousands of kilometers, is also an aspect of tomography. In
general acoustic signals gather information about the qualities of the materials in
which they have propagated. This information can be unveiled through inversion
procedures, where return signal processing can inform us about seafloor qualities
and characteristics of the water column and help perform rapid environmental
assessment. Inversion procedures are discussed in Chapter 9.
When underwater signals have been picked up by a hydrophone or a hydrophone
array these signals are processed. Frequently the desired signal is embedded in noise
such as ambient noise or reverberation. To detect the signal it is necessary to filter the
received signal from noise and to amplify the desired signal before the detection and
estimation process is performed. As of 2016, several signal processing “tools” are
1.2 A Brief Exposition of the History of Underwater Acoustics 5
available to the underwater acoustician. These tools and their applications are
described in-depth in Chapter 11.
Underwater acoustic methods are used extensively to detect the type and magni-
tude of biomass in the sea. Studies range from very smallescale phyto- and
zooplankton, over various species of fish to sea mammals. Systems for catch
monitoring and control and habitat mapping are described in Chapter 12, which
also includes target strengths of single fish and fish shoals and the acoustic models
used for studies. Sound produced by certain fish types, and the sensitivity of marine
fish and mammals to underwater sound are also discussed in Chapter 12.
In general, sound propagation is considered a linear process. However, higher
sound signal amplitudes may produce nonlinear processes such as harmonic distor-
tion and acoustic saturation. Nonlinear processes are also found in focused sound
fields and in cavitation, a local bubble formation process formed by pressures below
the hydrostatic pressure. Nonlinear underwater acoustics includes the use of para-
metric acoustic arrays for sound generation and reception and underwater explosions
used for prospecting for oil, gas, and minerals. Finite-amplitude underwater sound is
discussed in Chapter 13.
Chapter 14 describes a series of underwater sound applications for marine
renewables, underwater surveillance networks, investigations of soundscapes,
characterization of noise from ships and production platforms, nuclear-test-ban
treaty monitoring, underwater communication and networks, unmanned vehicles
for surveillance and monitoring, underwater archeology, investigations in polar
environments, warning against seismic activities and against tsunamis, model exper-
iments in water tanks, and seafloor application of ocean observatories.
Section 1.2 of this chapter provides a brief history of underwater acoustics.
Section 1.3 presents the international system of units used in the book, followed
in Section 1.4 with a discussion on the use of the decibel scale. Section 1.5 covers
the features of oceanography including sound speed profiles, thermoclines, arctic
regions, deep isothermal layers, expressions for the speed of sound, surface waves,
internal waves, bubbles from wave breaking, ocean acidification, deep-ocean hy-
drothermal flows, eddies, fronts and large-scale turbulence, and diurnal and
seasonal changes. Section 1.6 discusses the sonar equation which is fundamental
to underwater acoustics. Section 1.7 contains a list of the acronyms. The chapter
concludes with the list of references.
1.2 A BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THE HISTORY OF UNDERWATER

ACOUSTICS
Underwater acoustics is one of the fastest growing fields of research and develop-
ment in acoustics. This is reflected by the increasing number of publications each
year in international journals and conference proceedings. The relations between un-
derwater acoustics and other fields of importance to the international community
such as oceanography, meteorology, seismology, fishery, oil and gas industry,
communication, shipping, defense, and security are becoming closer. The compre-
hensive activity in underwater acoustics is based on research and development
over more than two millennia, spawned by human curiosity about the sea and its
ability to support sound wave propagation.
1.2.1 UNDERWATER ACOUSTICS BEFORE 1912

As far as we know today [1] the work on underwater acoustics was started by the
Greek philosopher Aristotle (384e322 BC) who was the first to note that sound could
be heard in water as well as in air. In 1490 the Italian scientist and artist
Leonardo da Vinci (1452e1519) wrote in his notebook, “If you cause your ship to
stop and place the head of a long tube in the water and place the other extremity
to your ear, you will hear ships at great distances.” Of course, the ambient noise level
in lakes and seas was much lower during his days than today, when several kinds of
ships and offshore activities pollute the seas with noise. About 100 years later, the
English philosopher Francis Bacon (1551e1626) in his work Historia Naturalis et
Experimentalis supported the idea, that water is the principal medium by which
sounds originating therein reach a human observer standing nearby. In the 17th,
18th, and early 19th centuries, several scientists became interested in light, as well
as sound, transmitted in air and water. The Dutch astronomer Willebrord Snellius
(1580e1626) worked on the refraction of light. Snell’s Law follows from Fermat’s
principle of least time, which in turn follows from propagation of light as waves.
This concept was contradictory to Sir Issac Newton’s (1643e1727) assumption
that light propagated as particles. Christiaan Huygens (1629e1695) formulated the
principle named after him that each point on a wave front is an origin for spherical
elementary waves and the wave front propagates as the envelope surface of the
elementary waves. This principle is important for understanding the sound propaga-
tion in water. The interference between waves was studied by Joseph von Fraunhofer
(1787e1826) and Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788e1827). The mathematical tools to
describe sound propagation in water were formed during the 17th through 19th cen-
turies. G.W. Leibnitz (1646e1716) formulated the notation for differentiation and the
rules for integration. Other contributions to the mathematical foundation for under-
water acoustics today were formulated by various scientists, such as Daniel Bernoulli
(1700e1782), Leonhard Euler (1707e1783), J.R. d’Alembert (1717e1783), J.-L.
Lagrange (1736e1813), P.-S. Laplace (1749e1827), A.-M. Legendre (1752e1833),
J.B.J. Fourier (1768e1830), S.D. Poisson (1781e1840), and Hermann von Helmholtz
(1821e1894). Important contributions to the instruments used in underwater acoustics
arise from H.C. Ørsted (1777e1851), who discovered the electromagnetism, and J.P.
Joule (1818e1889), who contributed to the discovery of the magnetostrictive effect.
The discovery of the piezoelectric effect in 1880 was based on works by Henri
Becquerel (1852e1908) and the brothers, Paul-Jacques Curie (1856e1941) and
Pierre Curie (1859e1906).
Direct sound speed measurements in fresh and saltwater, and comparing these
measurements with the speed of sound in air were also performed by several
scientists in the 18th and 19th centuries. Sound sources included bells, gunpowder,
hunting horns, and human voices. The scientists’ ears usually served as receivers. In
1743, J.A. Nollet (1700e1770) conducted a series of experiments to prove that wa-
ter is compressible. With his head underwater, he heard a pistol shot, bell, whistle,
and loud shouts. He noted that the intensity of the sound decreased only a little with
depth, thus indicating that the loss mostly occurred at the water surface. In 1780,
Alexander Monro (1733e1817) tested his ability to hear sounds underwater. He
used a large and a small bell, which he sounded both in air and in water. The bells
could be heard in water. However, he found that the pitch sounded lower in water
than in air. He also attempted to compare the speed of sound in air and in water,
and he concluded that the two sound speeds seemed to be the same.
The breakthrough in sound speed measurement came in September 1826, when
the Swiss physicist J.D. Colladon (1802e1893) and the French mathematician
J.K.F. Sturm (1803e1855) made the first widely known measurement of the sound
speed in water on Lake Geneva at a water temperature of 8 C. A bell hanging down
from a boat was used as transmitter, and when striking the bell a flash of light was
made by igniting gunpowder. This flash could be seen by Colladon in a boat about
10 miles from the transmitter. He started his watch when he saw the flash and
stopped it, when he heard the sound signal in the water about 10 s later. His receiver
was a trumpet designed with one end in the water and the other in his ear. By using
this rather primitive setup they were able to measure the sound speed in water at 8 C
as 1435 m/s, which is only about 3 m/s less than today’s accepted value [2]. From the
sound speed and water density they could determine the bulk modulus of the water.
During the years 1830e1860 scientists started thinking about applications of un-
derwater sound. Questions such as “Can the echo of a sound pulse in water be used
for determination of the water depth or the distance between ships?” or “Can the
communication between ships be improved by underwater transmission of sound?”
were posed. The frustration in relation to the use of underwater sound for depth mea-
surements is obvious from M.F. Maury’s (1806e1873) words in Chapter 12 of his book
Physical Geography of the Sea, 6th ed. 1859, where he says, “Attempts to fathom the
ocean, by both sound and pressure, had been made, but out in blue water every trial
was only a failure repeated. The most ingenious and beautiful contrivances for deep-
sea sounding were resorted to. By exploding petards, or ringing bells in the deep sea,
when the winds were hushed and all was still, the echo or reverberation from the bot-
tom might, it be held, be heard, and the depth determined from the rate at which
sound travels through water. But though the concussion took place many feet below
the surface, echo was silent, and no answer was received from the bottom.”
During the latter half of the 19th century, when the maritime world changed from
sail to engine driven ships and wood was replaced by steel in ship construction,
concern was expressed about safe navigation in fog and the danger of collision
with other ships or icebergs. John Tyndall (1820e1893) in England and
Joseph Henry (1797e1878) in the USA in separate investigations found sound prop-
agation in air to be unreliable and in 1876 recommended to the lighthouse authorities
in both countries that they adopt high-power siren warning installations at all major
lighthouses. From 1873 joint experiments took place and a large-scale steam-driven
siren was built at the South Foreland lighthouse in England driven by a steam pres-
sure of 5$105 Pa and 100 to 400 Hz frequencies were investigated [3]. Sound trans-
mission conditions, however, caused problems. Wind speed and temperature
gradients over the sound propagation path caused strong variations in the sound
detection distance. The possible advantages of signaling by sound in water were
taken up again in the late 1880s by Lucien Blake and Thomas Alva Edison
(1847e1931) in the USA. Edison invented an underwater device for communication
between ships; however, for some unknown reason the US government lost interest
in his invention.
Submerged bells on lightships were introduced to a large extent during the last
years of the 19th century. The sound from these bells could be detected at a great
distance through a stethoscope or by using simple microphones mounted on a ship’s
hull. When the ship was outfitted with two detecting devices, one on each side of the
hull, it became possible to determine the possible bearing of the lightship by trans-
mitting the sounds separately to the right and the left ears of the observer. Elisha
Gray, who was working with Edison on improving the telephone, recognized that
the carbon button microphone in a suitable waterproof container could be used as
a hydrophone to receive underwater bell signals. In 1899, Gray and A.J. Mundy
were granted a patent on an electrically operated bell for underwater signaling.
1.2.2 THE YEARS 1912 THROUGH 1918

In 1912, the Submarine Signal Company hired the Canadian R.A. Fessenden
(1866e1932), to develop a sound source more efficient than pneumatically or elec-
trically operated bells. Fessenden designed and built a moving coil transducer to
emit underwater sound. The Fessenden oscillator which was designed somewhat
like an electrodynamic loudspeaker, allowed ships to communicate with each other
by using Morse code or to detect echoes from underwater objects. The acoustic po-
wer transmitted into the water was about 2 kW at a resonance frequency of 540 Hz,
and the electroacoustic efficiency was 40e50%. In 1914, the echo location process
known as echo ranging was developed to a level where it could locate an iceberg at a
distance of 3.2 km. Unfortunately this development came too late to avoid the
Titanic disaster.
The outbreak of World War I and the later introduction of unrestricted submarine
warfare were the impetus for developing a number of military applications of under-
water sound. In France the Russian electrical engineer Constantin Chilowsky collab-
orated with the physicist Paul Langevin (1872e1946) on a project involving a
condenser (electrostatic) projector and a carbon button microphone situated at the
focus of a concave acoustic mirror. The first successful underwater acoustic signals
were sent across the river Seine in Paris below the Pont National by the end of 1915
[4]. In 1916 Langevin and Chilowsky filed a joint application for a patent based
on their method and equipment. In April 1916 they were able to transmit an under-
water signal over 2 km and detect at 200 m echoes reflected by an iron plate. Since
FIGURE 1.1
Langevin’s piezoelectric quartz-based transmitter/receiver. (1) connected to a.c. oscillator
and amplifier and to the receiver. (2) The steel inner electrode. (3) The watertight
container. (4) The steel outer electrode. (5) The layer of 0.004 m thick slices of quartz.
Reproduced from Lasky, M., Review of undersea acoustics to 1950. J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 61, (2), pp. 283e297
(1977), with the permission of the Acoustical Society of America.
Chilowsky left the project after filing the patent, Paul Langevin, who had
moved to Toulon, in 1917, turned his interest to the piezoelectric effectdoriginally
discovered by the Curie brothers in 1880dto develop transmitters and receivers for
underwater use. The newly developed vacuum tube amplifier, the Audion valve, was
used by Langevin for his quartz receiver, and in 1918 he completed the development
of his sandwich-type, steelequartzesteel transmitter, shown in Fig. 1.1. This trans-
mitter had a resonance frequency of 40 kHz produced by the sandwich consisting of
a layer of quartz in the form of a square mosaic 0.004 m thick and 0.2 m in square
between two square steel plates each of thickness 0.03 m. This transmitter increased
the range for one-way transmission to more than 8 km, and clear submarine echoes
were heard in February 1918.
In England Lord Rutherford had assembled a strong group of physicists at Uni-
versity of Manchester. In particular, two persons, who joined this group in 1915
and in 1916, respectively, Albert Beaumont Wood (1890e1964) and the Canadian
physicist Robert William Boyle (1883e1955) contributed substantially to sonar
development and to underwater acoustics. In 1917 several members of Lord
Rutherford’s group were moved to Parkeston Quay in the England, where they, under
leadership of professor W.H. Bragg, carried out research and development related to
underwater echolocation and passive listening under the top secret “ASDIC” project.
ASDIC is an acronym for “Allied Submarine Detection Investigation Committee” [4].
Boyle started out using the Fessenden oscillator, but found early on that its low
frequency, around 1 kHz, would not produce the necessary resolution for detecting
submarines. After contact was established between Boyle and Langevan in 1917,
Boyle visited France and the scientists shared information. A slab of quartz was sent
to Boyle in England, and was tested by Boyle, who in March 1918 achieved an echo
from a submarine at nearly 500 m. The first practically working active sonar, or AS-
DICS as the British preferred to name it, was built by Boyle in November 1918. It
was successfully tested out fitted to a trawler a few days after the armistice on
November 11, 1918.
In the USA, Dr. Harvey C. Hayes (1880e1969) had gathered a group of special-
ists at Naval Experimental Station, New London, with the terms of reference “to
devise as quickly as possible the best of available technology to defeat a U-boat.”
Hayes and his group developed the towed hydrophone assembly called “the Eel,”
and a passive sonar installation using 48 hydrophonesdhull mounted and towedd
was tested on a US destroyer. This installation was the most advanced passive sonar
system produced during World War I [3].
In 1911 in Kiel, Germany, Karl Heinrich Hecht (1880e1961) developed a hydro-
dynamic siren source for producing underwater sound. Also, he developed an elec-
tromagnetic membrane transmitter, which during World War I was built into several
hundred surface ships and submarines.
The German scientist Alexander Behm (1880e1953) successfully tested the first
echosounder on the seafloor of the Fjord of Kiel in February 1916. Also, the German
engineer Hugo Lichte (1891e1963) performed extensive underwater acoustic
studies in which he correctly deduced the effects of temperature, salinity, and pres-
sure on the speed of sound. He predicted in 1919 that upward refraction produced by
pressure in deep water should produce extraordinarily long sound listening ranges.
This fact was verified many years later.
1.2.3 THE YEARS 1919 THROUGH 1939

During 1918e1940, three uses of underwater acoustics based on wartime experi-
ences were slowly developed extensively. They were echo sounding, sound ranging
in the ocean, and seismic prospecting. A significant practical impetus was received
from advances in electronics, which made available new methods and devices for
amplification, processing, and displaying received underwater signals. M. Marti in
1919 patented a recorder to be used for echo sounding. This recorder, which turned
out to be of extreme importance to ocean studies using sound, consisted of a sheet of
paper constrained to move slowly beneath a writing pen which traversed the paper
from one side to the other perpendicular to the motion of the paper. The pen was
driven laterally to the paper motion by an electric signal, whose amplitude was pro-
portional to the output from the underwater sound receiver. By viewing the succes-
sive echoes side by side as a function of time, a profile of the seabed could be
produced. In 1922 the first long echosounding depth profiles were made while
exploring a cable route between France and Algeria.
The need for improved and more robust high-power underwater sound sources
instead of the Langevin-type transducers based on quartz or Rochelle salt crystals,
led G.W. Pierce in the USA, in 1925, to develop a magnetostrictive oscillator
operating at 25 kHz with an emitted sound power of few kilowatts, without
the risk of fracturing the oscillating element, frequently found in crystal-based

transducers.
During the same period, the US Coast and Geodetic Survey in their attempt to
establish geodetic control by horizontal sound ranging was experiencing a strong
variability in sound intensity and speed in the sea. Also the Naval Research Labora-
tory, established in 1923 on a suggestion from Edison, when seeking to improve sub-
marine hunting, working at 20e30 kHz, found the same variability. Some of this
variability appeared to show a diurnal cycle, where the equipment in the morning
was working according to the specifications while in the afternoon, it did not pro-
duce any echoes from submarines, except at very short ranges. The same “afternoon
effect” was found in several regions of the ocean. Dr. Harvey Hayes and scientists
from the newly established oceanographic institution at Woods Hole, including
the institutions head, Columbus Iselin, decided to study these phenomena in more
depth.
It soon became clear that the upper parts of the ocean were heated during the
day by the sun, thus leaving a layer 4.5e9 m thick with a temperature 1e2 C
warmer than the more uniform water layer beneath and with a gradual decrease
in temperature with distance from the surface of the sea. Since the appearance
of the temperature layer coincided with the signal reception deterioration the sci-
entists concluded that the warm layer caused sound entering the water to bend
downward toward the low temperature region thus producing an acoustic shadow
zone in which a submarine could hide. This discovery in 1937, which explained the
“afternoon effect,” achieved through cooperation between acousticians and ocean-
ographers, L. Batchelder of the US Submarine Signal Company and Columbus Ise-
lin, led to the start of a new field of research called acoustical oceanography. The
same year Athelstan Spilhaus from MIT invented and build the first bathythermo-
graph, a small torpedo-shaped device that held a temperature sensor and an
element to detect changes in static water pressure. By the beginning of World
War II, all US naval vessels engaged in antisubmarine work were equipped with
the Spilhaus device.
The SONAR developments in the years before World War II were based on
exploiting the crystals quartz, Rochelle salt, and tourmaline, along with magneto-
strictive Ni-Fe alloys. Single hydrophones, as well as linear and planar arrays,
were developed and tested and found their way into the major navies. To provide
water tight protection of the charge-forming elements such as quartz and in partic-
ular Rochelle salt, which could be dissolved in water, a rubber material with nearly
the same acoustical impedance as water, “rho-c” rubber, was developed around
1930. A Rochelle salt-based hydrophone was developed in Germany in 1935 for
use onboard warships. For example, the German battle cruiser, Prinz Eugen, during
World War II was equipped with hydrophones based on Rochelle salt covering the
frequency range from 500 Hz to 10 kHz. The hydrophones were mounted on each
side of the ship in groups with six hydrophones in each group. Several groups
worked together and formed the so-called Gruppen Horch Gerät (GHG), or group
listening apparatus.
1.5 Features of Oceanography 23
FIGURE 1.7
Normalized Munk profile for four values of the parameter R.
thermocline. Beneath the main thermocline, the axis of the deep sound channel is
located at a depth that may be anywhere between 500 and 1500 m, depending on
various factors including latitude. The region below the deep sound channel is the
deep isothermal layer, where the temperature is essentially independent of depth
and the sound speed increases linearly with increasing hydrostatic pressure.
The deep sound channel remains unaffected by surface conditions, particularly
solar heating and wind-induced mixing. Immediately beneath the surface, however,
down to depths of several hundred meters, the sound speed profile is sensitive to sur-
face inputs, showing diurnal and seasonal variations. In the North Atlantic during
winter, for example, the effect of strong winds is to create a well-mixed surface layer
of isothermal water. The sound speed in this layer increases linearly with depth, thus
forming a surface duct, which acts as an acoustic waveguide (Fig. 1.8A). In the sum-
mer months, on the other hand, the effect of solar heating is to create a surface layer
of relatively warm water, sometimes known as the secondary or seasonal thermocline
(Fig. 1.8B). This is a downward refracting layer that does not support long-range
acoustic transmission but instead gives rise to a deep acoustic shadow zone.
Occasionally, surface conditions are such as to create a sound speed profile with two
minima (Fig. 1.9). This might occur, for example, after the passage of a storm, when
solar heating creates a seasonal thermocline above a well-mixed, deep isothermal layer.
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maintained up to the almost incredible distance of 4000 miles by day,
and 6735 miles by night. The Marconi system has had many
formidable rivals, but it still holds the proud position of the most
successful commercial wireless system in the world.
We have not space to give a description of the other commercial
systems, but a few words on some of the chief points in which they
differ from the Marconi system may be of interest. We have seen that
an ordinary spark gap, formed by two metal balls a short distance
apart, becomes overheated by the rapid succession of discharges,
with the result that the sparking is irregular. What actually happens is
that the violent discharge tears off and vaporizes minute particles of
the metal. This intensely heated vapour forms a conducting path
which the current is able to cross, so that an arc is produced just in
the same way as in the arc lamp. This arc is liable to be formed by
each discharge, and it lasts long enough to prevent the sparks from
following one another promptly. In the Marconi system this trouble is
avoided by means of a rotating spark gap, but in the German
“Telefunken” system, so named from Greek tele, far off, and German
Funke, a spark, a fixed compound spark gap is used for the same
purpose. This consists of a row of metal discs about 1/100 inch
apart, and the spark leaps these tiny gaps one after the other. The
discs are about 3 inches in diameter, and their effect is to conduct
away quickly the heat of the discharge. By this means the formation
of an arc is prevented, and the effect of each discharge is over
immediately, the sparks being said to be “quenched.” The short
discharges enable more energy to be radiated from the aerial into
the ether, and very high rates of sparking are obtained, producing a
high-pitched musical note.
The “Lepel” system also uses a quenched spark. The gap
consists of two metal discs clamped together and separated only by
a sheet of paper. The paper has a hole through its centre, and
through this hole the discharge takes place, the discs being kept cool
by water in constant circulation. The discharge is much less noisy
than in the Marconi and Telefunken systems, and the musical note
produced is so sensitive that by varying the adjustments simple
tunes can be played, and these can be heard quite distinctly in the
telephone at the receiving stations.
In the three systems already mentioned spark discharges are
used to set up oscillatory currents in the aerial, which in turn set up
waves in the ether. Each discharge sets in motion a certain number
of waves, forming what is known as a train of waves. The discharges
follow one another very rapidly, but still there is a minute interval
between them, and consequently there is a corresponding interval
between the wave-trains. In the “Goldschmidt” system the waves are
not sent out in groups of this kind, but in one long continuous stream.
The oscillatory currents which produce ether waves are really
alternating currents which flow backwards and forwards at an
enormous speed. The alternating current produced at an ordinary
power station is of no use for wireless purposes, because its
“frequency,” or rate of flow backwards and forwards, is far too low. It
has been found possible however to construct special dynamos
capable of producing alternating current of the necessary high
frequency, and such dynamos are used in the Goldschmidt system.
The dynamos are connected directly to the aerial, so that the
oscillatory currents in the latter are continuous, and the ether waves
produced are continuous also.
The “Poulsen” system produces continuous waves in an
altogether different manner, by means of the electric arc. The arc is
formed between a fixed copper electrode and a carbon electrode
kept in constant rotation, and it is enclosed in a kind of box filled with
methylated spirit vapour, hydrogen, or coal gas. A powerful electro-
magnet is placed close to the arc, so that the latter is surrounded by
a strong magnetic field. Connected with the terminals of the arc is a
circuit consisting of a condenser and a coil of wire, and the arc sets
up in this circuit oscillatory currents which are communicated to the
aerial. These currents are continuous, and so also are the resulting
waves.
The method of signalling employed in these two continuous-
wave systems is quite different from that used in the Marconi and
other spark systems. It is practically impossible to signal by starting
and stopping the alternating-current dynamos or the arc at long or
short intervals to represent dashes or dots. In one case the sudden
changes from full load to zero would cause the dynamo to vary its
speed, and consequently the wave-length would be irregular;
besides which the dynamo would be injured by the sudden strains. In
the other case it would be extremely difficult to persuade the arc to
start promptly each time. On this account the dynamo and the arc
are kept going continuously while a message is being transmitted,
and the signals are given by altering the wave-length. In other words,
the transmitting aerial is thrown in and out of tune alternately at the
required long or short intervals, and the receiving aerial responds
only during the “in-tune” intervals.
The various receiving detectors previously described are
arranged to work with dis-continuous waves, producing a separate
current impulse from each group or train of waves. In continuous
wave systems there are of course no separate groups, and for this
reason these detectors are of no use, and a different arrangement is
required. The oscillatory currents set up in the aerial are allowed to
charge up a condenser, and this condenser is automatically
disconnected from the aerial and connected to the operator’s
telephones at regular intervals of about 1/1000 second. Each time
the condenser is connected to the telephones it is discharged, and a
click is produced. These clicks continue only as long as the waves
are striking the aerial, and as the transmitting operator interrupts the
waves at long or short intervals the clicks are split up into groups of
corresponding length.
Continuous waves have certain advantages over dis-continuous
waves, particularly in the matter of sharp tuning, but these
advantages are outweighed to a large extent by weak points in the
transmitting apparatus. The dynamos used to produce the high-
frequency currents in the Goldschmidt system are very expensive to
construct and troublesome to keep in order; while in the Poulsen
system the arc is difficult to keep going for long periods, and it is
liable to fluctuations which greatly affect its working power. Although
all the commercial Marconi installations make use of dis-continuous
waves exclusively, Mr. Marconi is still carrying out experiments with
continuous waves.
There are many points in wireless telegraphy yet to be explained
satisfactorily. Our knowledge of the electric ether waves is still
limited, and we do not know for certain how these waves travel from
place to place, or exactly what happens to them on their journeys.
For this reason we are unable to give a satisfactory explanation of
the curious fact that, generally speaking, it is easier to signal over
long distances at night than during the day. Still more peculiar is the
fact that it is easier to signal in a north and south direction than in an
east and west direction. There are also remarkable variations in the
strength of the signals at certain times, particularly about sunset and
sunrise. Every station has a certain normal range which does not
vary much as a rule, but at odd times astonishing “freak” distances
are covered, stations having for a short time ranges far beyond their
usual limits. These and other problems are being attacked by many
investigators, and no doubt before very long they will be solved.
Wireless telegraphy already has reached remarkable perfection, but
it is still a young science, and we may confidently expect
developments which will enable us to send messages with all speed
across vast gulfs of distance at present unconquered.
Wireless telephony, like wireless telegraphy, makes use of
electric waves set up in, and transmitted through the ether. The
apparatus is practically the same in each case, except in one or two
important points. In wireless telegraphy either continuous or dis-
continuous waves may be used, and in the latter case the spark-
frequency may be as low as twenty-five per second. On the other
hand, wireless telephony requires waves which are either
continuous, or if dis-continuous, produced by a spark-frequency of
not less than 20,000 per second. In other words, the frequency of the
wave trains must be well above the limits of audibility. Although dis-
continuous waves of a frequency of from 20,000 to 40,000 or more
per second can be used, it has been found more convenient to use
absolutely continuous waves for wireless telephony, and these may
be produced by the Marconi disc generator, by the Goldschmidt
alternator, or by the Poulsen arc, the last named being largely
employed.
In wireless telegraphy the wave trains are split up by a
transmitting key so as to form groups of signals; but in telephony the
waves are not interrupted at all, but are simply varied in intensity by
means of the voice. All telephony, wireless or otherwise, depends
upon the production of variations in the strength of a current of
electricity, these variations being produced by air vibrations set up in
speaking. In ordinary telephony with connecting wires the current
variations are produced by means of a microphone in the transmitter,
and in wireless telephony the same principle is adopted. Here comes
in the outstanding difficulty in wireless transmission of speech. The
currents used in ordinary telephony are small, and the microphone
works with them quite satisfactorily; but in wireless telephony very
heavy currents have to be employed, and so far no microphone has
proved capable of dealing effectively with these currents. Countless
devices to assist the microphone have been tried. It was found that
one of the causes of trouble was the overheating of the carbon
granules, which caused them to stick together, so becoming
insensitive. To remedy this the granules have been cooled in various
ways, by water, gas, or oil, but although the results have been
improved, still the microphones worked far from perfectly. Improved
results have been obtained also by connecting a number of
microphones in parallel. The microphone difficulty is holding back the
development of wireless telephony, and at present no satisfactory
solution of the problem is in sight.
The transmitting and receiving aerials are the same as in
wireless telegraphy, and like them are tuned to the same frequency.
The receiving apparatus too is of the ordinary wireless type, with
telephones and electrolytic or other detectors.
Wireless telephony has been used with considerable success in
various German collieries, and at the Dinnington Main Colliery,
Yorkshire. Early last year Marconi succeeded in establishing
communication by wireless telephony between Bournemouth and
Chelmsford, which are about 100 miles apart; and about the same
time a song sung at Laeken, in Belgium, was heard clearly at the
Eiffel Tower, Paris, a distance of 225 miles. The German Telefunken
Company have communicated by wireless telephony between Berlin
and Vienna, 375 miles, and speech has been transmitted from Rome
to Tripoli, a total distance of more than 600 miles. These distances
are of course comparatively small, but if the microphone trouble can
be overcome satisfactorily, transatlantic wireless telephony appears
to be quite possible.
CHAPTER XXI
WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY—PRACTICAL
APPLICATIONS
A fairly good idea of the principles and apparatus of wireless

telegraphy should have been gained in reading Chapter XX., but so
far little has been said about its practical use. If we leave their power
out of consideration, wireless stations may be divided into two
classes: fixed stations on land, and moving stations, if the
expression may be allowed, on ships. For moving stations wireless
telegraphy has the field all to itself, but for communication between
fixed stations it comes into conflict with ordinary telegraphy by wire
or cable. As regards land messages over comparatively short
distances, say throughout Great Britain, wireless telegraphy has no
advantages over the older methods; and it is extremely unlikely that
it ever will be substituted for the existing cable telegraphy. For long
distances overland wireless has the great advantage of having all its
apparatus concentrated at two points. A long land line passing
through wild country, and exposed to all kinds of weather, requires
constant labour to keep it in good repair, and when a breakdown
occurs at any point, the repairing gang may be miles away, so that
delay is caused. On the other hand, whatever may go wrong at a
wireless station, no time is lost in effecting the necessary repairs, for
everything is on the spot.
At present there is no great competition between wireless and
ordinary telegraphy for overland messages of any kind, but the case
is different when we come to communication across seas and
oceans. Already the cable companies have been affected
considerably, and there is little doubt that they will feel the
competition much more seriously before long. The general public,
always conservative in such matters, have not yet grasped the fact
that telegrams can be handed in at any telegraph office in the British
Isles, and at most telegraph offices in the United States and Canada,
for wireless transmission across the Atlantic, via the Marconi stations
at Clifden and Glace Bay. The cost is remarkably small, being
eightpence a word for ordinary messages.
It is impossible to state with any accuracy how many land
wireless stations there are in the world, but the list given in the Year-
Book of Wireless Telegraphy for 1915 enumerates about 700
stations. This list does not include private or experimental stations,
and also many stations used exclusively for naval or military
purposes are not given. The information available about these 700
stations is incomplete in many cases, but about 500 are controlled
by various departments of the governments of the different states. Of
the remainder, about 100 are controlled by the Marconi Company,
the rest being in the hands of various wireless, commercial, or
railway companies.
Amongst the most important land stations are the Clifden and
Glace Bay transatlantic stations. They are very similar in plan, and
each has a separate aerial for sending and for receiving. Contrary to
the usual practice, continuous current is used to charge the
condensers. In Chapter IV. we saw how a current of high voltage
could be obtained by connecting a number of cells in series, and at
these stations the necessary high voltage is produced by connecting
a number of powerful dynamos in series, on the same principle.
Along with the dynamos a huge battery of accumulators, consisting
of about 6000 cells, is used as a sort of reservoir of current. These
stations have a normal range of considerably over 3000 miles. Last
year a large transmitting station was completed at Cefndu, near
Carnarvon. This station, which is probably the most powerful in
existence, is intended to communicate directly with New Jersey,
United States, as an alternative to the Clifden-Glace Bay route.
Other powerful stations are Poldhu, in Cornwall, of which we
shall speak later; the French Eiffel Tower station; the German station
at Nauen, near Berlin, which last year succeeded in exchanging
messages with Windhoek, German South-West Africa, a distance of
nearly 6000 miles; and the extremely powerful station at Coltano,
Italy. France has three stations in West Africa with a night range of
1600 miles; and Italy one in Somaliland with a normal range of about
the same distance. The recently opened Chinese stations at Canton,
Foochow, and Woosung have a range of 1300 miles by night, and
650 miles by day. With the fall of Tsingtau, China, Germany lost a
wireless station capable of signalling over 1350 miles at night. Japan
has six stations with a night range of over 1000 miles. Massawa, on
the Red Sea, has a range of 1600 miles, and New Zealand has two
stations with ranges of 1200 miles by day, and 2500 miles by night.
Australia has a large number of stations with a normal range of
about 500 miles. In the United States, which has a very large
number of stations, Arlington, Virginia, covers 1000 miles, and
Sayville from 600 to 2300 miles. South America has not many high-
power stations, but Cerrito, in Uruguay, has a range of about 1000
miles.
Until a thoroughly practical system of long-distance wireless
telephony is developed, wireless telegraphy will remain the only
possible means of communication between ships and shore, or
between one ship and another, except where the distance is so small
that some method of semaphore signalling can be used. In the days
when wireless was unknown, a navigator was thrown entirely upon
his own resources as soon as his vessel was out of sight of land, for
no information of any kind could reach him. Even with a wireless
installation on board, the captain of a vessel still needs the same skill
and watchfulness as of old, but in the times of uncertainty and
danger to which all ships are liable, he often is able to obtain
information which may prevent disaster. In order to determine
accurately his position, a navigator requires to know the exact
Greenwich Mean Time, and he gets this time from his chronometers.
These are wonderfully reliable instruments, but even they may err at
times. To avoid the possibility of mistakes from this cause, wireless
time signals are sent out at regular intervals by certain high-power
stations, and as long as a vessel is within range of one of these
stations the slightest variation in the chronometers may be detected
immediately. Amongst these stations are the Eiffel Tower, giving time
signals at 10 a.m. and at midnight; and Norddeich, Germany, giving
signals at noon and midnight. These time signals have proved most
useful also on land, more particularly for astronomers and for
explorers engaged on surveying work.
In addition to time signals, other valuable information is
conveyed by wireless to ships at sea. A ship encountering ice, or a
derelict, reports its discovery to other ships and to the shore stations,
and in this way vessels coming along the same route are warned of
the danger in time to take the necessary precautions. Weather
reports are issued regularly from various shore stations in most parts
of the world. The completeness of the information given varies a
good deal with different stations, but in many cases it includes a
report of the existing state of the weather at a number of different
places, a forecast of the winds likely to be encountered at sea, say at
a distance of 100 miles from land, and warnings of approaching
storms, with remarks on any special atmospheric conditions at the
time of sending. In Europe weather reports are issued daily from the
Admiralty station at Cleethorpes, the Eiffel Tower, and Norddeich;
and in the United States more than a dozen powerful stations are
engaged in this work.
Another valuable use of wireless is in carrying on the work of
lighthouses and lightships during snowstorms or dense fogs, which
the light cannot penetrate. So far not much has been done in this
direction, but the French Government have decided to establish
wireless lighthouses on the islands outside the port of Brest, and
also at Havre. Automatic transmitting apparatus will be used,
sending out signals every few seconds, and working for periods of
about thirty hours without attention.
The improvement in the conditions of ocean travel wrought by
wireless telegraphy is very remarkable. The days when a vessel, on
passing out of sight of land, entered upon a period of utter isolation,
is gone for ever. Unless it strays far from all recognized trade routes,
a ship fitted with a wireless installation is never isolated; and with the
rapidly increasing number of high-power stations both on land and
sea, it soon will be almost impossible for a vessel to find a stretch of
ocean beyond the reach of wave-borne messages. The North
Atlantic Ocean is specially remarkable for perfection of wireless
communication. For the first 250 miles or so after leaving British
shores, liners are within reach of various coast stations, and beyond
this Poldhu takes up the work and maintains communication up to
about mid-Atlantic. On passing beyond the reach of Poldhu, liners
come within range of other Marconi stations at Cape Cod,
Massachusetts, and Cape Race, Newfoundland, so that absolutely
uninterrupted communication is maintained throughout the voyage.
On many liners a small newspaper is published daily, in which are
given brief accounts of the most striking events of the previous day,
together with Stock Exchange quotations and market prices. This
press news is sent out during the night from Poldhu and Cape Cod.
During the whole voyage messages may be transmitted from ship to
shore, or from shore to ship, with no more difficulty, as far as the
public are concerned, than in sending an ordinary inland telegram.
The transmitting ranges of ship installations vary greatly, the
range of the average ocean liner being about 250 miles. Small ships
come as low as 50 miles, while a few exceptional vessels have night
ranges up to 1200 or even 2500 miles. Although an outward-bound
vessel is almost always within range of some high-power shore
station, it is evident that it soon must reach a point beyond which it is
unable to communicate directly with the shore. This difficulty is
overcome by a system of relaying from ship to ship. The vessel
wishing to speak with the shore hands on its message to some other
vessel nearer to land or with a longer range, and this ship sends
forward the message to a shore station if one is within its reach, and
if not to a third vessel, which completes the transmission.
The necessity for wireless installations on all sea-going vessels
has been brought home to us in startling fashion on several
occasions during the last few years. Time after time we have read
thrilling accounts of ocean disasters in which wireless has come to
the rescue in the most wonderful way. A magnificent liner, with its
precious human freight, steams majestically out of harbour, and
ploughs its way out into the waste of waters. In mid-ocean comes
disaster, swift and awful, and the lives of all on board are in deadly
peril. Agonized eyes sweep the horizon, but no sail is in sight, and
succour seems hopeless. But on the deck of that vessel is a small,
unpretentious cabin, and at a desk in that cabin sits a young fellow
with strange-looking instruments before him. At the first tidings of
disaster he presses a key, and out across the waters speed electric
waves bearing the wireless cry for help, “S.O.S.,” incessantly
repeated. Far away, on another liner, is a similar small cabin, and its
occupant is busy with messages of everyday matters. Suddenly, in
the midst of his work, comes the call from the stricken vessel, and
instantly all else is forgotten. No matter what the message in hand, it
must wait, for lives are in danger. Quickly the call is answered, the
position of the doomed ship received, and the captain is informed. A
few orders are hurriedly given, the ship’s course is changed, and
away she steams to the rescue, urged on by the full power of her
engines. In an hour or two she arrives alongside, boats are lowered,
and passengers and crew are snatched from death and placed in
safety. This scene, with variations, has been enacted many times,
and never yet has wireless failed to play its part. It is only too true
that in some instances many lives have been lost, but in these cases
it is necessary to remember that without wireless every soul on
board might have gone down. The total number of lives already
saved by wireless is estimated at about 5000, and of these some
3000 have been saved in the Atlantic.
Ship aerials are carried from one mast to another, as high up as
possible. The transmitting and receiving apparatus is much the same
as in land stations, so that it need not be described. In addition, most
liners carry a large induction coil and a suitable battery, so that
distress signals can be transmitted even when the ordinary
apparatus is rendered useless by the failure of the current supply.
Most of the wireless systems are represented amongst ship
installations, but the great majority of vessels have either Marconi or
Telefunken apparatus.
Every wireless station, whether on ship or on shore, has a
separate call-signal, consisting of three letters. For instance, Clifden
is MFT, Poldhu MPD, Norddeich KAV, s.s. Lusitania MFA, and
H.M.S. Dreadnought BAU. Glace Bay, GB, and the Eiffel Tower, FL,
have two letters only. In order to avoid confusion, different countries
have different combinations of letters assigned to them exclusively,
and these are allotted to the various ship and shore stations. For
example, Great Britain has all combinations beginning with B, G, and
M; France all combinations beginning with F, and also the
combinations UAA to UMZ; while the United States is entitled to use
all combinations beginning with N and W, and the combinations KIA
to KZZ. There are also special signals to indicate nationality, for use
by ships, British being indicated by - - — -, Japanese by — - — -,
and so on.
Wireless telegraphy apparently has a useful future in railway
work. In spite of the great perfection of present-day railway
signalling, no railway company is able to avoid occasional accidents.
Some of these accidents are due to circumstances which no
precautions can guard against entirely, such, for instance, as the
sudden breakage of some portion of the mechanism of the train
itself. In many cases, however, the accident is caused by some
oversight on the part of the signalman or the engine-driver. Probably
the great majority of such accidents are not due to real carelessness
or inattention to duty, but to unaccountable freaks of the brain,
through which some little detail, never before forgotten, is overlooked
completely until too late. We all are liable to these curious mental
lapses, but happily in most cases these do not lead to disaster of any
kind. The ever-present possibility of accidents brought about in this
way is recognized fully by railway authorities, and every effort is
made to devise mechanism which will safeguard a train in case of
failure of the human element. The great weakness of the ordinary
railway system is that there is no reliable means of communicating
with the driver of a train except by the fixed signals, so that when a
train has passed one set of signals it is generally beyond the reach
of a message until it arrives at the next set. On the enterprising
Lackawanna Railroad, in the United States, an attempt has been
made to remove this defect by means of wireless telegraphy, and the
experiment has been remarkably successful. Wireless
communication between moving passenger trains and certain
stations along the route has been established, and the system is
being rapidly developed.
The wireless equipment of the stations is of the usual type, and
does not call for comment, but the apparatus on the trains is worth
mention. The aerial, which must be low on account of bridges and
tunnels, consists of rectangles of wire fixed at a height of 18 inches
above the roof of each car. These separate aerials are connected
together by a wire running to a small operating room containing a set
of Marconi apparatus, and situated at the end of one of the cars. The
earth connexion is made to the track rails, and the current is taken
from the dynamos used to supply the train with electric light. With
this equipment messages have been transmitted and received while
the train was running at the rate of 70 miles an hour, and distances
up to 125 miles have been covered. During a severe storm in the
early part of last year the telegraph and telephone lines along the
railroad broke down, but uninterrupted communication was
maintained by wireless, and the operations of the relief gangs and
the snow-ploughs were directed by this means. For emergency
signalling this system is likely to prove of enormous importance. If
signals are set wrongly, through some misunderstanding, and a train
which should have been held up is passed forward into danger, it
can be stopped by a wireless message in time to prevent an
accident. Again, if a train has a breakdown, or if it sticks fast in a
snow-drift, its plight and its exact position can be signalled to the
nearest station, so that help may be sent without delay. The
possibilities of the system in fact are almost unlimited, and it seems
not unlikely that wireless telegraphy will revolutionize the long-
distance railway travelling of the future.
CHAPTER XXII
ELECTROPLATING AND ELECTROTYPING
In our chapter on the accumulator or storage cell we saw that a

current of electricity has the power of decomposing certain liquids;
that is to say, it is able to split them up into their component parts.
This power has given rise to the important art of electroplating and
electrotyping. Electroplating is the process of depositing a coating of
a rarer metal, such as gold, silver, or nickel, upon the surface of
baser or commoner metals; and electrotyping is the copying of casts,
medals, types, and other similar objects. The fact that metals could
be deposited by the decomposition of a solution by a current was
known in the early days of the voltaic cell, but no one seems to have
paid much attention to it. An Italian chemist published in 1805 an
account of his success in coating two silver medals with gold, and
some thirty years later Bessemer transformed lead castings into
fairly presentable ornaments by coating them with copper, but
commercial electroplating may be said to have begun about 1840,
when an Englishman named Elkington took out a patent for the
process. Since then the processes of electroplating and electrotyping
have rapidly come more and more into use, until to-day they are
practised on a vast scale, giving employment to thousands.
Electroplating on a small scale is a very simple affair. A solution
of the metal which it is desired to deposit is placed in a suitable
vessel. Two metal rods are placed across the top of this vessel, and
from one of these is suspended a plate of the same metal as that in
the solution, and from the other is hung the article to receive the
coating. The positive terminal of a voltaic battery is connected to the
rod supporting the plate, and the negative terminal to the rod
carrying the article to be plated. As the current passes through the
solution from the plate to the article the solution is decomposed, and
the article receives a coating of metal. The solution through which
the current passes, and which is decomposed, is called the
electrolyte, and the terminal points at which the current enters and
leaves the solution are called electrodes. The electrode by which the
current enters the electrolyte is called the anode, and the one by
which it leaves is called the cathode.
If we wish to deposit a coating of copper on, say, an old spoon
which has been dismissed from household service, a solution of
sulphate of copper must be made up and placed in a glass or
stoneware jar. Two little rods of brass, copper, or any other good
conductor are placed across the jar, one at each side, and by means
of hooks of wire a plate of copper is hung from one rod and the
spoon from the other. The positive terminal of a battery of Daniell
cells is then connected to the anode rod which supports the copper
plate, and the negative terminal to the cathode rod carrying the
spoon. The current now commences its task of splitting up the
copper-sulphate solution into pure copper and sulphuric acid, and
depositing this copper upon the spoon. The latter is very quickly
covered with a sort of “blush” copper, and the coating grows thicker
and thicker as long as the current is kept at work. If there were no
copper plate forming the anode the process would soon come to a
standstill, on account of the copper in the electrolyte becoming used
up; but as it is the sulphuric acid separated out of the electrolyte
takes copper from the plate and combines with it to form a further
supply of copper sulphate. In this way the strength of the solution is
kept up, and the copper anode becomes smaller and smaller as the
coating on the spoon increases in thickness. It is not necessary that
the anode should consist of absolutely pure copper, because any
impurities will be precipitated to the bottom or mixed with the
solution, nothing but quite pure copper being deposited on the
spoon. At the same time if the copper anode is very impure the
electrolyte quickly becomes foul, and has to be purified or replaced
by new solution.
By permission of] [W. Canning & Co.
Fig. 35.—Small Electroplating Outfit.
To nickel-plate the spoon we should require a nickel plate for the

anode and a nickel solution; to silver-plate it, a silver anode and
solution, and so on. Fig. 35 shows at simple but effective
arrangement for amateur electroplating in a small way.
Electroplating on a commercial scale is of course a much more
elaborate process, but the principle remains exactly the same. Fig.
36 shows the general arrangement of a plating shop. It is obviously
extremely important that the deposit on a plated article should be
durable, and to ensure that the coating will adhere firmly the article
must be cleaned thoroughly before being plated. Cleanliness in the
ordinary domestic sense is not sufficient, for the article must be
chemically clean. Some idea of the care required in this respect may
be gained from the fact that if the cleaned surface is touched with the
hand before being plated, the coating will strip off the parts that have
been touched. The surfaces are first cleaned mechanically, and then
chemically by immersion in solutions of acids or alkalies, the
cleaning process varying to some extent with different metals. There
is also a very interesting process of cleaning by electricity. The
article is placed in a vat fitted with anode and cathode rods, just as in
an ordinary plating vat, and containing a solution of hydrate of
potash and cyanide of potassium. The anode consists of a carbon
plate, and the article is hung from the cathode rod. Sufficient current
is passed through the solution to cause gas to be given off rapidly at
the cathode, and as this gas rises to the surface it carries with it the
grease and dirt from the article, in the form of a dirty scum. After a
short time the article becomes oxidized and discoloured, and the
current is then reversed, so that the article becomes the anode, and
the carbon plate the cathode. The current now removes the oxide
from the surface of the article, which is left quite bright and
chemically clean.
By Permission of] [W. Canning & Co.
Fig. 36.—General Arrangement of an Electroplating Shop.
When thoroughly cleaned the articles are ready to be placed in

the plating vats. These vats are usually made of wood lined with
chemically pure lead, or of iron lined with enamel or cement. Anode
and cathode rods made of brass are placed across the vats, and
from these the anodes of the various metals and the articles to be
plated are hung by hooks of nickel or brass. Any number of rods may
be used, according to the size of the vat, so long as the articles have
an anode on each side. If three rods are used the articles are hung
from the centre one, and the anodes from the outside ones. If a
number of small articles are to be plated together they are often
suspended in perforated metal trays. Small articles are also plated
by placing them in a perforated barrel of wood, or wood and
celluloid, which revolves in the solution. While the articles are being
plated the revolving of the barrel makes them rub one against the
other, so that they are brightly burnished. Dog chains, cycle chain
links, button-hooks, and harness fittings are amongst the articles
plated by means of the revolving barrel.
The strength of current required for different kinds of plating
varies considerably, and if the work is to be of the best quality it is
very important that the current should be exactly right for the
particular process in hand. In order to adjust it accurately variable
resistances of German silver wire are provided for each vat, the
current having to pass through the resistance before reaching the
solution. The volume and the pressure of the current are measured
by amperemeters and voltmeters attached to the resistance boards.
If the intensity of the current is too great the articles are liable to be
“burnt,” when the deposit is dark coloured and often useless.
When exceptionally irregular surfaces have to be plated it is
sometimes necessary to employ an anode of special shape, in order
to keep as uniform a distance as possible between the electrodes. If
this is not done, those parts of the surface nearest the anode get
more than their share of the current, and so they receive a thicker
deposit than the parts farther away.
An interesting process is that known as “parcel-plating,” by which
decorative coatings of different coloured metals can be deposited on
one article. For instance, if it is desired to have gold flowers on a
silver brooch, the parts which are not to be gilded are painted over
with a non-conducting varnish. When this varnish is quite dry the
brooch is placed in the gilding vat and the current sent through in the
usual way. The gold is then deposited only on the parts unprotected
by varnish, and after the gilding the varnish is easily removed by
softening it in turpentine and brushing with a bristle brush. More
elaborate combinations of different coloured metals can be made in
the same way.
Sugar basins, cream jugs, ornamental bowls, cigarette cases,
and other articles are often gilded only on the inside. The article is
filled with gold solution and connected to the cathode rod. A piece of
gold wrapped in calico is attached to the anode rod, suspended in
the solution inside the article, and moved about quickly until the
deposit is of the required thickness.
The time occupied in plating is greatly shortened by stirring or
agitating the solutions. This sets up a good circulation of the liquid,
and a continual supply of fresh solution is brought to the cathode. At
the same time the resistance to the current is decreased, and more
current may be used without fear of burning. Fig. 37 shows an
arrangement for this purpose. The solution is agitated by
compressed air, and at the same time the cathode rods are moved
backwards and forwards. Plating solutions are also frequently heated
in order to hasten the rate of deposition.
When the plating process is complete, the articles are removed
from the vat, thoroughly swilled in water, and dried. They are then
ready for finishing by polishing and burnishing, or they may be given
a sort of frosted surface. During the finishing processes the
appearance of the articles changes considerably, the rather dead-
looking surface produced by the plating giving place to the bright
lustre of the particular metal.

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Publisher: John Fedor

Professor Walter G. Mayer

1.2 A BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THE HISTORY OF UNDERWATER

1.2.1 UNDERWATER ACOUSTICS BEFORE 1912

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the risk of fracturing the oscillating element, frequently found in crystal-based

A fairly good idea of the principles and apparatus of wireless

In our chapter on the accumulator or storage cell we saw that a

Fig. 35.—Small Electroplating Outfit.

To nickel-plate the spoon we should require a nickel plate for the

By Permission of] [W. Canning & Co.

Fig. 36.—General Arrangement of an Electroplating Shop.

When thoroughly cleaned the articles are ready to be placed in

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