bathyscaphe

American  

[bath-uh-skeyf, -skaf] / ˈbæθ əˌskeɪf, -ˌskæf /

Also bathyscaph

noun

Oceanography.

1. a navigable, submersible vessel for exploring the depths of the ocean, having a separate, overhead chamber filled with gasoline for buoyancy and iron or steel weights for ballast.

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bathyscaphe Scientific  

/ băth′ĭ-skăf′,-skāf′ /

1. A free-diving vessel used to explore the ocean at great depths. The original bathyscaphe, constructed in 1948, was made of a cylindrical metal float and a suspended steel ball that could hold two people. The float contained gasoline used to lift the vessel, and heavy iron material used for ballast. Design improvements allowed the second bathyscaphe in 1960 to descend to a record 10,912 m (35,791 ft) in the Marianas Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, almost to the deepest level ever sounded on Earth.

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Etymology

Origin of bathyscaphe

1947; < French, equivalent to bathy- bathy- + Greek skáphos ship; coined by Auguste Piccard

Example Sentences

Navy, the whale-size Bathyscaphe Trieste makes Seiger look the size of a fish-tank figurine.

From Washington Post • Oct. 22, 2018

The manned Bathyscaphe Trieste touched down in 1960 and several remotely operated vehicles have been there since.

From Scientific American • Apr. 15, 2013