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Octavo, [23cm/9.25inches], full pictorial cloth sans dust jacket, pp. , indexed. Illustrated with b-w halftones &tc. Please feel free to inquire as to particulars and/or additional photographs. . Most seafaring men take pride in their ability to stay on top of the water, but strange as it may seem, Dr. Harris B. Stewart, Jr., an oceanographer in the Division of Tides and Currents wants to get to the bottom of things. He has probably spent more time at the bottom of the sea than most men have sailed on its turbulent surface. Although only in his thirties, Dr. Stewart, born in Auburn, N.Y., the son of a Presbyterian minister, has been successively a military transport pilot, geologist, explorer, oceanographer, and skin diver. Before coming to the Coast Survey he was associated with Geological Diving Consultants, Inc., a San Diego firm that specializes in underwater geological mapping. [Editor's note: Other members of the Diving Consultants were Dr. Henry W. Menard, Dr. Robert Dietz, and Dr. Robert Dill. This group comprised an elite group of ocean explorers.] Dr. Stewart stated offhand that he had taken part in eight or nine hundred dives. He lost track of the number after his 500th dive. Stewart's introduction to skin diving came as a struggling student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif. While attending one of his first classes in skin diving, Dr. Stewart expressed some concern over the presence of sharks in the Pacific coastal waters, but the instructor assured him that sharks only attack humans in isolated cases. Stewart still has some qualms about the subject since you can't get much more isolated than at the bottom of the ocean. Although Dr. Stewart's duties in the Tides and Currents Division have him deskbound at the present time, he hopes to get back into the water by the end of October when the Survey Ship MARMER sails from Curtis Bay, Maryland to accomplish circulatory surveys along the east coast.As part of his graduate work at Scripps, Dr. Stewart took part in several oceanographic expeditions. In 1951 he made studies of conditions in the Gulf of Alaska and in 1952-53 he was on the research vessel HORIZON in the South Pacific when the discovery of the deepest spot in the southern hemisphere was made. [Editor's note: According to Henry W. Menard in his memoir, The Ocean of Truth, Stewart was tied into a chair for 18 hours during rough weather in the North Pacific Ocean while searching for and finding the western extension of the Mendocino Escarpment. This cruise proved the continuity of the great fracture zones of the Pacific Ocean and was a key discovery on the road to the Theory of Plate Tectonics.] This was 34,884 feet in the Tonga Trench east of the Tonga Islands. Unlike most people who are satisfied with the fact that water is wet, Dr. Stewart usually carries his studies a little further. He wants to know its temperature, salinity, movement, plant and animal life found therein and what is under it. In respect to this last item Stewart has spent hours riding an underwater sled through desert areas (large areas of the ocean floor that consist of rippled sand and few rocks) while collecting geological samples. He remarked that at such times with the water at a chilly 48 degrees you seemed to get the impression that you are being used as frozen bait while trolling for a sea monster. Although Dr. Stewart's aqua lung and rubber suit haven't arrived from the west coast yet, he is busy making plans in order to adapt his diving experience and techniques to the operations of the Survey. In fact, Stewart is so intent on carrying out his underwater ideas in the Survey that someone was heard to crack: "TOP MAN TO GET BOTTOM JOB AT COAST SURVEY."In: "The Buzzard," Vol. 25, No. 17, pp. 1-2. 11 October, 1957. Best Publishing, Flagstaff, AZ, 1997. Hardcover. Book Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: No Dust Jacket. No DJ as issued; Signed/inscribed by author. 220 pp. Hardback. B&W photos, author's photo. …