Ocean Pioneer: Allyn Vine

By Hannah Piecuch

An early sketch of a deep-sea submersible by Allyn Vine. From the beginning, safety features were a top priority, including a way to release the sphere containing people (which never was necessary). Photo courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Archives © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

In the late 1950s, when the idea of a human-occupied submersible was just an engineering sketch, WHOI’s newly-formed Deep Submergence Group started calling it “Alvin” after WHOI scientist Allyn Vine, a vocal advocate for developing a scientific submersible to study the deep sea.

Vine’s argument for human exploration of the ocean proved persuasive. At a 1956 symposium convened by the National Academy of Sciences and National Research Council, members passed a resolution to create a national program that would develop vehicles capable of transporting humans to the deep sea. Six years later, in 1964, Alvin was ready to dive.

“A good instrument can measure almost anything better than a person can if you know what you want to measure. But people are so versatile, they can sense things to be done and can investigate problems. I find it difficult to imagine what kind of instrument should have been put on the Beagle instead of Charles Darwin.”

-Al Vine

Vine worked closely with the U.S. Navy during the war years. His research included testing antifouling paints, studying the transmission of sound in the sea, developing underwater explosives, designing the first deep-sea cameras, making current and drift predictions to locate downed aviators on life rafts, and troubleshooting issues with submarines.

In peacetime, Vine threw himself into adapting war technologies for science, with a particular interest in exploring the deep sea. Vine wasn’t at his namesake’s commissioning ceremony, because he was deep beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean in the French submersible Archimede.

Al Vine at the Deep Submersible Symposium c. November 1966. (Photo courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Archives © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Allyn Vine (right) with two unidentified men in front of the deep-sea submersible Alvin in 1966. (Photo courtesy of WHOI Archives © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

During World War II, Athelstan Spilhaus, Al Vine (pictured here), and colleagues developed the bathythermograph, a device that recorded ocean temperature versus depth, to aid ship and submarine navigation. (Photo courtesy of WHOI Archives © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)