Fred Freeman’s (1906-88) captivating illustrations filled the pages of many of the 20^th century’s most important publications, including The Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s, Life, Esquire, Le Monde, and Der Spiegel, among many others. A participant in NASA’s Artist’s Cooperation Program, Freeman is often recognized for his realistic and speculative depictions of space travel. However, Freedman is just as often heralded for his prowess in marine art, particularly his illustrations in Theodore Roscoe’s United States Submarine Operations in World War II (1949) and United States Destroyer Operations in World War II (1953), both publishedꦆ by the U.S♎. Naval Institute.

Freeman’s illustration of SEALAB I appeared in “Room at the Bottom of the Sea,” the cover story for the September 5, 1964 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. The subtitle that acc𒊎ompanied the image r🅠ead as follows:

“Sketch of Sealab shows support divers entering decompression chamber (left) for ride to surface. Two aquanauts work outside on hookah rigs, while a third with scuba gear enters capsule. 'Umbilical cord' and trolley line rise at right.”

At a time when the U.S. Space Program and its astronauts were fixtures in the news and in the American cultural imagination, the “aquanauts” of the SEALAB program were ex🎃ploring the analogous mysteries of the ocean, although in relative obscurity compared to their outer space counterparts. Directed by the U.S. Navy’s Medical Research Laboratory, SEALAB I was developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s to determine the physical and mental effects of living and working nearly 200 feet below the surface of the ocean. In addition, another of the project’s primary goals was to explore more feasible ways of extracting mineral richesꦆ from the ocean floor.

Lowered into the sea off the coast of Bermuda on July 20, 1964, the project was led by Captain George Bond, chief of the Medical Research Laboratory and affectionately known to the crew as “Papa Topside.” Under his supervision, SEALAB I revolutionized the practice of “saturation diving,” in which the body is saturated with inert gas to allow divers to work at depths of 1,000 feet or more below the s🐭urface. Although SEALAB I and its successor SEALAB II (1965) were by alꦯl accounts successful missions, constant problems – including the tragic death of aquanaut Berry Cannon – led to the demise of SEALAB III in early 1969, just a few months before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin touched down on the surface of the Moon. 

REFERENCES:

Atwater, James, and Roger Vaughan. “Room at the Bottom of the Sea.” The Saturday Evening Post, vol. 237, no. 30, 5 Sept. 1964, pp. 18–25.