If that plan had been followed, that ship would have begun drilling early in 1963 and by now U.S. scientists would have many holes and thousands of feet of core representing millions of years of previously unknown oceanic history. Unfortunately, this proposal for an intermediate ship stirred up a storm of objections from those who did not understand either the geological objectives or the engineering and operational problems. They have insisted that these essential steps are but a diversion and that the mantle must be reached before the real business of oceanic exploration can begin. I would like to quote further from a letter of June 14, 1961 (less than 2 months following the first phase drilling operations) from Amsoc Chairman Gordon Lill to National Academy of Sciences President Detlev Bronk. I wish to insert an additional statement at this time, but before I do I wish to add a point of clarification as to the origin and as to who were aware of the course and objectives of the Mohole project. NSF representatives attended virtually all Amsoc meetings, and to the prime contractor, Brown & Root, were transmitted via NSF-within 3 weeks, March 19, 1962-after the announcement of the award of the contract pertinent documents from the Amsoc Committee-nearly 2 inches thick-as to Amsoc's course and objectives, so that there would be no misunderstanding as to what Amsoc's desires were. To continue with the quote that I previously started, and this quote was also contained within the documents transmitted to the prime contractor: Our immediate objectives are: (a) To sample through the second layer and determine its thickness and characteristics; and (b) To sample the characteristics of the top of the third layer. We agree that an intermediate drilling program is required and should be initiated during fiscal year 1962 to— (a) Further explore the characteristics of the second layer; (b) Determine the characteristics of the third layer; (c) Gain further experience in drilling over deep water; (d) Experiment with riser pipe techniques (buoyed casing in deep water); (e) Find ways of improving the speed of drilling in basalt, and other hard rock; (f) Experiment with a host of instruments, core bits, and barrels, and new techniques of automatic positioning; and (g) Experiment with new techniques for safety while drilling over deep water. This letter also included a budget to carry out the objectives just quoted. In December 1962 our company, in a formal proposal to the Amsoc Committee of the National Academy of Sciences, offered to design, build, and operate the drilling ship that we had first proposed as members of the NAS staff. In that proposal-which would not change substantially if we rewrote it today-we gave detailed characteristics, costs, and time schedules. The cost of building that ship and operating it for 2 years in a deep sea drilling program will be somewhat less than $10 million if OSE manages the work. On the other hand, assuming that the presently proposed six-column platform is the proper route to the Moho, it means another year of study, 2 years of design, construction, and testing, and 2 to 3 years of drilling. At that time, roughly 8 years after the successful work at Guadalupe Island, all of the oceanic crust except that one site will remain to be explored. It is not too late to salvage a reasonable Mohole project and the great dream of ocean exploration by drilling from its present difficulties and to carry out the project within the original estimates of time and cost. But this will require much of a rare commodity: political heroism. Mr. LENNON. Mr. Tupper? Mr. TUPPER. No questions, Mr. Chairman. Mr. LENNON. Mr. Casey? Mr. CASEY. Doctor, what do you have your Ph. D. in? Dr. MCLELLAND. Engineering. Mr. CASEY. Any particular type of engineering-mechanical, chemical, or what is it? Dr. MCLELLAND. My degree in engineering is from the mechanical standpoint. I got my doctor's degree in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany, where I spent 3 years at the Bergakademie there which is a mining academy, one of the best known in the Western European world. Mr. CASEY. You say in this project you were part of the National Academy of Sciences Foundation staff on the project? Dr. MCLELLAND. That is right. That started in September 1959. Mr. CASEY. You were employed by the National Academy of Sciences? Dr. MCLELLAND. Yes. I was employed by the Amsoc Committee of the National Academy of Sciences. Mr. CASEY. You were employed by Amsoc? Dr. MCLELLAND. Yes. I was the first technical member of the technical staff of the Amsoc Committee. Mr. CASEY. Then you were actually working for Amsoc and not for the National Academy of Sciences; is that correct? It is a little hard for me to understand these organizations. Dr. MCLELLAND. The Amsoc Committee is one of many committees of the National Academy of Sciences under their National Research Council, better known as the NAS-NRC. Mr. CASEY. You were not a member of Amsoc, but were a paid staff engineer for them? Is that right? Dr. MCLELLAND. That is right. Mr. CASEY. For this particular project? Dr. MCLELLAND. For this project alone. Mr. CASEY. And when did you go to work for Amsoc? Dr. MCLELLAND. I believe September 9-to be specific, 1959. Dr. MCLELLAND. Until May of 1962. Mr. CASEY. Whom did you work for before then, Doctor? Dr. MCLELLAND. Before that time I was completing my studies in Clausthal-Zellerfeld from 1956 until 1959. Mr. CASEY. And your drilling experience up until 1962 was that acquired as staff engineer for Amsoc on this particular project? Dr. MCLELLAND. No, it was not. I have a degree of engineer of mines from the Colorado School of Mines. I also have a degree, geological engineer, from the Colorado School of Mines. I worked for the AEC on the Colorado plateau as an exploration geologist and also there for a private company, at which time I was in charge of drilling exploration projects. Mr. CASEY. I am glad we got that in. I did not want it to look like you just came as a student on this project. Dr. MCLELLAND. I certainly would not want it to look that way. Mr. CASEY. Doctor, you say Ocean Science Engineering, Inc. When was that formed? Dr. MCLELLAND. It was formed in February of 1962. Mr. CASEY. Formed just before you left as staff member for Amsoc? Dr. MCLELLAND. Right, and that corporation was formed around the group of men who formed the technical staff of the Amsoc Committee. Mr. CASEY. Who were they? Dr. MCLELLAND. Myself, Williard Bascom, François Lampietti, Edward E. Horton, Peter A. Johnson. Mr. CASEY. And all these gentlemen worked on the project at the same time you did? Dr. MCLELLAND. That is right. Mr. CASEY. And were they also employees of Amsoc? Dr. MCLELLAND. Yes. They were part of the technical staff at Amsoc. Mr. CASEY. And after you finished this project, you all were enthused about continuing work in this field so you formed this company; is that correct? Dr. MCLELLAND. Yes. It appeared to us at that time in the route that was being taken, that the prime contractor would, in fact, be doing his own design study programs, so that to provide for our own future we felt that the technical staff of the Amsoc Committee would no longer exist, which, in fact, it would not, being that Amsoc would be in an advisory capacity. Therefore, looking toward our future we decided to band together and join our talents as a group. Mr. CASEY. Is this a profit or nonprofit corporation? Dr. MCLELLAND. Well, let's say it is now in the black. Mr. CASEY. And it is formed for profit purposes, in other words? Dr. MCLELLAND. Yes; it is. Mr. CASEY. It is a tax exempt corporation? Dr. MCLELLAND. No; it is not. Our direction, as I said before, is specifically toward doing large oceanic engineering projects. Mr. CASEY. I am sure, and I do not mean this derogatorily, but I am sure you had ambitions that you might get the contract for continuation of this program from the NSF; did you not? Dr. MCLELLAND. From the National Science Foundation? No. We were not in competition for this Mohole project for the National Science Foundation. At the time we were still employed by the National Academy of Sciences and the decision as to who the prime contractor was going to be had not been made or known publicly. Mr. CASEY. You did not seek or submit a bid for it as prime contractor? Dr. MCLELLAND. No. That would be such a direct conflict of interests that such a thing never entered our head as far as that goes. Mr. CASEY. I mean after you formed the corporation. Dr. MCLELLAND. After we formed the corporation, I do not know how we could become prime contractors. There was already one in existence. Mr. CASEY. But you did have a subcontract, as I understand. Dr. MCLELLAND. Yes. I see what you are referring to now. Following the time we left on May from the National Academy of Sciences, we acquired from the prime contractor, the prime contractor came to us, in fact, and asked us if we would be interested in taking a contract with him on the Mohole because at that time our group represented the total information talent on the project from a technical standpoint. We took a 2-month contract with the prime contractor specifically to transmit to him, because we felt that we had this knowledge at our command, all of the information that we had acquired for a period of 21/2 years so that he would have the fullest understanding of everything that was available. We took the files, the technical files with us to Texas, to Houston, and there for 2 months we spent our time transmitting to the prime contractor's staff all the information, know-how, and knowledge that we had acquired. Mr. CASEY. What type of work are you engaged in now? Some of it you said you did not wish to describe but is there some of it you could describe? Dr. MCLELLAND. Some of it is classified because of its nature which we cannot discuss. Mr. CASEY. Is that for some governmental agency ? Dr. MCLELLAND. Yes. Mr. CASEY. It is? Dr. MCLELLAND. Yes. Mr. CASEY. Are you free to tell the agency? Dr. MCLELLAND. Yes, of course. We would have to tell the for whom we are doing the contract. agency Mr. CASEY. I mean are you free to put on record here the agency that you are working for? Dr. MCLELLAND. Certainly I am free to put on record the agency. It is for the Army Air Force. We have other contracts beside that, one with Scripps, for a vibrating core barrel to take cores down to a depth of a hundred feet. We have contracts with private companies, specifically with one for which we are now doing the conversion of a drilling and sampling vessel. It is in drydock at the present time being worked on and it will be ready to go to sea November 20 of this year. Mr. CASEY. For whom? Dr. MCLELLAND. For a private company. Mr. CASEY. The gentlemen you named are the only ones associated with your company; is that correct? Dr. MCLELLAND. No. I said those were the incorporators. Mr. CASEY. Who is associated with the company now? Dr. MCLELLAND. Well, we have 20 employees at the present time. Mr. CASEY. I mean in the capacity of engineer or scientist. Dr. MCLELLAND. They are all engineers and scientists. Mr. CASEY. IS Dr. Revelle connected with your company? Mr. CASEY. Is he still with Scripps? Dr. MCLELLAND. Yes. He is still director of Scripps. Mr. CASEY. You made the statement here that "unfortunately the first year of the contractor's work"-do you want to leave it like that— you are trying to indicate that the contractor the first year was not too hot a performer; is that right? 25-984-63- -7 Dr. MCLELLAND. Speaking for myself here, and also referring to the comments that Captain Rupp has made just before me, I would say that the contractor at that time was not sufficiently staffed and that the work was slow in progress and that I think it may have been relative to our feelings of what we thought could be done in the same space of time. That is the only thing people have to judge about is relative to what they know, that the contractor in that period of 1 year did not produce as much work as I thought it was capable of doing. Now there is another point I think that should be placed in the record here, that following the 2 months' contract that we had with the prime contractor in May and June of 1962, the National Science Foundation employed us as technical consultants to them, starting in August of 1962 up through May of 1963. Some of the unfortunate things that I am referring to here are contained in documents we sent to the National Science Foundation as their technical representatives. I think you should refer to those for specific points relative to the unfortunate first year of the contractors work. Mr. CASEY. You refer to how successful this first phase was. It was a limited program, of course. I think it was successful in its limited objectives. Global Marine had the contract. Did they furnish any engineering or any ideas on doing this work? Dr. MCLELLAND. Yes. We employed Global Marine on an engineering contract basis to review our designs and plans and translate these into detailed engineering drawings to fit their vessel. We did this so that they would have complete knowledge of what we intended to do and that they would have a chance to object to anything in the engineering design and the program to be carried out because we were, in fact, using their vessel and, of course, they would feel responsible if we had planned to do something they felt would damage their equipment. On the completion of that contract we then waited upon the availability of the vessel. The equipment was built as designed and put aboard and the program began February 11, 1962. Mr. CASEY. And all they did was furnish a vessel? Dr. MCLELLAND. They furnished the vessel. Mr. CASEY. And you told them how to build it and you conducted the drilling operation? Dr. MCLELLAND. That is right. They furnished a bare vessel. We brought aboard our own handtools. I mean the vessel was bare; no drill pipe, no tools. Everything that went aboard that vessel we brought aboard to conduct our work. Mr. CASEY. Did they furnish any personnel? Dr. MCLELLAND. They furnished the drilling crew, yes; as a contractor. Their drilling crews were under the supervision of Don C. Woodward, who was a member of the drilling panel at that time and we appointed him as our drilling superintendent to act for us in contact with their drilling superintendent on the vessel. Mr. CASEY. Don C. Woodward? Dr. MCLELLAND. Yes. Mr. CASEY. Who was he employed by then? |