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Need a Lift?

The recent upgrade of the human occupied vehicle Alvin added enough weight to the vehicle that the equipment used to launch and recover it from R/V Atlantis also had to be upgraded. Here, Port Engineer Dutch Wegman inspects the new lift line that will be used to raise and lower the sub. The line, made by Samson Rope, consists of multiple braids of polyester and, according to Wegman, is soft and easy to handle. The U.S. Navy, which owns the sub, required the line to bear 350,000 pounds, seven times the maximum weight of the new Alvin. In strength tests, it withstood a load of 650,000 pounds before breaking.(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)