John C. Swallow

Who is John C. Swallow?

John Crossley Swallow FRS was an English oceanographer who invented the Swallow float or sometimes referred to as a neutral buoyance float, a scientific drifting bottle created based on the method used by shipwrecked sailors who placed and sealed messages in bottles and hope that the said bottles will reach any inhabited shores so that people can help them.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1968. He candidature citation read: "Dr. J.C. Swallow is internationally known both for his distinguished geophysical work on the voyages of H.M.S. "Challenger", and for his measurements of deep ocean currents. He is the inventor of the "Swallow float", a hydrostatically stable, freely drifting source of sound underwater, which can be followed by a ship at the surface. By numerous observations with this ingenious device, he and others have completely changed our picture of the deep circulation of the ocean, showing the presence of strong deep currents in the western North Atlantic, and a reverse flow beneath the Gulf Stream. He has recently contributed to our knowledge of the equatorial undercurrent and of other currents in the Indian Ocean. Dr.