With the financial help of his sponsors, Beebe planned to use his new research station on Nonsuch Island to conduct a thorough study of an square area of ocean, documenting every living thing they could find from the surface to a depth of . However, Beebe's ability to research the deep ocean using these methods was constrained by the inherent limitations of dredging, which could only provide an incomplete picture of the animals living there. Beebe compared the knowledge that could be gained of the deep ocean from dredging to what a visitor from Mars could learn about a fog-shrouded earthly city by using a dredge to pick up bits of debris from a street. Beebe began planning to create an underwater exploration device, which he could use to descend into the depths and observe these environments directly. The "New York Times" carried articles describing Beebe's plans, which called for a diving bell with the shape of a cylinder.