TIDES, WAVES 97 



at sea, the blue- jackets sent a deputation 

 aft to ask if " Bill " would go right to the 

 bottom when committed to the deep with a 

 shot attached to his feet, or would he " find 

 his level " and there float about for ever- 

 more ? Another question was, if " Bill " 

 really did go to the bottom, what would he be 

 like on reaching bottom at four or five miles ? 



A living rabbit was on one occasion sent 

 down to over 500 fathoms on a line. The 

 body came up very little altered to all appear- 

 ance, the bones were all intact, and the lungs 

 were the only viscera that seemed to be 

 affected by the pressure. Even at 3000 

 fathoms a human body would be little altered 

 in outward appearance. 



The " Titanic " is probably now lying on the 

 bottom in a very little altered condition : only 

 those parts of the structure would be burst 

 inwards (" imploded ") into which water could 

 not enter rapidly enough to equalise the 

 pressure on the two sides, say, of an iron plate. 

 As the vessel sank deeper and deeper, the corks 

 in all the wine and beer bottles would be 

 driven in if not quite full, and ultimately every 

 hermetically closed chamber or recess would 

 be imploded. 



The fact is that anything that will sink to 

 the bottom of a tumbler of water will practi- 

 cally sink to the bottom of the deepest ocean. 



