INTO THE DEPTHS 



of them) each carrying a fringe of stinging tentacles. 

 They swim by rhythmic pulsations of their bell-like 

 shapes, sucking in and driving out the water in a kind of 

 "jet-propulsion". What was the nature of such creatures' 

 lives, over two miles below the surface of the sea? How 

 could their soft bodies withstand the terrific pressure of 

 the water above them — pressure so great that the wall of 

 the bathyscaphe's steel sphere had to be at least three 

 inches thick to withstand it? 



At 12,000 feet they were sinking fast. They shed ballast 

 for twenty-five seconds, and then again for fifteen 

 seconds, until the bathyscaphe was descending very 

 slowly. Their echo-sounder told them that the sea-bed 

 was near. They watched anxiously for it to appear, shed 

 ballast again for ten seconds to slow them down even 

 more. Suddenly, at 13,125 feet, Willm shouted, 'T can 

 see the bottom!" 



The echo-sounder registered twenty metres — fifteen — 

 ten. . . . 



The guide chain had touched down. The bathyscaphe 

 came to a stop. Under perfect control it had reached the 

 bottom of the sea, after a journey downwards of 13,287 

 feet — the greatest depth ever attained by man. 



In the great circle of light cast by their searchlights the 

 ocean floor seemed to be composed of fine white sand, 

 covered with ridges and mounds, and with holes at 

 intervals. They switched on their two motors and cruised 

 around horizontally for thirty-six minutes. Sixty-eight 

 thousand tons of water now pressed upon them, doing its 

 utmost to crush the walls of the steel sphere in which they 

 knelt — yet their extraordinary habitation stubbornly 

 resisted the enormous pressure and safeguarded their 

 lives. They saw sharks down there, swimming lazily 

 near the ocean floor — creatures which they afterwards 

 described as quite unlike any sharks seen on the surface : 

 monsters with enormous mouths, swimmers which 

 seemed quite undisturbed by the light. They saw a 



17 



