144 CONTOUR DIVING 



We were drifting slowly along, now lifting over a toothed 

 ridge or settling down into a valley of caverns and gorges 

 when, without warning, I saw a long black line undulating 

 over the bottom, clearly visible when over a bed of sand, 

 or vanishing behind a mass of giant sea-plumes. A second 

 glance revealed it as the deep-sea transatlantic cable rest- 

 ing quietly on its bed and carrying innumerable messages 

 of hope and fear, joy and death. Kipling's words took on a 

 new significance and I shall never send a cable again with- 

 out this memory, nor shall I ever forget the breath-taking 

 belief of the first few seconds. 



Another important phase of this method of observation 

 is the physical geography of the bottom. I have been able 

 to describe and map over a mile of bottom seen from five 

 to twenty feet elevation, traversing steadily seaward. After 

 passing the great loop of the cable, all visible life ceased, 

 and we drifted over a wide expanse of desert, with no 

 fish or plumes or living coral. I have no idea of the signif- 

 icance of this dead zone. 



I have never succeeded in following the bottom lower 

 than 350 feet. Increasing cloudiness of the water and 

 greater obscurity have made it impossible to distinguish 

 anything, and the danger of getting hung up and snapped 

 off on some projecting cliff is too constant to progress 

 blindly. 



With a calm sea, a steady off-shore breeze or current, 

 and our searchlight in working order it will be possible 

 sometime to make a systematic survey of the Bermudian 



