RENAISSANCE I 5 5 



break had occurred two thousand feet down. When I bailed 

 out the rest of the water, we pushed out the new quartz 

 window and found it to be in perfect condition. The 

 whole trouble had been in the packing around the win- 

 dow. 



Three more days full of excitement followed. On Fri- 

 day, the sixteenth, we went to sea but were driven in by 

 a heavy swell in which we wallowed badly. The next day 

 was still rough, but by taking extraordinary precautions 

 we managed to get the bathysphere overboard and sent 

 her down to full 3000 feet. The new glass window had 

 been replaced by the old steel plate. The nuts on this had 

 been tightened only with a hand monkey wrench, and 

 when the sphere again appeared at the surface the pack- 

 ing around the plate was spouting water. It landed heav- 

 ily, and clearing the entire deck I began as before to un- 

 screw the wing-bolt. With the last few threads there came 

 a perfect scream of spouting water and steam, and the 

 bolt was thrown clear across the deck, thirty feet, with 

 greater force than before, striking the big operating winch 

 and making two new dents in the handles. With it went a 

 solid stream of water, four inches in diameter, striking 

 the wire of the distant winch and soaking all the onlook- 

 ers of the upper deck. At the moment of explosion the 

 compressed cold air and water united in a fine, opaque 

 cloud which for a time almost obscured the entire deck. 



Again the steel plate window was repacked and this 

 time the heaviest members of the crew pushed in unison 



