A DESCENT INTO PERPETUAL NIGHT 193 



a paint marker daubs an oblong smear on the cable as it 

 comes off the drum at the first, and at every succeeding 

 hundred feet. His work is guided and directed by Miss 

 Crane who sits in a commanding position and keeps a 

 record of the exact time of passage of the cable as it moves 

 from one ten-foot indicator to the next. This method was 

 checked at first by a meter wheel, and the possible error 

 was found to be about one foot in a thousand. 



Within ear-shot of Miss Crane and in full view of the 

 whole operation Miss Hollister sits with ear-phones and 

 mouth piece, recording everything I say from within the 

 bathysphere, relaying my orders to Tee-Van and sending 

 down whatever information concerning depth, time, and 

 weather I may desire. Perkins Bass and William Ramsey 

 of my staff are in full charge of the generators, both when 

 steadily running and when shifting current as I require 

 it. They are also responsible for the cable marking and 

 for verifying its exact passage from mark to mark. 



Mr. Tee- Van has an extra pair of ear-phones in case of 

 emergency and an abundance of loose, small telephone wire 

 so he can walk about at will. He can thus short-circuit 

 my orders directly to Captain Sylvester at the vital point 

 of the big winch. The return to the deck is merely the first 

 process reversed, except that the critical point is the emer- 

 gence from the water. The bathysphere is drawn up flush 

 with the surface, and at a propitious moment is very slowly 

 pulled above water, then rapidly up to the boom. The 

 slow emergence is due to the abrupt increase in weight, 



