A DESCENT INTO PERPETUAL NIGHT 1 97 



This dive turned out to be one of essential observation, 

 and first hand impressions must take precedence over all 

 others. 



At 9:41 in the morning we splashed beneath the sur- 

 face, and often as I have experienced it, the sudden shift 

 from a golden yellow^ world to a green one was unexpected. 

 After the foam and bubbles passed from the glass, we were 

 bathed in green; our faces, the tanks, the trays, even the 

 blackened walls were tinged. Yet seen from the deck, we 

 apparently descended into sheer, deep ultramarine. The 

 only hint of this change of color vouchsafed those above 

 was the increasing turquoise of the bathysphere as it ap- 

 proached the vanishing point, about 100 feet. 



We were dropped several fathoms and dangled there 

 awhile, until all the apparatus on deck was readapted to 

 the vertical cable close to the ship's side. I made the most 

 of my last glimpse of the upper world. By peering up I 

 could see the watery ceiling crinkling, and slowly lifting 

 and settling, while here and there, pinned to this ceiling, 

 were tufts of sargassum weed. I could see small dots mov- 

 ing just below the weed, and for the first time I tried, and 

 successfully, to focus low power binoculars through the 

 water. I had no trouble in recognizing a small ocean tur- 

 bot and a flyingfish, trailing its half-spread wings as it 

 swam. The bathysphere then revolved slightly and the hull 

 of the Ready came into view. It was even more like a coral 

 reef than it had appeared four years ago, great streamers 

 of plant and animal life floating out from it. There is 



