234 THE BATHYSPHERE OF I93O 



our lighter which had once been the H.M.S. Ready. The 

 Hghter was in turn towed by the tug Gladisfen, of the 

 New York Zoological Society. This equipment was used 

 on the Arcturus Expedition, as were also the three six-ton 

 sheaves. One of these was bolted to the deck about 70 feet 

 in front of the reel at midship. From this the cable re- 

 turned to the second sheave close to the mainmast and then 

 passed to the third at the end of the heavy boom. 



The cable was a special seven-eighths-inch, steel-center, 

 non-spinning one made by Roebling. It was thirty-five 

 hundred feet long and would hold twenty-nine tons. It 

 weighed about two tons under water. On our dive of four- 

 teen hundred feet, therefore, the weight of the cable let 

 out was nearly six-sevenths of a ton in the water. To this 

 was added the weight of the bathysphere in water, about 

 seven-eighths of a ton. The amount of cable out was tallied 

 by the special meter wheel also from the Arcturus, as well 

 as by a system of ribbons tied around the cable. 



The comparatively light electric cable was let out by 

 hand, and attached at intervals of not more than two hun- 

 dred feet to the steel one. This we did at first with brass 

 clamps, but later it was found better to tie them together 

 with lengths of rope about a yard in length, since these 

 took up much of the twisting. The winch could be stopped 

 while the tie was made. 



Several problems were naturally encountered in these 

 operations. At first we found that the sphere swung badly 

 when raised from the deck. To remedy this we lowered the 



