BATHYSPHERE DIVE THIRTY-FIVE 253 



sea-going conveyance with an exceedingly limited pas- 

 senger list. It was a journey that had long been hoped for 

 and desired, but when the invitation came, it was quite 

 unexpected. 



As I stood at the rail of the Ready watching the untying 

 of the electric cable at the looo-foot level, I was im- 

 mensely thrilled when I heard on my telephone the Di- 

 rector's statement that he would take me down on the 

 next dive. We had been working with the bathysphere 

 for so long, watching and thinking of every bolt and wire 

 and gasket, that I was delighted to think that at last I 

 would see it working from below. I was exceedingly 

 anxious to see what was happening in the depths from 

 which we had hauled so many strange fish. 



After a hurried lunch, we placed fresh calcium chloride 

 and soda lime in the chemical trays and installed a new 

 duplicate tank of oxygen, and as soon as possible the Di- 

 rector and I squeezed through the door. Tests of the ma- 

 chinery and apparatus revealed that the telephones were 

 not functioning, and examination of the lines showed that 

 someone had stepped on a deck connection and that two 

 wires had crossed. This required but a few minutes to re- 

 pair and we were then quite ready to go. 



The door and wing-bolt were hammered into place with, 

 I suppose, no more than the usual clanging thoroughness. 

 But to me, accustomed to a racket much modulated by the 

 open air of the deck, the noise was both deafening and in- 

 terminable. At last we were a detached part of the world. 



