WONDERS OF THE DEEP 15 



the outcome of close observation and intense 

 study. 



What was the origin of the remarkable idea 

 which was carried to such a successful issue, that 

 it became possible for the first time in the history 

 of invention and discovery to take motion pictures 

 below the surface of the ocean ? 



About the time that Commander Robert E. 

 Peary was engaged in an endeavour to reach the 

 North Pole, and Captain Robert F. Scott was seek- 

 ing to wrest from Nature some of the hidden 

 secrets of the South Polar regions, two young 

 men, hardly out of their teens, were labouring in 

 the back-yard of their home in Norfolk, Virginia, 

 over a peculiar invention, with the aid of which 

 they hoped to explore the bottom of the ocean, 

 and thus add to our knowledge of submarine life 

 at those depths. Their names were Ernest and 

 George Williamson, the brave and fearless sons of 

 Captain Charles Williamson, one of the smartest 

 skippers that ever sailed before the mast, and to 

 whom, as we shall see, they really owed their 

 success. 



Captain Charles Williamson possessed an in- 

 ventive faculty, and he was never happier than 

 when endeavouring to work out certain sugges- 

 tions and ideas that presented themselves to his 

 mind from time to time. Several of his inven- 

 tions proved very successful, not only in them- 

 selves, but also from a financial standpoint. 

 During one of his trips he invented a folding 



