20 WONDERS OF THE DEEP 



enormous and valuable possibilities should the 

 invention prove to be practicable, proceeded with 

 ready industry to work out a new and unique 

 method of taking submarine pictures. We must 

 not lose sight of the fact, as the story proceeds, 

 that nothing of the kind had ever been attempted 

 before, and that in their endeavours the brothers 

 were pioneers, with no previous experience or 

 guidance on which to work. The idea was thus 

 quite a novel one, and, if it could be turned into 

 a concrete form, would become a unique invention. 



With as little delay as possible, the Williamson 

 tube was rigged up and lowered from the barge 

 "Ada" to a depth of about thirty feet, but the 

 waters in Norfolk Harbour were so dark that it 

 was altogether impossible, in ordinary daylight, to 

 see through them for more than a distance of a 

 few feet. This presented the first problem that 

 the pioneers had to solve. Undaunted, however, 

 by this initial set-back, the young men decided 

 to employ artificial light, and after some consider- 

 able difficulty, they succeeded in arranging a large 

 battery of tungsten electric lamps in such a way 

 that they would continue to shine after they had 

 been lowered into the sea. 



Having accomplished this, Ernest Williamson 

 climbed down through the tube into the observa- 

 tion chamber and took up his position, with a 

 camera ready, behind the heavy glass window. A 

 baited line was lowered, the electric lights were 

 turned on, and in a moment the photographer 



