delayed by M. Cosyns falling ill. This waiting period at least allowed 

 us to proceed to some practice in the matter of launching the bathy- 

 scaphe. The operation, though a little too complicated, was spectacular. 

 The submarine lay in the hold of the Scaldis : two hooks were raised 

 above its float. On the cable of the crane hung a big hook with a beam 

 attached to it. At its extremities hung two other hooks which were 

 attached to the first hooks. The steam engine of the winch begins to 

 work. Slowly the FNRS 2 is lifted out of the hold. Its cabin is above 

 decks : the crane turns. The Scaldis lists. The winch turns in the 

 opposite direction, unrolls the cable and for the first time the FNRS 2 

 makes contact with its element. The cabin enters the water : the float 

 in turn is immersed to a third of its height. At this moment the cable 

 slackens : the FNRS 2 is afloat. It is light, for it has not yet been filled 

 with petrol. As a precaution the float had been filled with carbon 

 dioxide in order to avoid all danger of explosion at the moment of 

 pumping in the petrol. Two hoses connect the Scaldis with the 

 bathyscaphe. By one hose a pump sends the petrol from the reservoirs 

 into the cylinders of the float. The other is used to evacuate the gas : 

 driven out by the petrol, the gas flows back towards the reservoirs of 

 the Scaldis^ where it occupies the space which has become free. 

 Slowly the bathyscaphe sinks, until the moment when the 7040 gallons 

 have been pumped in. Our calculations are shown to be correct, the 

 float still shows a little above the surface. When the two passengers 

 are in the cabin and the ballast is in place, the bathyscaphe will be in 

 proper equilibrium, ready for the dive. After having taken the petrol 

 on board the Scaldis^ we replace the FNRS 2 in the boat's hold. 



On the 19th October we at last left Dakar for Bao- Vista: the 

 Portuguese Government had authorized the French Navy to enter its 

 territorial waters, and the Élie-Monnier with its echo sounder took 

 soundings at a great number of points. It marked out a zone in the 

 neighbourhood of Bao- Vista where the bottom descends in a gentle 

 regular slope : this was the place which seemed most suitable for the 

 first tests. We dropped anchor here on the 21st October 1948. 



Although we did not come out to explore the archipelago, binocu- 

 lars and telescopes were much in evidence. The climate here is ex- 

 tremely arid, almost a desert. We were told that it had not rained for 

 three years ! This was perhaps a little exaggerated, since vegetation was 

 not totally absent. The inhabitants appear to live from fishing.. Of 

 mixed race for the most part, descendants of Portuguese and Negroes, 



[55] 



