Normally, M. Cosyns should have gone with me. But he preferred to 

 stay on the Scaldis^ from where he kept an eye on the working out of 

 operations. I regret for his sake that he did not participate in this first 

 of all tests that I had waited for for so long, and that I was rejoicing 

 to be able to carry out at last. Since this left a place free, one of the 

 biologists was able to go down with me. Volunteers were not hard to 

 find, and we drew lots to decide who was to come down with me. 

 Professor Monod drew the lucky number. To console themselves the 

 others persuaded themselves that they would go deeper when their 

 turn came. 



For me it was the great moment. It was not a matter of a dive of 

 14 fathoms, but that all the details of the bathyscaphe must now be 

 put to the test. Whether one is at 14 fathoms or 2^ miles the unballast- 

 ing and the renewal of the air in the cabin, the headlights and the 

 propellers, all must function in the same way. We went down into the 

 hold and by the manhole, with its diameter of 17 in., we slid into the 

 cabin. It was three o'clock in the afternoon. The heavy door suspended 

 from a trolley rolling on two rails installed at deck-level on the Scaldis 

 was brought up, put into place and bolted. There we were, cut off 

 from the outside world. The telephone should have allowed us to 

 keep in touch with our friends, but it was not working; one result 

 of the divided command. Five years later the telephone in the Trieste 

 was to give us complete satisfaction: my son could direct the last 

 operations from the cabin before the dive. While at a depth of 22 

 fathoms we were to drift along before Castellammare di Stabia, the 

 communication with the surface continuing uninterrupted. 



But we are still at Cape Verde. Shut in the cabin, Professor Monod 

 and I looked out of the portholes : we felt nothing at first, but all at 

 once we noticed that the bottom of the hold was moving away from 

 us: the winch had taken us in charge: here we were now above the 

 deck of the Scaldis. Are we starting out for the stratosphere } No, after 

 30 ft. we stopped rising, and the crane turned. The deck of the ship 

 seemed to slip along beneath us, then the rails and the blue sea : then 

 the hull of the ship appeared to rise. We went slowly down towards 

 the water, till at last the portholes were immersed. The blue light 

 penetrated the cabin. The sight was most beautiful. 



But then something happened, for the windows came out of the 

 water again while we were impatient to go down : prisoners, we could 

 do nothing. If only we had known what was happening! But the 



[57] 



