during the past centuries. It was clear that an eruption would be very 

 serious, for all along the coast there were dwellings. Two years after 

 our visit, the newspapers announced that an eruption had ravaged the 

 island. I was sorry that our little fleet, the Croix- de- Lorraine^ the Le- 

 Verrier^ the Elie-Monnier and the Scaldis^ were not present then to 

 give assistance. 



On the 31st October the FNRS 2 had to be sent down alone to a 

 depth of 825 fathoms. So that it would not strike the bottom too 

 violently if it happened to be at a point with less depth than supposed, 

 we had installed, as well as our automatic pilot already described, a 

 sort of antenna hanging below the bathyscaphe and which, upon 

 arriving upon the ground, would have released the ballast. During 

 the launching of the bathyscaphe, the antenna was still tucked up. 

 At the moment when the bathyscaphe crossed the railings, Cosyns 

 and I, who were watching operations from the bridge of the Scaldis^ 

 noticed that a rope was coming dangerously near to our machine. 

 Before we could intervene, it touched the sensitive point. The robot 

 functioned well, but as a robot without sense : and tons of ballast fell 

 into the water. It was the rolling of the Scaldis which had caused the 

 accident. Again an annoying delay. 



The sea was too rough to start operations again, so the Elie-Monnier 

 went off on a reconnaissance trip to the Island of Sao-Thiago. Upon 

 its return, its officers announced that conditions were ideal in the Bay 

 of Santa- Clara and that we should find the depths needed near the 

 coast : if the wind did not change, we should have a glassy sea. The 

 Scaldis therefore set sail for this island. 



DOWN TO 770 FATHOMS WITH THE AUTOMATIC PILOT 



When the morning was well advanced on 3rd November 1948 we 

 began preparations once more. The contact gauge was set for a depth 

 of 770 fathoms. Like most alarm-clocks, the time switch which, at the 

 hour fixed, would set off the unballasting in a situation where the gauge 

 had not been able to work, was not intended for dormice : it cannot be 

 set for a time beyond twelve hours, because its little contact wheel 

 turns round twice in twenty-four hours. At the moment when the 

 hatch was closed on the manhole, we gave it a maximum delay by 

 fixing it to go off at 4.40 p.m. It seemed that this would give us an 

 ample margin of time. The series of operations to be carried out, 

 however, is rather long. It was one o'clock in the afternoon before 



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