to the surface no boat was moving about in the neighbourhood. No one 

 knew the exact spot at which the bathyscaphe would break surface. 

 The Fenice tirelessly quartered the sea and asked ships to keep two 

 or three miles away. With two exceptions, all the ships fell in with our 

 demands. However, one large steamer insisted on keeping on its 

 course. A threat of force was necessary before it would give in. 

 The other spoilsport was a speedboat from Capri: it carried a cele- 

 brated film star. When the Trieste rose to the surface, the speedboat 

 circled round us. As we had to have a certain freedom of movement, 

 and soft words proving vain, the Fenice' s hoses went into action: 

 they had the desired effect. 



The Fenice also fulfilled another purpose. The Italian Admiralty- 

 had invited reporters and journalists to be present for the dive. 

 Although the time between the announcement of departure and our 

 getting under way was short, fifty or sixty journalists were on board the 

 corvette. 



In the grey light of early morning, under the command of my son 

 and Engineers Salvio and Traetta, we got ready to set out. 



Like her model, the free balloon, the bathyscaphe is, as we have seen, 

 provided with a trail-rope which facilitates navigation at the sea- 

 bottom. But this cable might possibly get caught in something. 

 So that it can be released, the trail-rope is fastened by a catch which is 

 held shut by an electro-magnet. It is necessary only to cut the current 

 which feeds it to release the cable. We had noticed, in fact, that the 

 catch opened a little too easily : it happened that at the moment when 

 the cable was unrolled a shock released it. Weighing 770 lb. it sank 

 straight to the bottom. We had other cables in reserve on board the 

 Tenace^ but as it is difficult to repair the catch when at sea, we decided 

 to dive without a trail-rope. 



To economize on current before our departure, we closed the out- 

 flow tubes from the tanks with screw caps and blocked the armatures 

 of the electro-magnets with pins. We then had to switch the current 

 on to the solenoids, which stop the iron pellets from flowing away by 

 magnetic action. Then a diver, equipped with a Salvas diving equip- 

 ment, went under the float, unscrewed the screw-caps and handed them 

 to my son. All that had to be done now was to turn a switch in the 

 cabin to start the unballasting: we could at the last moment take out 

 the pins blocking the magnets. 



The operations were carried our normally : my son and I went down 



["4] 



