were near the island, all went well. But gradually the waves began to 

 make themselves felt. We were all somewhat anxious. We kept 

 looking towards the Trieste^ but those who were mounting guard on 

 board made signs to us that all was well. 



From low clouds a fine rain was falling at six o'clock in the morning, 

 when Captain Zanchi, military head of the expedition, came to inform 

 us that we were at the spot selected. 'Medium' swell. We could see 

 now what that meant. Certainly, for a battleship or for an aircraft- 

 carrier, the sea was not really bad : it was better than two days earlier. 

 But we all had the same thought just the same : should we be able to 

 make the final checks ^ Would the operation be possible } 



It was possible, because all the dockyard workers who were with 

 us — electricians, mechanics, fitters, engineers — metamorphosed them- 

 selves suddenly into wonderful sailors. All together we were a united 

 crew ; we had only one thought : to succeed. 



Jacques gave the signal, and everything went forward with strict 

 precision. The boats were launched. On the order of Captain Zanchi, 

 no one was allowed to leave the Tenace without putting on a life- 

 jacket. After putting on mine, I went down the little port ladder and I 

 had to wait until the up-and-down motion of the waves was good 

 enough to let me get a footing to get into the launch. 



When I reached the bathyscaphe there was the further difficulty of 

 getting up on deck. Fortunately Jacques was there already : he stretched 

 out his hand, and made it possible for me to get aboard. On the 

 Trieste, Salvio and Traetta made sure that all was in order. We went 

 down into the lock: before entering the cabin there was no time to 

 make last farewells — they would have been pointless anjrway, as we 

 should see each other again soon. The work in common continued. 

 While the navy and our friends mounted guard on the surface we 

 could go off in complete confidence towards the abysses. Everything 

 went well: the rolling ceased. The bathyscaphe entered its element: 

 entering the kingdom of eternal calm, it descended. The tachometer's 

 little light winked: dash, dot; dash, dot: we were going down. 

 Beyond the portholes the light got less, the last bluish gleams dis- 

 appeared. Lower, the first phosphorescent animals appeared. 508 

 fathoms, the depth reached by Beebe and Barton on the 15 th August 

 1934. 594 fathoms, the depth we reached five weeks ago off Capri. 

 The tachometer's red bulb winks faster and faster: our speed was 

 increasing ; and this was shown also by the contour of the line traced 



[ 128] 



