parachute, the bathyscaphe was violently shaken: the amplitude of 

 the oscillations reached 45°. 



In 1948, near the Cape Verde Islands, when the automatic pilot 

 started off the general unballasting at 789 fathoms, the same thing 

 happened to the FNRS 2, and the radar aerial was broken. Today 

 the Trieste's flagstaff was bent, a proof of the violence of the oscilla- 

 tions. Fortunately, being made of soft aluminium, it did not break, 

 otherwise we should have lost the two flags. Up to now they had 

 accompanied us in all our dives, folded and put away in the cabin. But 

 today, for the last descent of the year, we had hoisted them to the 

 masthead. 



A minute inspection of the cabin did not explain the release of the 

 gas. We supposed that the camera was responsible for it. Its electric 

 motor functioned badly. It is probable that, following upon a short- 

 circuit, one of its insulating materials was overheated and the decom- 

 position of the synthetic resin gave off the suffocating gas. In the 

 restricted space of the cabin, a very little thing is enough to poison the 

 air. At the moment of the accident, a tape recorder was functioning. 

 We could hear on it, distinctly, the panting breaths of my son and de 

 Sanctis. 



All's well that ends well ! 



Taken in tow by the Tenace, the Trieste came back to Castellam- 

 mare : the sea was calm, and as it was the last tow, we put on speed. 

 At 6 knots the Trieste behaved magnificently, thanks to the new keel. 

 Night had already fallen when we arrived at Castellammare : illumi- 

 nated boats came to meet us and fireworks lit up the sky. A great 

 part of the personnel of the ' Navalmeccanica ' was there to welcome 

 us. The little town was en fête: the bathyscaphe, in whose construc- 

 tion the population took so large a part, had come back to its home 

 port. 



During the following days the municipality organized a reception, 

 presented us with a diploma as honorary freemen, and then gave a 

 procession in the streets of the town. 



Soon we returned to Switzerland and our village of Chexbres, above 

 the Lake of Geneva, on the verge of the Vaudois vineyards. There too 

 a warm welcome awaited us, and we were surprised to see our syndic, 

 our pastor and the whole council of the commune, with a gendarme and 

 a horticulturist in their company, assemble before our villa and present 

 me with a beautiful blue cedar. We planted the tree. It bears a plaque 



[ 135 ] 



