THE FNRS 2 



This first bathyscaphe did not realize all the hopes that had been 

 founded on it. That is agreed upon. But, just the same, it proved that 

 the fundamental principle of the bathyscaphe was good. It went down 

 deeper than a habitable cabin had ever gone before. 



There was damage. Through a poorly- tightened joint a little water 

 penetrated the insulators (oil-filled) of the electric circuits, which 

 gradually put some of the electro-magnets out of service. However, 

 during the last dive, the automatic pilot functioned so well that the 

 bathyscaphe rose again perfectly after having reached almost exactly 

 the depth prescribed. Yet Engineer Willm declares (page 36, English 

 edition): 'Experience had shown that all its gear was unserviceable.' 

 I find it difficult to imagine that a bathyscaphe of which ' all the gear 

 was unserviceable' could have carried out this trip without a crew. 



But there is a much more curious remark still (Houot, page 21): 

 'When she reached port there was nothing left of the float.' Really, 

 there was nothing left of the float? Then how did we recover the 

 lo-ton cabin .'^ It ought to have gone straight to the bottom. What 

 really happened ? After the ascent, the swell had prevented the attach- 

 ment of the lifting tackle of the derrick to the rings on the bathyscaphe ; 

 and instead of, as anticipated, taking the FNRS 2 on board the 

 Scaldis^ after having emptied out the petrol, we were obliged to tow it 

 for a whole night in bad conditions. The principal part of the float, 

 that is to say, the seven aluminium drums constituting the petrol 

 tanks braced to the steel frame, did not suffer at all. But these drums 

 were surrounded by an envelope of thin iron sheeting of only 2V in. 

 thickness which formed the fairing. This metal was very much damaged 

 in places. As it had no vital function whatever (it served above all to 

 diminish resistance to the progress of the float), this accident alone 

 would not have hindered the carrying out of experiments. Improvised 

 repairs would even have been possible with materials at hand on board. 

 But other reasons obliged us to hold up the experiments, for instance, 

 the fact that the time during which the Scaldis was at our disposal had 

 expired. 



Later, the bathyscaphe was dismantled in the port of Dakar and the 

 cabin, separately, was transported by cargo-ship from Dakar to Toulon. 

 Is it possible that, seeing a photograph of the cabin taken after the 

 dismantling. Commander Houot thought that the FNRS 2 had arrived 

 at Dakar in such a state } 



[ 184] 



