476 Pierre H. Willm 
were enclosed hung at the end of a steel cable. Far from being a safe device, this perma- 
nent link with the surface was a source of real dangers; to say nothing of a possible 
breaking of the cable, which would have resulted in the total loss of the sphere (which was 
heavier than the upward pressure exerted on it), the motion of the surface ship, in a heavy 
swell, was amplified by the cable, so that the Bathysphere (as its designers called it) was 
very uncomfortable, and it was quite impossible to approach the bottom. 
The inventor of the first self-contained deep-diving craft was Professor Auguste Piccard, 
a Swiss scientist. He applied to underwater navigation the operating principles of the free 
balloon. The observation sphere, which was much heavier than the volumé of water which it 
displaced, was attached under a thin sheet-metal tank, filled with petrol lighter than sea 
water. This petrol was directly exposed to external pressure. Vertical movement was 
effected by jettisoning ballast: steel shot for rising and petrol for sinking. Professor 
Piccard, of the University of Brussels, submitted his design to the Belgian “Fonds National 
de la Recherche Scientifique” (FNRS) which eventually granted the necessary funds (1939). 
The construction, delayed by war, was resumed in 1945 under the joint direction of Profes- 
sors Piccard and Cosyns. 
The craft had been called FNRS-2 (FNRS-1 had been Piccard’s and Cosyns stratopheric 
balloon) and it was shipped in September 1948 to Dakar, where the first trials took place 
with the assistance of the French Navy. Unfortunately, many defects in this first construc- 
tion were revealed during these trials. However, the FNRS-2 succeeded in reaching a depth 
of 1380 metres without passengers, but all hope of performing this feat a second time had to 
be given up. 
However, this semifailure had established the soundness of the general principles, and 
it was decided to undertake the construction of a new craft on the same lines. The job was 
entrusted to the French Navy by the Belgian “Recherche Scientifique.” An agreement was 
signed in October 1950 between the Belgian FNRS, the French CNRS, and the French Navy 
concerning the design and construction of the new craft. Ingénieur Principal du Génie 
Maritime Gempp , who was in charge of this work, retained only the sphere of the first bathy- 
scaph and succeeded in building a vehicle capable of being towed in a moderate sea and 
accessible to a crew when afloat, which was not the case with the FNRS-2, where the pas- 
sengers had to shut themselves in the sphere before the bathyscaph was lowered and the 
float was filled with petrol, so that the prediving operations were so complicated as to be 
unacceptable. 
Professor Auguste Piccard remained technical adviser to the French Navy for this work. 
He paid several visits to Toulon to join in discussions of the project. But in the beginning 
of 1952, he ceased to collaborate, in order to have another bathyscaph built in Italy, the 
TRIESTE. This Italian bathyscaph was constructed at Castellamare di Stabia, near Naples, 
and in August 1953, it dived to 3000 metres, manned by the famous Professor and his son, 
Jacques. 
Meanwhile, the FNRS-3, as the French bathyscaph was called in tribute to the Belgian 
scientists who financed part of its construction, was planned and laid down in July 1952 by 
Toulon Naval Dockyard. It was launched on June 3, 1953 and made its first dives to 2000 
metres off Toulon in August 1953. It was then taken to Dakar (French West Africa) and 
successfully achieved its first two dives to the maximum depth for which it had been 
designed, reaching 4200 metres on January 31, 1954, without passengers, and 4050 
metres on February 15,1954 with passengers. I took part in this record dive as the engineer 
responsible for the construction, together with Capitaine de Corvette Houot, appointed com- 
manding officer of the bathyscaph. 
