480 Pierre H. Willm 
viewing portholes are provided; one looks forward and the other two are side portholes dis- 
posed in vertical planes forming an angle of 50 degrees with the fore and aft symmetry 
planes of the bathyscaph. The axes of the three portholes point downward forming an 
angle of 20 degrees with the horizontal plane. 
To avoid all change in thickness which would impair the aplexism of the sphere, no 
stiffening has been provided in the area of the hatch and portholes. Each of these is 
equipped with an optical system mounted in a 2]-millimetre-diameter hole, which is plugged 
by Plexiglas shaped in a frustrum of a cone, forming an angle of 90 degrees at the apex, 
and only 45 millimetres thick. 
The watertight lead-throughs into the sphere for cables and pipes have been designed 
similarly to those of the FNRS-3. 
The float is approximately twice the size of the former. It has been designed to reduce 
to a minimum the power required for towing and to increase the towing speeds. That is why 
the sphere is no longer suspended below the float but it is now integrated to it, and the only 
area which is now visible is that of the three portholes. It will be 21 metres long and 5 
metres high and its extreme width will be 4 metres. 
As in the case of the FNRS-3, the new bathyscaph will have steel shot in silos running 
vertically through the float and held in by electromagnets placed at the base. 
The outside batteries will be much more powerful than those of the FNRS-3. They will 
be located on the after-part of the float and will be accessible, when the bathyscaph is 
afloat, through an after-shaft similar to the forward one leading to the sphere. These 
batteries will supply the necessary power to a 30-horsepower propulsion motor driving a 
propeller with a horizontal shaft lying in the fore and aft symmetry plane of the bathyscaph. 
In addition, a steering propeller with an axis normal to the fore and aft symmetry plane and 
a lifting propeller with a vertical axis will each be driven by a 5-horsepower motor. 
The 1000-watt pressure-resisting searchlights are still under design. All the measuring, 
navigational, and communicating equipment now existing on the FNRS-3 will of course be 
fitted on the new bathyscaph. The construction of this craft is financed by the French 
“Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.” It was begun in 1959 and will be completed 
during 1961. After trial dives to the maximum designed depths, the Bathyscaph 11,000 will, 
like its predecessor, be placed at the disposal of the Recherche Scientifique. 
CONCLUSION 
Although the main purpose of this Symposium is to investigate the characteristics of 
high-performance ships, I think it may be of interest to conclude this paper with the scien- 
tific results obtained during the first five years of the FNRS-3’s operational activities. 
During this period, the French bathyscaph made more than 80 dives, in the course of 
which it was possible for scientists interested in various scientific activities to undertake 
their respective researches. Thus, biologists have had the opportunity of studying the 
behaviour of abyssal fauna and the distribution of plankton versus depth and physical 
characteristics of sea water. Geologists and sedimentologists have been able to observe 
the various aspects of the sea bottom, to confirm or refute certain of their hypotheses con- 
cerning the formation of underwater canyons in particular. Physicists have installed on 
the bathyscaph precision recorders for measuring temperature, pressure, the pH value, the 
