"When employing the boat as a diving-bell everything was closed tight and air was admitted to the central space until the external water pressure was exactly balanced, and when the lower hatch might be opened without any risk of water entering. The first man to make a test was Mr. George M. Richards, of Erie, Pennsylvania, my engineer. He sank the boat at high water while she lay at the dock. When she rested on the bottom he opened the test valves to make certain that the external water pressure was balanced by the internal air pressure, admitting an excess of water equal to his weight to hold her on the bottom. This operation did not consume more than a minute. He did not actually go out of the boat, but only dropped his feet on the bottom, passed his hands under the boat, one on either side, and lifted the boat slowly and with little exertion about one foot from the bottom. Had I provided the boat with a diver's outfit he could have gone out and come back again without trouble or risk. On July 3, 1883, we left the 'Gap' in Jersey City in order to do some diving in the deep water of the Narrows. "The boat went out under its own power, unaccompanied by anybody save a small colored boy who had managed to drop on the turret when we were leaving the dock. The first intimation I had that we were carrying a passenger was shortly after we had passed Robbins's Reef Lighthouse. Then I found my view of Staten Island and Bay Ridge became obscured by what seemed to be a pair of brown rags hanging on either side of the turret and blocking the vision through the side lights. When we passed Robbins's Reef the water became a little rougher, so that the water passed up on the hull and washed over the turret. After the windows had been wet a few times I heard noises that plainly indicated that we were carrying an uninvited and unwelcome passenger. Fearing that the waves would wash him off, I headed the boat upstream, opened the hatch, and invited him to come inside, as I feared running through rough water with him on top. He politely refused my invitation, assuring me that he was 'puffectly safe' where he was, and that he would 'hold on like grim death.' This unfortunate circumstance spoiled my chances of diving in deep water that day, so we were compelled to abandon it. This interruption by the young colored gentleman wasted so much time that it was after sunset when we headed for the Bay Ridge shore, with which I was unfamiliar, to look for a landing place. Seeing through the twilight unmistakable signs that the shore was rocky, I ran the boat out about one hundred yards and then headed her up toward the Bay Ridge Ferry landing, with the intention of leaving her there until daylight the next morning. Before starting north we noticed two boys in a rowboat approaching us from the shore. We stopped until they came alongside and inquired: 'What is this