A stranger might have laughed at the childishness of the Italian officers who were apparently playing with toy battleships. But things are not always what they seem. Actually these same officers were puzzling out the most abstruse problems, carrying out remarkable experiments which enabled them to determine how the ship should behave in certain circumstances. As a result were evolved some intricate calculations upon which depended the whole operation of raising the ship. The small part of the keel still showing above the surface was used as a platform on which to build huts for the salvage workers. Other huts were erected, in due course, on platforms built up from the submerged keel. The assembling of the plant for the work was completed by the spring of 1917, when the people of Taranto began to observe the figures of divers about the wreck. Those divers had no enviable time. They quickly discovered that the explosion had liberated a quantity of thick oil which clung to everything within the ship, and as they went down it obscured the glass of their helmets and rendered the men practically blind. As if the oil were not sufficient handicap, there were thick clouds of rust which fogged the water and added to the discomfort of the divers. Yet the oil, despite its drawbacks, proved something of a blessing, for it adhered to hundreds of shells and protected them so efficiently from the action of the sea that the Italians were able to use them after salving them! The recovery of the ammunition was the first step to lightening the ship. Day after day shells were hoisted out of the wreck and loaded into lighters. It was dangerous work, but it became rather monotonous to those engaged in it. Monotony, as is well known, is apt to lead to carelessness, and carelessness in handling shells may lead to terrible results. It is a fine tribute to the carefulness of the men engaged on the work to know that they salved nearly a thousand 12-inch shells, three thousand 4·7-inch shells, some torpedoes, thousands of explosive charges and hundreds of tons of other ammunition without a single mishap. Meanwhile, a cable was laid from the power station at Taranto right out to the wreck, a distance of a mile and a half; and with the power thus furnished the divers began drilling holes to take the rivets that were to hold the patches over the great rents in the hull. Slow and arduous work it was, and not without danger, for it cost one man his life. The patches were lowered into place, a layer of rubber was fitted betwixt the hull and the edges of the patches to make them watertight, then the patches were successfully bolted home.