A rapid survey was made to see that she was fit for her journey, then the tugs took up their task and began to tow her slowly along the channel between the lines of buoys marking the passage. A stranger spectacle than the towing of this upside-down battleship was never before seen on the seas. The tugs managed to keep the capsized leviathan right in the centre of the channel, and by nightfall the vessel was at the entrance to the dry dock, and was skilfully manœuvred inside on the following day. [Illustration: TOWING THE UPSIDE-DOWN BATTLESHIP OUT OF DOCK ON JANUARY 22, 1921 IN ORDER TO RIGHT HER] For two days she floated, held up by the compressed air within her hull, and during this time certain adjustments were made in the mighty timber frame that was to support her. The water was now drawn off from the dock and the _Leonardo da Vinci_ settled down comfortably on her timber framework. Her settling down placed a huge strain on the timbers, some having to bear the very great pressure of 225 tons to the square inch. The calculations, however, were so cleverly made, and the vast weight was so evenly distributed, that the framework supported her in perfect security. In itself this was a remarkable achievement. The slightest miscalculation, or one weak timber, might have brought about the collapse of the whole structure, and the battleship would have fallen, an absolute wreck, on the bed of the dry dock. For months men swarmed about the upturned battleship, doing the final repairs that were necessary before she could be righted. The conclusive test of the Italians was nigh. Could they succeed in turning the great mass of metal the right way up again? No power known to man would suffice to right the vessel on land. Before the task could be attempted it was essential to place her once more in her element, the sea. On land she was immovable, on the sea she floated and could be more or less controlled by man, but whether man could perform the miracle of turning her right way up again, nobody knew. The bottom of a ship, of course, has to be strongly built to withstand the pressures to which it is subjected. The deck, not having to stand the strain that the bottom is called upon to bear, need not be built so strongly. In this case the deck and the bottom had changed places, and it was therefore of the utmost importance that the deck should be strengthened to withstand the increased pressures that would arise in righting the ship.