The leading diver struggled into his suit. For aught he knew, he would never come up alive; the enormous pressure of the water might squeeze his unprotected legs and body and arms until it had squeezed all the blood in his body through his eyes and ears and nose and mouth. He knew that the metal helmet protected his head from the sea pressure, which was the reason why the nip of the sea drives all the blood in the body up to the head. But he smiled cheerfully as his helmet was screwed into place. A few moments later he was sliding down the shot-rope. Down and down he went, the sea pressing heavier and heavier on his body. Up on the surface the air pumps heaved quickly to pass down to him the air that would prevent him from being squeezed to death. Reaching the wreck at last, he found the pressure so enormous that it was almost impossible for him to lift his hand in the water. To move at all was really like pushing his way through some solid substance. Nevertheless, he managed to survey the wreck and was slowly drawn up again to safety, after spending ten minutes at the bottom. Several times he and his fellow divers penetrated to these startling depths to see that adjustments were properly made. Then, just when everything seemed all right, the sense of impending tragedy gripped the watchers on the surface. They had drawn up one gallant diver to 200 feet, when he found that his lines were entangled and that he was stuck fast. It was a fearful situation. For a diver to be caught at this great depth is almost certain death. Relays of divers were sent down to his aid, and for two hours they struggled and fought to release their comrade who was dangling there at death’s door 200 feet below the surface of the sea. In the end they disentangled him, and he was drawn up in a most critical state. Double pneumonia struck him down, and for months his life was despaired of. Eventually a fine constitution and tireless nursing enabled him to pull round and regain his lost health. But it was a desperately close shave. That any man could reach this depth and still live is little short of a miracle. Eventually the ill-fated F.4 was towed into harbour. In raising her according to plan, the American Navy broke three records. By attaining the incredible depth of 304 feet, the American divers wrested the diving record from the British Navy; that unfortunate diver who was forced to remain at 200 feet for two hours, without fatal results or permanent injury, created another record; and their third record was achieved by lifting the submarine from the greatest depth at which any wreck has ever been raised. It is impossible to praise the divers and salvage officers too highly for these magnificent feats.