On the 12th of June, so many ships had arrived in Derwent that the business of the city was seriously incommoded; there was scarcely a free stratum of sky-space left for traffic, the sky was so wedged with ships of all forms and sizes that the city beneath was completely darkened, and scores of anchor-lines were constantly snapping by the moving ships below cutting them, and there was heard on all sides the twang of breaking wires, some emitting deep, sonorous tones, whilst others gave out a shrill scream. Often would come fresh arrivals on one of the higher planes, and on all sides the little suction-tubes were sinking, to be pushed aside by the vigilant owners of other ships, when they would sink still lower, perhaps to settle on another vessel, when the tube would be immovable. If not noticed in time and the line cut, a second later it would be drawn taut and the double strain would snap the line of the lower ship, when both vessels would be set adrift. It was important that some one should be momentarily alert, for tubes were constantly descending and tubeless lines hauled up to be refitted, any one of which might injure another craft. Below the effect was even worse, for the taut wires rose from the ground every few feet, and in the vicinity of the shed passage between them was impossible. Hundreds of the aëronauts descended to sleep in the houses in Derwent and found it impossible to return to their ships, then too closely packed to descend, and hundreds wished to come down but were unable to do so and had perforce to stay aloft. On the morning of the 13th, all traffic in Derwent was stopped, the lines forming such a network in the streets that passage between them was actually dangerous, for many of the owners, in order to protect themselves and their craft from being cast adrift, or providing anchorage for some other vessel, had placed their lines and steel decks in electric circuit of sufficient strength to fuse any other line or tube touching them; and if any person below touched such a line, certain electrocution followed, and their removal from it was equally dangerous to those who went to their assistance, so the authorities ‘waved’ to the shed, asking for the _Regina_ to be cast off, the three friends having taken the precaution of removing there a few days before, which was a piece of admirable forethought, or the _Regina_ could not have sailed to time, for all approach to the shed had by then been cut off for twelve hours or more.