In the dressing-room were Kenwyn, Carnon the quartermaster, and O’Shaunessey, who were also to form the party. The Irishman was somewhat doubtfully examining the dress and helmet served out to him. Anything that was not "regulation" he regarded with suspicion.
"Buck up, O’Shaunessey!" said the quartermaster. "Here’s the cap’n; and you’re not ready yet."
"Sure, I’m ready," replied the Irishman. "But can’t I have me own dress?"
"You’ll be sorry for yourself if you do," said Captain Restronguet who had overheard O’Shaunessey’s remark. "Before you’ve gone fifty yards you will feel as if you’re squashed between the jaws of a vice."
"You see," he added, turning to Hythe, "the air in a diving-dress fitted with an air-tube is kept under a fairly good pressure; with ours, the air supply being self-contained, only a very slight pressure is maintained. We rely upon the stiffening bands in the flexible metal fabric to withstand the exterior pressure of the water."
Having donned their diving garb, Polglaze served out to each man a small electric lamp. Captain Restronguet and Hythe both carried a steel crowbar, Kenyon a long adjustable spanner, while Carnon and O’Shaunessey took axes. The quartermaster was also equipped with a slate for writing messages, that being the only form of definite communication under water.
As soon as the five men entered the air-lock the water was admitted. When the compartment was full Captain Restronguet thrust back a couple of levers and a portion of the exterior plating of the hull was pushed aside. From the sill of this aperture to the bed of the sea was a drop of nearly ten feet. Unhesitatingly the captain leapt and sank upon a sandy floor, where he was joined by his companions.
Hythe found that walking in this form of dress was far easier than plodding along in the orthodox diving-suit in use in the British Navy. The absence of life-line and air-tube, with their attendant drag upon the diver, was particularly noticeable.
A short halt was made to examine the progress of the work upon the damaged propeller. Already the men had made a fair show with the job, but, as the sub had predicted, every strand had to be carefully cut through and prised up. Under the best conditions it would require another three hours of arduous labour to free the shafting from the obstruction.