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  A.Appleyard wrote:
> Of the liquids chosen as incompressible fillers, I hereby do NOT recommend a
> choice that Cousteau and Picard made once! They dived in a `bathyscaphe',
> which is a hollow steel ball with a float. The float needed to be filled
> with something incompressible, so they chose petrol (= gasoline)!!! ...

  BILL.DYER@mi*.co*.uk* replied:-
> They chose petrol because of its density. (About 0.73 kg/m^3). Cousteau
> wasn't involved, was he? (This was covered in a very good documentary called
> "Nautilus" [a series about submarines] which was on BBC2 TV recently).
  In the book where I read about the bathyscaphe, I read that on the surface
once, sea waves broke holes in its petrol bladder, and it leaked and people
could smell it. Then, thank #@%$& that with so many craft and men and powered
equipment about there was no stray spark!!

> Also, the French salvage team on the Titanic used Diesel to fill lifting bags.
  Ah. That's better. That stuff's less volatile and so less likely to catch
fire from stray sparks.

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