U. S. Sergeant Floyd. Captain McIntyre pulls on a polished bass knob and a bell sounds somewhere below. A deckhand, equipped with a life belt of Mae West mode and hidden from view on the deck below, picks up an 18-foot pole marked with alternate black and white bands a foot wide and expertly pokes it toward the bottom. We are in 12 feet of water, or two fathoms, and his softly spoken \"Mark Twain\" is taken by the deck microphone and comes to us over the loud speaker in the pilot house.