28 THE OCEAN 



been recorded up to the present time. Only 8 

 soundings are recorded in depths exceeding 

 5000 fathoms (30,000 feet). Three of these 

 occur in the Aldrich Deep in the South Pacific 

 near the Friendly and Kermadec Islands, 

 where the deepest cast is 5155 fathoms. Four 

 occur in the North- West Pacific in the 

 Challenger Deep, the deepest cast being 5269 

 fathoms, while the greatest known depth, of 

 5348 fathoms, was recorded in the Swire Deep, 

 off Mindanao, by the German ship " Planet " 

 in 1912. This greatest known depth in the 

 ocean is 32,089 feet, or 409 feet more than six 

 English miles. If the highest known moun- 

 tain (Mount Everest in the Himalayas, 29,002 

 feet) could be placed in this area of the Pacific, 

 its summit would be covered by the waters 

 of the ocean to a depth of 3087 feet. 



It is only in the Pacific that depths exceed- 

 ing 5000 fathoms are known. The deepest 

 sounding in the Atlantic is 4662 fathoms 

 (north of the West Indies), and in the Indian 

 Ocean the greatest depth is 3828 fathoms 

 (south of Java). It is unlikely that the 

 greatest depth is yet known, but when we 

 remember the small number of soundings in 

 depths greater than 5000 fathoms, and the 

 relatively small area which the deeps of the 

 ocean occupy, it seems most improbable that 

 depths greater than 6000 fathoms — six geo- 



