THE SHIP AND ITS EQUIPMENT 27 



Hauling in was done rapidly, as will be seen from the 

 following extracts : — 



Station 79, depth 2025 fathoms. The dredge was lowered at 11 A.M., Time required 

 and 2800 fathoms of Hne paid out ; at 4 p.m. commenced hauling in, and for dredging 



c ' ^ o ' jj^j} trawling. 



the dredge came up at 5.45 p.m. 



Station 244, depth 2900 fathoms. The trawl was lowered at 4 A.M., 

 and 3500 fathoms of line paid out ; commenced hauling in at noon, and 

 the trawl came up at 3.50 P.M. 



Thus in the course of twelve hours it was possible to carry out 

 a successful trawling at a depth of about 3000 fathoms. 



With such means as they had then at their disposal — a 

 sailing ship with auxiliary engine and hemp lines — it was 

 scarcely possible to devise a more thorough system of working. 

 During the whole three and a half years, when trawlings and 

 dredgings were made at 354 stations, there were only eleven 

 cases of the parting of the dredge or trawl line. But gear of 

 this kind necessitated lavish space and a large number of hands, 

 both of which were generally to be had on the old sailing ships. 

 It entailed ample space on deck for the coils of line and high 

 masts for the accumulators, while numbers of men were needed 

 to coil the lines and to hold on abaft the end-drums of the 

 winch. A sailing ship, however, required much less coal than ( 

 a steamer, which is a great advantage on a voyage round the • 

 world. 



In the Narrative of the "Challenger" Expedition it is Recent 

 mentioned that at the time the vessel was being got ready for "methods. 

 her cruise, Sir William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) was engaged Lord Kelvins 

 in trying once more to solve the problem of taking soundings on^s^ouSg 

 with wire instead of with a hemp line, and that a sounding with wire. 

 apparatus constructed by him was placed on board just before 

 the ship sailed ; the drum, however, collapsed when first used. 

 Notwithstanding this Sir William Thomson continued with the 

 utmost energy, and eventually with complete success, to develop 

 his method, and it was employed by the American sounding 

 vessels "Tuscarora" (Captain Belknap) and "Blake" (Captain 

 Sigsbee). Wire has great advantages over a hemp line, firstly, 

 because it enables soundings to be taken more quickly, since 

 the steel wire meets with far less friction in the water ; and 

 secondly, because it requires much less space. 



Fig. 4, which is taken from Sigsbee's excellent book,^ Advantages of 

 represents sections of the hemp lines used by the "Challenger," hemp Une. 



^ Sigsbee, Deep-Sea Soundiiio and Dredging, Washington, 1880. 



