KATE OF GROWTH OF CORALS. gq 



frigate Sever/i, lost in 1793 near ''Silver Bay," off Turk's 

 Islands, is covered with growing corals. It lies (according to 

 the journal of Mr. J. A. Whipple, by whom specimens were 

 collected in 1857) in about four fathoms of water. One of 

 the specimens was a mass of the species Orbicella annularis, 

 shaped somewhat like a hat ; it is attached to the top of a bell 

 and spread outward on all sides. The thickness of the coral 

 at the centre is about eight inches, and the breadth fifteen. 

 Another specimen consisted of an olive jar and glass decanters 

 cemented together by a mass, of like size, of the same species 

 of coral. The interval since the wrecking of the vessel, to 

 1857, was sixty-four years, and if the corals commenced their 

 growth immediately after the wreck, the increase of this species 

 of coral is very slow. 



The journal of Mr. Whipple, in the library of the same 

 society, contains the records of his observations on the spot, 

 and the efforts made to remove the corals in order to examine 

 the wreck. The following are a few extracts made from it by 

 Prof. Verrill :— 



'^ April 2 1, 1857. — Moored our boat over the remains of a 

 large wreck, . . its depth being from three to ten fathoms. 

 I made the first descent in the armour. I found the bottom 

 very uneven and covered with the remains of a man-of-war, 

 what appeared to be the bow lying in a gulch, with the shanks 

 of three large anchors, the palm of only one of which pro- 

 jected out of the coral rock. 



'''■ April 22. — Made a second descent and commenced exa- 

 mining in six fathoms of water on what appeared to be midships. 

 All astern of this is thick branching coral (Madrepora), and it 

 must have made very fast, the branches being twelve inches in 

 diameter and sixteen feet in height. To look among it from 

 the bottom reminds one of a thick forest of a heavy growth of 

 timber. . . . This branched coral appears to grow where there 

 is but very little iron, as I could see no guns or shot around its 

 roots. Commenced examining the cannon wdth hammer and 

 chisel. . . . Near these cannon, which must have been near 

 the forward part of the ship, I commenced to work on a clear 



H 2 



