Section III, 1919 [181] Trans. R.S.C. 



Experiments on Acoustic Depth Sounding Carried Out in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence, September , 1915 



By Louis V. King, D.Sc, F.R.S.C. 



(Read May Meeting, 1919.) 



Proposals have been made from time to time to measure the depth 

 of the sea by recording the time interval elapsing between the genera- 

 tion of a submarine sound wave from a ship and the reception of a 

 possible echo from the sea floor. Experiments were carried out in 

 1915, from the C. G. S. "Cartier" with a Fessenden Sound Generator, 

 with a view to determining if an appreciable echo could be obtained 

 by means of an ordinary microphone receiver from the clay and ooze 

 sea bottoms characteristic of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It was shown 

 that any echoes which might exist were not detectable by ordinary 

 means and, if appreciable at all, would require for their detection the 

 use of the extremely sensitive microphones and thermionic amplifiers 

 developed since the date of the experiments described. 



