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CHAP. I.] THE EQUIPMENT OF THE SHIP. 
December 7th, 1871. 
The Report of the Committee on the subject of a Scientific Circum- 
navigation Voyage, received at the last meeting, having been taken into 
consideration, it was 
Resolved, That application be made to H.M. Government, as recom- 
mended by the Committee, and that the following draft of a letter 
to be addressed by the Secretary to the Secretary of the Admiral- 
ty be approved: 
“To the Secretary of the Admiralty. 
“THe Royau Society, Burtineron House, December 8th, 1871. 
“‘Str,—I am directed by the President and Council of the Royal So- 
ciety to request that you will represent to the Lords Commissioners of 
the Admiralty that the experience of the recent scientific investigations 
of the deep sea, carried on in European waters by the Admiralty at the 
instance of the Royal Society (reports of which will be found in their 
‘Proceedings’ herewith inclosed), has led them to the conviction that 
advantages of great importance to science and to navigation would ac- 
crue from the extension of such investigations to the great oceanic re- 
gions of the globe. The President and Council therefore venture to 
submit to their lordships’ favorable consideration a proposal for fitting 
out an expedition commensurate to the objects in view; which objects 
are briefly as follows: 
“(1) The physical conditions of the deep sea throughout all the 
great ocean-basins. 
‘“(2) The chemical constitution of the water at various depths from 
the surface to the bottom. 
““(3) The physical and chemical characters of the deposits. 
“(4) The distribution of organic life throughout the areas explored. 
“For effectively carrying out these researches there would, in the 
opinion of the President and Council, be required— 
“(1) A ship of sufficient size to afford accommodation and storage- 
room for sea-voyages of considerable length and for probable absence 
of four years. 
“(2) A staff of scientific men qualified to take charge of the several 
branches of investigation. 
“(3) A supply of every thing necessary for the collection of the ob- 
jects of research, for the prosecution of the physical and chemical in- 
I.—6 
