344 ‘THE ATLANTIC. [cHap. v. 
could be brought round to steam up to it, the line unfortu- 
nately parted, and the hydra, two thermometers, and a water- 
bottle were lost. There was scarcely sufficient strain shown 
on the accumulators to account for this, and the accident may 
probably have been caused by a sudden jerk, or by some imper- 
fection in the line. The hydra was again sent down with 8 ewt. 
of weights on a No. 1 sounding-line as before, and the ship was 
put before the wind. The line was checked from time to time 
to insure its being as perpendicular as possible. Each time the 
line ran out it was carried astern in a bight by the current, and 
when checked it came forward, cutting its way through the wa- 
ter until it was up and down.* ‘To keep up to the line, the 
ship was steamed ahead at the rate of three knots an hour, and 
on the least decrease of speed the line moved ahead, or rather 
the ship was carried astern. All our usual time indications of 
the progress of the sounding were at fault, and in a most per- 
plexing way, for the rate of the current was nearly the same as 
the ordinary rate of the running-out of the sounding-line, so 
that, had the weights reached the bottom, the line would have 
been carried out by the water with the same rapidity as before. 
When 2650 fathoms were out, there was a lessened strain on 
the accumulators, and the line was hove in; but on the arrival 
of the instruments at the surface it was found that the weights 
had not slipped, and had, in fact, never reached the bottom; 
although they could not have been far from it, as the thermom- 
eters registered a temperature of 1°°8 C. 
In the course of the afternoon three series of temperature 
observations were taken which showed that we were on the 
slope of the so-called “cold wall.” 
Surface! ss. en ve atiecie ao oO. 60) fathoms::5 6 e-n ee DALEY ACD 
DO fawhoOmses. 2s os ote cee 80 SA a eta otakeccteleratods 20 :0 
40 “ Sie etves aie oate eo 100 6 SAECO ES aaetsh Ss 
* See Reports of Captain G.S, Nares, R.N., to the Admiralty, published in 1874, 
p. 6. 
