94 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA. [ CHAP. III. 
The weather was very settled. On the Sunday, as 
we steamed down the Irish Channel there was nearly 
a dead calm, a slight mist hanging over the water 
and giving some very beautiful effects .of coast 
scenery. On the evening of Sunday the 18th we 
anchored for the night off Ballycottin, a pretty little 
port about fifteen miles from Queenstown, and 
dropped round to Queenstown on Monday morning, 
where we anchored off Haulbowline Island at 7 a.m. 
At Queenstown Mr. P. Herbert Carpenter joined 
Mr. Hunter in the laboratory, to practice under his 
direction the gas-analysis, which it had been arranged 
that he should undertake during the third cruise. 
Monday the 18th was employed in coaling and pro- 
curing in Cork some things which were required for 
the chemical department; and at 7 p.m. we cast off 
from the wharf at Haulbowline and proceeded on 
our voyage. 
During Monday night we steamed in a south- 
westerly direction across the mouth of the Channel. 
On Tuesday we dredged in 74 and 75 fathoms on 
the plateau which extends between Cape Clear and 
Ushant, on a bottom of mud and gravel with dead 
shells and a few living examples of the generally 
diffused species of moderate depths. The weather 
was remarkably fine, the barometer 30°25 in., and 
the temperature of the air 22°5 C. 
On Wednesday, July 21, we continued our south- 
westerly course, the chart indicating during the earlier 
part of the day that we were still in the shallow 
water of the plateau of the Channel. At 4.30 a.m. 
we dredged gravel and dead shells in 95 fathoms, but 
towards mid-day the lead gave a much greater depth ; 
