chap, v.] DEEF-SEA SOUNDING. 209 



siderable expense. We must still, therefore, depend 

 mainly upon some form of sounding apparatus for 

 the gradual accumulation of observations which will 

 give us in time a consistent idea of the nature of 

 the bottom of the sea throughout. A simple instru- 

 ment which will bring up a surface sample of a 

 pound or so, from a depth of 2,000 fathoms, with- 

 out much trouble and with some certainty, is still a 

 desideratum. 



In the year 1818, Sir John Ross, in command of 

 H.M.S. ' Isabella,' on a voyage of discovery for the 

 purpose of exploring Baffin's Bay, invented a machine 

 " for taking up soundings from the bottom of any 

 fathomable depth," which he called a 'deep-sea 

 clamm.' A large pair of forceps were kept asunder 

 by a bolt, and the instrument was so contrived that 

 on the bolt striking the ground, a heavy iron weight 

 slipped down a spindle and closed the forceps, which 

 retained within them a considerable quantity of the 

 bottom, whether sand, mud, or small stones. 1 On the 

 1st of September, 1818, Sir John Boss sounded in 

 1,000 fathoms, lat. 73° 37' N., long. 75° 25' W. The 

 soundings consisted of " soft mud, in which there 

 were worms, and, entangled on the sounding-line, at 

 the depth of 800 fathoms, was found a beautiful Caput 

 Medusa." On the 6th of September Sir John Boss 

 sounded in 1,050 fathoms, lat. 72° 23' N., long. 

 73° 075' W., and the clamms brought up 6 lbs. of very 



1 A Voyage of Discovery made under the Orders of the Admiralty 

 in His Majesty's Ships ' Isabella ' and ' Alexander,' for the purpose of 

 exploring Baffin's Bay, and inquiring into the Possibility of a Korth- 

 west Passage. By John Boss, K.S., Captain Royal Navy. London : 

 1819; p. 17S. 



V 



