CHAP. V.] 



D EEP-SEA SO UND1JN G. 



223 



commanded by a brake. The reel held about 4,000 

 fathoms of medium No. 2 line of the best Italian 

 hemp, the No. of threads 18, the weight per 100 

 fathoms 12 lbs. 8ozs., the circumference 0*8 inch, and 

 the breaking strain, dry, 1,402 lbs., soaked a day 

 1,211 lbs., marked for 50, 100, and 1,000 fathoms. 



The weather was remarkably clear and fine ; the 

 wind from the north-west, force = 4 ; the sea mode- 

 rate, with a slight swell from the north-west. We 

 were in lat. 47° 38' N., long. 12° OS' W., at the 

 mouth of the Bay of Biscay, about 200 miles to the 

 west of Ushant. The sounding instrument, with two 

 Miller-Casella thermometers and a water bottle 

 attached a fathom or two above it, was cast off the 

 letting-go frame at 2k. 44m. 20s. p.m. Tke line was 

 run off by band from tke reel and given to tke 

 weight as fast as it would take it, so that there migkt 

 not be tke sligktest ckeck or strain. Tke following 

 table gives tke absolute rate of descent :— 



