258 : The Atlantic 



soundings that were required for the laying of the transatlantic tele- 

 graph cable. 



The American Civil War absorbed the interest of the world and 

 sank many ships and burdened the remaining ships so that there was 

 little progress in the study of the sea for a number of years. How- 

 ever by 1873, the year of Maury's death, Sir C. Wyville Thomson was 

 able to publish The Depths of the Sea based on cruises of two British 

 ships, Porcupine and Lightning. 



This introduced the decades of great and basic explorations of the 

 sea. One of the most productive of these was the voyage of H. M. S. 

 Challenger. This voyage officially commenced in the year 1872 and 

 continued until 1876. The commander was Sir George Nares with Sir 

 Wyville Thomson, Sir John Murray and many scientists working 

 on many different phases of oceanography and marine biology. 



It would burden this book to even list the scientific accomplish- 

 ments of this one expedition but we can form an impression of its 

 importance from the fact that publication of the results began in the 

 year 1880 and continued for fifteen years until 1895. By this time 

 no less than fifty large and full volumes had been published. Many of 

 these had interest only for the scientist and the trained specialist but 

 many also opened up for all men new worlds beneath the waves. Peo- 

 ple saw for the first time the great variety of the strange creatures that 

 lived under pressure in the depths of the sea, and learned also about 

 the variety and distribution of the sediments that lie on the bottom 

 of the ocean. Sir John Murray, who edited the scientific results, was 

 himself interested in the sediments that compose the ocean floor, and 

 it is said that following his Challenger reports his position was so 

 important and well established that he had an opportunity to exam- 

 ine all samples of ocean bottom brought up from great depths until 

 his death in the year 1914. 



Other nations were not far behind the British in sending their own 

 research vessels to sea for extended cruises. Thus the U. S. Coast and 

 Geodetic survey vessel Bla^e was at sea in the years 1 877-1 880 and 

 the results were reported in two volumes by no less a scientist than 

 Alexander Agassiz. The Germans sent out S. M. S. Gazelle 1874- 

 1876, results published in five volumes. The Russians, the Swedes, 

 the Danes, the Norwegians were sending out their own research ves- 

 sels only a few years later. All of this work was useful. Naturally the 

 students of different countries had different interests and they went 

 out on many different errands with varied ships and varied equip- 

 ment. There were vast oceans and great depths to explore; duplica- 



