3i6 : The Atlantic 



Maury had at his disposal were a very important element in provid- 

 ing both scientific and practical information on the development o£ a 

 cable system. Of equal or even greater importance to Field was the 

 fact that Maury was already beginning to enjoy an international rep- 

 utation not only as a scientist but also as a scientist whose work had 

 great practical importance. Up to this time Maury had devoted his 

 attention to the study of the wind and weather systems of the ocean 

 and the flow of ocean currents. His study of these matters on a vast 

 scale had permitted him to construct these sets of pilot charts and 

 sailing directions which resulted annually in the savings of millions 

 of dollars to the ship operators on both sides of the Atlantic. 



Maury now began collecting all available information on ocean 

 depths and ocean bottom and under his direction United States naval 

 vessels initiated a series of voyages to secure systematic soundings. 

 When this work commenced, the methods of taking a sounding were 

 extremely cumbersome and time consuming. It had been the custom 

 to lower a great weight of lead on a rope and then when it appeared 

 that bottom had been reached to make an attempt to recover the 

 rope and weight intact. This consumed many hours of time for 

 each sounding, the length of time being more or less dependent upon 

 the depth of the ocean. 



The great length of rope involved the set of the current, the drift 

 of the ship, and made it difficult to determine exactly when bottom 

 had been reached and otherwise rendered the soundings inaccurate. 

 Maury suggested substituting a wire for the rope and using an ordi- 

 nary metal shot as a substitute for the weight, the shot being at- 

 tached to the wire in such a way that it would become detached 

 when bottom had been reached. The wire could then be recovered 

 with a fair amount of speed. 



This system reduced the time required to take a sounding and 

 greatly increased the number of soundings that could be taken in 

 any one voyage. A further improvement was made with the inven- 

 tion of a simple but practical sounding machine by John Mercer 

 Brooke in 1852. Maury at once put this machine to work and in 1853 

 the Dolphin, under command of O. H. Berryman, completed a line 

 of soundings between Nova Scotia and Ireland. 



Maury had already developed the idea that the line between New- 

 foundland and Ireland was not only one of the shortest that could 

 be drawn from one side of the Atlantic to the other but also that 

 here the ocean was relatively shallow. The Grand Banks extended a 

 long way east of Newfoundland and even beyond the Banks there 



