2 DEEP-SEA SOUNDING. 



As little is known of the work of the Enterprise, I 

 have concluded to publish a brief account of the voyage 

 in so far as it relates to deep-sea sounding, thinking it 

 may be of some interest to the naval service at large. 



The sounding apparatus used was the Sigsbee Im- 

 proved Sir William Thomson's, consisting of a reel with 

 accumulator and a small reeling-in engine. This reel, 

 which was of the ordinary service type of that day, was 

 completely crushed while on the way to South Africa, 

 and a new one, designed by Chief Engineer H. D. 

 McEwan, was made at Cape Town by the mechanics on 

 board ship, the only expense to the government being 

 the cost of the material. This improved reel was in 

 service during the remainder of the cruise, and was 

 so strongly constructed that, without being injured, it 

 reeled up a 6o-pound shot from a depth of 271 1 fathoms. 

 It was made as follows : Two steel diaphragms were 

 placed at equal distances between the two outer steel 

 faces of the reel, and all parts thoroughly secured in 

 place by through-bolts, the outer periphery upon which 

 the wire was wound being also composed wholly of these 

 bolts. 



The specimen cups supplied were of different kinds, 

 viz., Belknap's No. i. No. 2, and No. 3, and Sigsbee's 

 improved Belknap No. 2. During the cruise other cups 

 were used, the best of which, the " Enterprise," was a 

 modified Belknap No. 2 made on board ship. 



The wire was partly of American and partly of Eng- 

 lish manufacture, of No. 22 Birmingham gauge. The 



