810 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. 



common twine thread for a sounding-line, and a cannon ball for a 

 sinker, was suggested. It was a beautiful conception ; for, besides 

 its simplicity, it had in its favor the greatest of recommendations 

 — it could be readily put into practice. 



567. Well-directed attempts to fathom the ocean began now to 

 The great depths and bc made with such a line and plammet, and the 



failures of the first at- ^ . ., ^^ ^ ^ ^ 



tempts. public mmd was astonished at the vast depths that 



were at first reported. Lieutenant Walsh, of the United States 

 schooner "Taney," reported a cast with the deep-sea lead at thir- 

 ty-four thousand feet without bottom. His sounding-line was an 

 iron wire more than eleven miles in length. Lieutenant Berry- 

 man, of the United States brig "Dolphin," reported another un- 

 successful attempt to fathom mid-ocean with a line thirty-nine 

 thousand feet in length. Captain Denham, of her Britannic maj- 

 esty's ship " Herald," reported bottom in the South Atlantic at 

 the depth of forty -six thousand feet ; and Lieutenant J. P. Par- 

 ker, of the United States frigate "Congress," afterward, in attemjDt- 

 ing to sound near the same region, let go his plummet, and saw 

 it run out a line fifty thousand feet long as though the bottom 

 had not been reached. There are no such depths as these. The 

 three last-named attempts were made with the sounding-twine of 

 the American navy, which has been introduced in conformity 

 with a very simple plan for sounding out the depths of the ocean. 

 It involved for each cast only the expenditure of a cannon ball, 

 and twine enough to reach the bottom. This plan was introduced 

 as a part of the researches conducted at the National Observa- 

 tory, and which have proved so fruitful and beneficial, concern- 

 ing the winds and currents, and other phenomena of the ocean. 

 These researches had already received the approbation of the Con- 

 gress of the United States ; for that body, in a spirit worthy of 

 the representatives of a free and enlightened people, had author- 

 ized the Secretary of the Navy to employ three public vessels to 

 assist in perfecting the discoveries, and in conducting the investi- 

 gations connected therewith. 



568. The plan of deep-sea soundings finally adopted, and now 

 The plan finally ^^ practicc, is this : Evciy vessel of the navy, when 

 adopted. gj^g p^^^g ^^ g^^^ ^g^ j£ g|^g dcsircs it, fumishcd with a* 



sufficient quantity of sounding-twine, carefully marked at every 

 length of one hundred fathoms — six hundred feet — and wound on 



