36'4 APPENDIX. 



sjDices, it was decided to inaugurate a regular plan of deep-sea 

 soundings for tlie American navy. Accordingly, formula3 were 

 arranged, methods prescribed, and every vessel was furnished with 

 the requisite twine, etc., and commanded to use every suitable and 

 convenient opportunity while at sea' to try the depths of its deep 

 waters. Each vessel was allowed a number of reels of this twine, 

 according to her cruising ground, each reel containing ten thou- 

 sand fathoms, weighing about one hundred pounds. 



Under this order, Lieutenant Wm. Eogers Taylor, the 1st of 

 the Albany, Captain Piatt, commenced a series of soundings in 

 and about the Gulf of Mexico. Captain Barron, of the John 

 Adams, ran a line across the Atlantic, and Caj)tain Walker, of the 

 Saratoga, got a cast in the South Atlantic. 



All these soundings required verification ; and in 1851 the Dol- 

 phin, Lieutenant-commanding S. P. Lee, was fitted out, under the 

 act of 1849, especially to assist me with observations and experi- 

 ments. After many trials and as many failures, she at last suc- 

 ceeded in getting good casts, which, being reliable, enabled me to 

 establish a law of descent for the plummet, and so prove the 

 soundings of other vessels. 



Lieutenant Lee, having thus " made the egg stand on its end," re- 

 turned home, bringing with him the best series of deep-sea sound- 

 ings that up to that time had ever been made ; and they have not 

 been surpassed by any up to this day. 



The Dolphin was then placed under the command of Lieuten- 

 ant O. H. Berryman, to continue this service. With Lee's plans 

 and experience to guide him, he put to sea from New York Octo- 

 ber, 1852, sounding as he went as far as the meridian of 40° west, 

 where he was overtaken by a gale, damaged, and forced into the 

 Tagus for repairs. Here he remained till December 19th, and then 

 returned home by the southern route,, sounding and looking for 

 " vigias" as he came. 



With Lee's soundings in the Dolphin, together with those al- 

 ready obtained from the regular cruisers in the navy, I was ena- 

 bled, with the assistance of Professor Flye, to construct, in the fall 

 of 1852, an orographic map of the bed of the North Atlantic 

 Ocean, and to give a profile representing a vertical section of its 

 bottom between this country and Europe near the parallel of 89° 

 north. 



