CHAP, v.] DEM-SEA SOUNDING. 201) 



siderable expense. "We must still, therefore, depend 

 mainly upon some form of sounding apparatus for 

 the gradual accumulation of observations which will 

 give us in time a consistent idea of the nature of 

 the bottom of the sea throughout. A simple instru 

 ment which will bring up a surface sample of a 

 pound or so, from a depth of 2,000 fathoms, with 

 out much trouble and with some certainty, is still a 

 desideratum. 



In the year 1818, Sir John Ross, in command of 

 H.M.S. ' Isabella,' on a voyage of discovery for the 

 purpose of exploring Baffin's Bay, invented a machine 

 "for taking up soundings from the bottom of any 

 fathomable depth," which he called a ' deep-sea 

 clamm.' A large pair of forceps were kept asunder 

 by a bolt, and the instrument was so contrived that 

 on the bolt striking the ground, a heavy iron weight 

 slipped down a spindle and closed the forceps, which 

 retained within them a considerable quantity of the 

 bottom, whether sand, mud, or small stones. 1 On the 

 1st of September, 1818, Sir John lloss sounded in 

 1,000 fathoms, lat. 73 37' N., long. 75 25' W. The 

 soundings consisted of " soft mud, in which there 

 were worms, and, entangled on the sounding-line, at 

 the depth of 800 fathoms, was found a beautiful Caput 

 Medusw" On the 6th of September Sir John Ross 

 sounded in 1,050 fathoms, lat. 72 23' N., long. 

 73 075' W., and the clamms brought up Gibs, of very 



1 A Voyage of Discovery made under the Orders of the Admiralty 

 in His Majesty's Ships ' Isabella ' and ' Alexander,' for the purpose of 

 exploring Baffin's Bay, and inquiring into the Possibility of a North 

 west Passage. By John Itoss, K.S., Captain Koyal Navy. London : 

 181U; p. 178. 



