jg • DEPTHS. 



with two or three masts and measuring 50—70 tons. The said vessel is therefore by many authors 

 called the Bussc of Bridge-cater. The captain of the Emanuel reported that he had discovered a large 

 island southeast of Frisland, and that for three days he had sailed along its coast; the country seemed 

 to be very fertile and for a great deal covered with wood, and on all charts from that time appeared 

 an island called Busse Island differing, however, a little in position, but upon an average in latitude 

 58° N. and longitude 30 W. 



In 1609 Henry Hudson tried on his well known third voyage to find the island, but without 

 success, and later investigations had no better result, but since that time appeared in all charts and 

 up to the present century in latitude 58 N. and longitude 30 W. a place called: versonken Land van 

 Buss, the meaning with this sentence being to indicate that the island has disappeared on account of 

 an earthquake. Opinion is at variance with respect to what Busse's Island has been; some persons 

 suppose that it has been a large iceberg, and others that it really has been an island, only situated 

 at another place than indicated, and finally some have been of opinion that it has been a mere 

 chimera or a sailor's yarn pure and simple. 



Versonken Land van Buss disappeared successively in modern charts, but the Greenland 

 traders continued to believe in it, and gave the place a wide berth when they had to pass it, and 

 later on this belief got further nourishment when H. B. M. ship Bulldog took a line of soundings for 

 a projected telegraph-cable, and in latitude 59°38' N. and longitude 2Q°35' W. found 726 fathoms, while 

 to the eastward and westward of this place soundings shoved 1,200 fathoms. Similar circumstances 

 were found more southerly when H. B. M. ship Valorous on its homeward passage from Greenland, 

 where it had been with coals for Nare's expedition, found 670 fathoms in latitude 56°o' N. and 

 longitude 34° 35' W. This bank was the residue of Busse's Island, so said everybody who believed 

 that it had existed. 



Furthermore I shall mention that it is surmised that vessels being in the aforesaid track have 

 noticed earthquakes. The story runs, however, and is a historical fact, that not further back than 

 the I st of September 1885, the brig Tjalfe, belonging to «the Royal Greenland Company», passed 

 the place and noticed an earthquake. — The mate of the brig was walking on deck in conversation 

 with one of the passengers and observed 3 shakings of the ship, each of them lasting 1 or 2 seconds; 

 one of the crew jumped up on the rail and looked over the side to see if the vessel had struck against 

 some floating timber, and the captain came up and asked if they had been rolling casks on the deck. 

 A cast of the lead was taken, but no bottom was found. The earthquake took place at 10.45 a - m - 

 The course steered was E. by N. magnetic with a speed of 2.6 knots. The vessels position at noon 

 by observation was latitude 58 16' N. and longitude 32 30' W. 



In the paper < < Norsk Sjofartstidende* was written on the 25 th of November 1895 as follows: 



'/Thursday the 24 th of October at 8.15 a. m. on the voyage from Miramichi to this place, when 

 the vessel was in latitude 52°23' N. and longitude 32°28' W., breeze decreasing and moderate sea, we 

 noticed suddenly a shaking movement in the vessel, as if it had been dragged along a stony ground. 

 After about 30 seconds had elapsed, the shaking became so violent that all objects on board, loose 

 and fixed, vibrated. It could plainly be seen on the rigging, which vibrated in such a manner, as if 



