THE DEEP SEA AND ITS CONTENTS. 317 



peculiarly suitable for the work ; she was placed under the com- 

 mand of Captain (now Sir George) Nares, than whom no more 

 highly qualified head could have been chosen. In the work of 

 the ship he had the zealous co-operation of a selected staff of 

 naval officers, whilst for the direction of the scientific work the 

 expedition had the advantage of the services of Professor (now 

 Sir) Wyville Thomson, with five assistants, each of whom had 

 already shown special proficiency in the particular department 

 committed to his charge. 



The expedition left Sheerness on the 7th of December, 1872, 

 and returned to Spithead on the 24th of May, 1876 ; having 

 altogether traversed a distance of nearly seventy thousand nautical 

 miles or (nearly four times the earth's equatorial circumference), 

 and having, at intervals as nearly uniform as possible, established 

 362 observing stations along the course traversed. This course 

 was, for various reasons, anything but a direct one. ' In the first 

 year the Atlantic was crossed and recrossed three times each 

 way; and a diversion was made from Bermuda to Halifax, and 

 back again, for the special purpose of examining the phenomena 

 of the Gulf Stream. This first part of the voyage terminated at 

 the Cape of Good Hope, from which a fresh start was made for 

 Kerguelen's Land, on which Captain Nares was directed to report 

 in regard to the sites most suitable for the observation of the 

 approaching transit of Venus. Thence the Challenger proceeded 

 due south towards the antarctic ice-barrier : and, after making the 

 desired observations along its margin, she proceeded to Mel- 

 bourne, Sydney, and New Zealand. The next portion of her 

 voyage was devoted to an examination of the western part of the 

 great Pacific area, with a diversion into the adjacent part of the 

 Malay Archipelago ; and it was when proceeding almost due 

 north from New Guinea to Japan that her deepest sounding (the 

 deepest trusitvorthy sounding yet made) of 4,475 fathoms — 

 26,850 feet, or more than_/?7'(? miles — was obtained. From Japan 

 her course was shaped almost due east, kcejMng near the parallel 

 of 38° north as far as the meridian of the Sandwich Islands, so 

 as to traverse about two-thirds of the North Pacific ; and then, 

 taking a southern direction, she proceeded first to that group, 

 and thence across the equator to Tahiti, thus making a north 



