266 The Cruise of the " Princesse Alice" 



This year's cruise having specialized itself with the investi- 

 gation of exceptional deeps and shoals, the Prince determined 

 to finish it in the same sense. On finally quitting the islands 

 the ship was steered northwards towards a place where the 

 chart bears two soundings of 70 and 48 fathoms respectively 

 and a note attributing them to the ship "Chaucer" in the 

 year 1850. The entry on the chart is accompanied by the 

 letter D to indicate doubt either as regards the depth or the 

 position, or both. 



In the year 1850 deep sounding was not understood, and 

 extravagant depths were from time to time reported. But in 

 1850, as in 1750, a seaman knew perfectly well when he struck 

 bottom with his deep-sea lead in water of 50 or 70 fathoms, 

 and he will know no better in 1950. Indeed, the ordinary 

 merchant ship at the time of the "Chaucer" depended perhaps 

 more on his lead than on his chronometer, if he had one, in 

 approaching such places as the mouth of the channel. When, 

 therefore, he reports two soundings of such moderate depth as 

 70 and 48 fathoms, these depths are, in the first instance, to 

 be accepted. The matter is a little different when we come to 

 the other element namely, the geographical position of his 

 soundings. The "Chaucer" found 70 fathoms in lat. 43 o' N., 

 long. 29 o' W. (Greenwich), and 48 fathoms in lat. 42 45' N., 

 long. 28 35' W. It may be taken that his latitudes are fairly 

 correct; but, in the absence of any information as to how 

 his longitudes are arrived at, they must be considered to be 

 somewhat uncertain. The soundings made by the "Princesse 

 Alice" on September 5 and 6 are 1450 fathoms in lat. 

 4224'N., long. 28 15' W. (Greenwich); 1360 fathoms in 

 lat. 42 50' N., long. 28 38' W. ; 1250 fathoms in lat. 42 55' N., 

 long. 28 47' W. ; 1345 fathoms in lat. 42 53' N., long. 

 28 31' W. ; 1078 fathoms in lat. 42 57' N., long. 28 27' W. ; 

 and 1192 fathoms in lat. 42 57' N., long. 28 22' W. The first 

 of these soundings is four miles and the last is 14 miles east of 

 the mean position of the two "Chaucer" soundings. These 

 soundings may be taken to prove that the bank does not lie 

 immediatelydto the eastward of its reported position. On the 

 other hand, the shoaling from 1345 fathoms to 1078 fathoms 



