II 



THE PROBLEMS OF THE DEEP SEA 



[1873] 



ON the 21st of December, 1872, H.M.S. Challenger, an 

 eighteen gun corvette, of 2,000 tons burden, sailed 

 from Portsmouth harbour for a three, or perhaps four, 

 years' cruise. No man-of-war ever left that famous- 

 port before with so singular an equipment. Two of 

 the eighteen sixty-eight pounders of the Challenger's 

 armament remained to enable her to speak with 

 effect to sea-rovers, haply devoid of any respect 

 for science, in the remote seas for which she is 

 bound ; but the main-deck was, for the most part, 

 stripped of its war-like gear, and fitted up with 

 physical, chemical, and biological laboratories; 

 photography had its dark cabin ; while apparatus 

 for dredging, trawling, and sounding ; for photo- 

 meters and for thermometers, filled the space 

 formerly occupied by guns and gun-tackle, pistols 

 and cutlasses. 



