50 POPULAR LECTURES AND ADDRESSES. 



fifty or sixty fathoms. Suppose the ship is going 

 at 12 knots, and it is important not to lose time 

 by heaving to, or even by reducing speed ; the lead, 

 with Massey fly and rope attached, is carried 

 forward as far towards the bow as possible. Two or 

 three coils of the rope are carried outside of the rig- 

 ging, and several men, at different places along the 

 ship's side, stand by, each with a coil or two of it 

 in his hands. The foremost man casts the lead ; 

 when the next man feels 'the rope beginning to pull 

 he lets go, and so on. By the time the ship's stern 

 has passed, the lead may have reached the bottom, 

 or it may not have reached the bottom until a con- 

 siderable distance astern of the ship. It is very 

 hard work pulling in 1 50 or 200 fathoms of the thick 

 deep-sea sounding rope, with 56 Ibs. at the end of 

 it, when the ship is going at any such speed as 

 12 knots through the water, even with twenty or 

 thirty men employed to do it ; but a careful and 

 judicious navigator will not spare his ship's com- 

 pany. He will keep them sounding every hour or 

 every half hour rather than run any unnecessary 

 risk, and (if to lose no time is important) he will 



