ON DEEP-SEA SOUNDING. 37 1 



travelled horizontally by the sinker during the 

 time of its going to the bottom. 



The contrast between the ease with which the 

 wire and sinker are got on board from a depth of 

 200 fathoms by a single man, or by two men, in 

 this process, and the labour of hauling in the ordi- 

 nary deep-sea lead and line, by four or five men, 

 when soundings are taken in the ordinary way 

 from a ship going through the water at four or five 

 knots in depths of from 30 to 60 fathoms, is 

 remarkable. Professor Jenkin and I found this 

 process of great value on board the Hooper, during 

 the laying of the Western and Brazilian Telegraph 

 Company's cables between Para, Pernambuco, 

 Bahia, and Rio Janeiro. I am now having con- 

 structed, for the purposes of navigation, a small 

 wire wheel of 12 inches diameter, to have 400 

 fathoms of pianoforte wire coiled on it, for flying 

 soundings in depths of from 5 to 200 fathoms, 

 without any reduction of the speed of the ship, or, 

 at all events, without reducing it below five or six 

 knots. 



B B 2 



