ON DEEP-SEA SOUNDING. 383 



became clear I found myself in a proper position, 

 and no time had been lost by stopping to sound. 



" Ho"- many shipmasters let hours go by without 

 obtaining soundings, either because of the delay 

 or on account of the danger of rounding-to in 

 heavy weather to get them, when, if they were 

 provided with your sounding machine they could 

 have their minds set at ease by having timely 

 warning of danger, or by knowing that they \vere 

 in a good position ! " 



I had myself very satisfactory experience of the 

 usefulness of the sounding machine in coming up 

 Channel, running before a gale of south-west wind 

 in thick weather, on the 6th and /th of last August, 

 on returning from Madeira in my yacht Lalla 

 Rookk a small sailing schooner of 126 tons. 

 About 5 A.M. on the 6th, I took two casts, and 

 found 98 fathoms (sand and red spots) and 101 

 fathoms (sand and small shells). The mean \vith 

 a correction of 2\ fathoms to reduce to low water, 

 according to the state of the tide at Ushant at the 

 time, was 97 fathoms. Thenceforward I took a 

 sounding every hour till eight in the evening. By 

 writing these soundings on the edge of a piece of 

 paper at distances equal according to the scale of 

 the chart to the distances run in the intervals, 

 with the edge of the paper always parallel to the 

 course, according to the method of Sir James 

 Anderson and Captain Moriarty, I had fixed 

 accurately the line along which the vessel had 



