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the depths on the Telegraph Plateau (Cable Plateau) only reach 1000 to 3000 m, 

 would cross all the so-called »Gulf Stream Branches« in the North Atlantic Ocean. 



The southern sections, however, should be drawn not transversally, but rather in 

 a diagonal direction ; the one from the mouth of the Channel north of the Plateau 

 of the Azores to the West Indies, (Haiti-Portorico) and the Caribbean Sea ; the second 

 going from the Straits of Gibraltar south of the Plateau of the Azores to Trinidad. 



A glance at the attached sketch map will show that one of these routes 

 makes a longitudinal section through the western, and the other a section through 

 the eastern Atlantic hollow. The first would sound the greatest deeps of the Atlan- 

 tic, the Nares Deep and the Portorico Deep, the second crossing the Moseley Deep 

 and the central submarine ridge, and cutting the Sargasso Sea at the surface. 



The carrying out of these two sections demands a complete equipment for oce- 

 anic deep water soundings, and a staff experienced in such work on board large 

 ships. In selecting the stations, the places known from earlier investigation cruises 

 should as far as possible be investigated, and the most advantageous time for the 

 reconnaissance cruise would be the winter months of December — February, as our 

 knowledge of the condition of the sea is especially incomplete in winter. 



B. The opportunity. 



It appears opportune to make the first Atlantic reconnaissance with ships from the 

 Navy, and this on an occasion when such vessels are sent out simultaneously from 

 several European countries on the routes we have defined above. Such an oppor- 

 tunity will present itself on the occasion of the opening of the Panama Canal, which 

 will probably take place in the middle of January 1915. On this occasion, the 

 European countries will probably be represented by Naval vessels, and it is to be 

 presumed that also scientific investigations might be combined with these expe- 

 ditions, which can be done without great expense or loss of time. 



It is to be presumed that a number of the ships, e. g., the Austrian, Italian, 

 etc. will use the Straits of Gibraltar as a way of departure. These could then carry 

 out the southern section, and the circumstance that several vessels of diffei'ent 

 nations traverse the same route would render the task easier by division of labour. 

 Both in Austria and Italy there is a staff of schooled hydrographical assistants, and 

 excellent apparatus for deep sea investigations. The cruise through the Mediter- 

 ranean and the Atlantic would offer a welcome opportunity of extending and com- 

 pleting the experiences obtained in the Adriatic. As the carrying out of a deep 

 water sounding at a station demands about twelve hours, and a sounding up to 

 1000 M. depth with modem apparatus only a few hours, the scientific work would 

 scarcely lengthen the voyage by a week. Supposing that 4 deep water soundings 



