MOBSMAN Et)CK— SAINTHILL BANK. 599* 



passed close to a stranded and deserted wreck, in lat. 40° 20' N., long. 36° 49' W., 

 hard and fast ashore upon a reef, but did not board her, and no mention is made 

 of soundingri. The account appears in the " Nautical Magazine," February, 1885, 

 page 103. 



MossMAN Rock, lat. 43° 41' N., long. 28° 51' W. 



The harbour master of Hartlepool announced the discovery of a rock a few feet 

 above water, by his brother, Captain Robert Mossman, in command of the 

 Edward Kenny^ April 22nd, 1854, in the above position. It was confidently 

 believed to be a rock, but no means are stated to have been tried to test it. 



The repeated annoimcements of rocks in this neighbourhood, although they 

 hardly in any case appear to be seen again in the positions claimed for them, and 

 the evidence of the deep soundings is against several of them, yet this repetition 

 of discovery leads to the inference that some such rock as Mr. Mossman describes 

 may lurk hidden here, and have given rise to these reports. 



In 1850, soundings of 48 and 70 fathoms were reported by the captain of the 

 Chaucer, about 60 miles south-westward of this position. Later examinations 

 show a depth of 1,210 fathoms not far eastward of these reported soundings. 

 On December 5th, 1892, no bottom was found in their vicinity at 125 and 135 

 fathoms, by soundings taken from the U.S.S. Monongahela, nor could any 

 indication of shoal water be seen ; the weather was fine and clear, and the sea 

 calm. 



SAINTHILL, BEAUFORT, ob MILNE BANK. 



We have in this a very singular fact in hydrography. On two occasions 

 very satisfactory soundings were obtained near the same spot, by British 

 Naval officers, and yet both positions were unsuccessfully sought for by a 

 third, as will be seen by the following : — 



Lieut. A. Sainthill, R.N., commander of the ship Beaufort, on returning 

 from Jamaica, on August 3rd, 1832, when in lat. 42° 37' N., long. 41° 45' W., 

 observed the water to be discoloured ; in consequence of which he twice 

 tried for soundings, and found rocky ground at the depth of 100 fathoms. 

 But in September, 1858, Commander Dayman tried and found no bottom 

 with 3,000 fathoms up and down, in lat. 42° 7' N., long. 41° 28' W., about 

 35 miles to the S.W. This, however, cannot be considered as reliable, 

 since more recent experiments show depths of 1,850 to 2,500 fathoms in 

 this region. 



Notwithstanding that these deep soundings, so near Lieut. Sainthill's 

 position (of which, however, he was not confident to half a degree of 

 longitude), would apparently disprove its existence, yet Lieut. Sainthill 

 repeated his statement (in the "Nautical Magazine, 1859," page 209) : " I 

 am perfectly convinced that we touched bottom ; what Captain Dayman 

 would call an excellent up and down cast. The arming of the lead 

 showed sharp rocky bottom of fine blueish ashes. The water was very 

 much discoloured, which induced me to try for soundings, and my opinion 

 is that we were over a submarine volcano in a state of eruption." 



In 1864, Admiral Sir Alex. Milne, in H.M.S. Nile, also reported that 

 he had found less water in the vicinity, his account being as follows : — 

 •< On March 28th, 1864, in lat. 43° 35' N., long. 38° 50' W., during the 

 passage from Bermuda to England, the sea assumed a dark, dull lead 



