136 report — 1877. 



coast to Behring Straits. In conclusion, all must admit that England retains the 

 proud distinction of being the foremost nation in polar research ; and if Nares did not 

 reach the Pole, his voyage has contributed largely to the sum of human knowledge. 



Within the period now under review, ocean telegraphy has been developed by 

 means of a cable reposing on the bed of the ocean ; we converse, as it were, with 

 our neighbours across the Atlantic, and our colonies at the Antipodes. In 1841 

 the Atlantic Ocean had not been fathomed ; we are now contouring the bed of the 

 ocean. I well remember the interest exhibited at this port in 1858, when the 

 United States frigate ' Niagara ' and our own ' Agamemnon ' departed to lay down 

 the first cable from Valentia to Newfoundland. The mode of operation on that 

 occasion was — the two met in mid-Atlantic, the cable was spliced and lowered to the 

 bottom, then each ship proceeded paying out the cable as she went towards America 

 and to Ireland. After three failures the cable was laid ; the joy was great; the 

 Queen and President Buchanan interchanged messages, but the joy was of short 

 duration. The cable spoke for twenty-five days, and in that time 4359 words 

 passed between the continents ; it then became weak in voice, and on September 

 1st ceased to speak altogether, though the cause of its silence was never ascer- 

 tained. In 1805 a new cable was manufactured and the 'Great Eastern,' carrying 

 24,000 tons and drawing 33J feet of water, was chartered to convey it. After 

 1200 miles had been laid, disaster occurred, and the ' Great Eastern ' returned 

 home with half the cable, the other half being at the bottom of the Atlantic. In 

 1866 the ' Great Eastern ' again started, and this time complete success was 

 achieved ; the new line was laid from Ireland to Newfoundland, and the wonder- 

 ful feat accomplished of fishing up the broken half from a depth of more than two 

 miles of water. Again congratulatory messages passed between England and 

 America, and since then the working of the cable has been entirely satisfactory. 



Following on this achievement, the naturalist, geologist, and the physicist 

 became eager to obtain evidences concerning the condition of our globe at these 

 hidden depths, which form data for investigating the theories of oceanic physics 

 and the system of ocean circulation. This desire culminated in the ' Challenger ' 

 Expedition under Nares, and a scientific corps under the direction of Sir Wyville 

 Thomson. Captain Evans, R.N., Hydrographer of the Admiralty, in his address 

 last year to this Section, demonstrated the position of the science known as the 

 'Physical Geography of the Sea,' up to the completion of the ' Challenger' Ex- 

 pedition ; I will now do no more than review the work accomplished during that 

 interesting voyage. 



The ' Challenger ' Expedition, complete with every appliance and equipment 

 requisite for the investigation of the ocean depths, sailed from Portsmouth on 

 December 21st, 1872 ; she crossed the Atlantic three times, namely, between the 

 Canaries and Virgin Islands, between Bermuda and the Azores, and between the 

 main coasls of Sierra Leone and San Roque, and also examined an axial stretch of 

 the ocean basin from Halifax to the Virgin Islands. The expedition next visited 

 Bahia and Tristan d'Acunha, and was at the Cape in December 1873, one year of 

 the cruise being thus devoted to the examination of the Atlantic. The ' Chal- 

 lenger ' next proceeded from the Cape to Kerguelen Island, and investigated its 

 suitability as an observing station for the approaching transit of Venus, explored 

 the high southern latitudes between the 80th and 100th meridian of west longitude, 

 and from those shaped its course across the South Sea for Melbourne and New 

 Zealand, which was visited at the beginning of July 1873. From New Zealand 

 the course was laid by the Fiji Islands, Bass's Straits, and the Philippines to 

 Hong Kong, which was attained at the end of 1873. In this part of the expedi- 

 tion the Bandas, Celebes, and Sulu seas were examined and were found to be 

 curious submarine basins, circumscribed by runs of comparatively shallow water. 

 From Hong Kong, Captain Thompson, who had there superseded Captain Nares 

 upon his appointment to the command of the North Polar Expedition, returned to 

 the Philippines, and thence passed to the north coast of New Guinea, and from it 

 to Japan, where the Expedition was reported to be in the month of April 1875. 

 From Japan the ' Challenger ' crossed the Pacific to the 155th west meridian, then 

 passed directly south along the middle line of the ocean for eighty degrees of 



