22 REPORT—1858. 
grated over it; but on sounding directly after, found 135 fathoms 
water. 
98th Jan.1836.—The ship ‘Philantrope de Bordeaux,’ Jayer: in lat.0°40'S., 
4 and long. 22° 30! W. Violent shock and trembling for three minutes. 
13th & 16th March 1836.—The American ship ‘St. Paul,’ of Salem (captain’s 
name not given), being ten miles to the west of the ‘ Philantrope,’ 
perceived the same shock. 
in 1836 Captain Fergusson, of the ship ‘Henry Tanner,’ presented to 
the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, through F. L. Huntley, Esq., 
voleanic ashes or cinders, like black pumice, which he had found on 
the surface of the sea when much agitated, in lat. 0° 35' S. and long. 
18° 10’ W. 
In a previous voyage Captain Fergusson, in lat. 1° 35'S. and long. 
23° 5' W., was alarmed by a violent shock, accompanied by a great 
noise, as if he had struck upon a rock, but could find no bottom on 
sounding. 
Some other instances are said to be found in the ‘ Sailing Instructions for 
the Azores’ by Tofino, translated by M. Urvoi de Portzampare, in the 
‘ Annales Maritimes de France,’ which I have not been able to consult. We 
possess enough, however, to indicate that a submarine volcanic tract is in 
activity beneath the Atlantic, as large in area as Great Britain, and that the 
bottom of the ocean there is rendered uneven in the extreme, immense 
protrusions taking place in deep water. How desirable would it be that 
some British ships were commissioned to examine this tract more perfectly, 
especially to obtain accurate soundings and sectional lines of the bottom 
from east to west and from north to south, and, if possible, to obtain, by 
dredging or otherwise, good specimens of the material of the bottom, and 
also observations of the temperature of the sea at various depths ! 
Our knowledge of the distinguishing marks of suboceanic and subaerial 
volcanic ejecta, of the chemical reactions producing mineral species, under 
the conditions (so vaguely understood as yet) of high temperature and great 
pressure in presence of water, might receive important accessions, if such 
specimens from the bottom could be obtained from thence (or from other 
similar positions), while our ideas of the extent to which local ocean cur- 
rents may be produced and maintained by the local heating of the deep sea 
immediately above such volcanic tracts might be enlarged, and other trains 
of future research suggested. 
Above all, how forcibly does the existence (so far almost unnoticed and 
unknown) of this vast volcanic and seismic submarine region indicate the 
desirableness of having henceforth a well-arranged system of scientific ob- 
servation and mode of daily entry in the log-book made part of the duties 
of ships of every civilized maritime nation, and having such entries referred 
to a special office (with us, probably, in connexion with the Admiralty or 
with a revivified Board of Longitude) for extract, record, and discussion ! 
That certain classes of observations could not be made on board our ships 
at present, although the zeal of our officers of the navy and of some of the 
mercantile marine might be counted on, is certain; but it is equally so that 
very many of the highest value to cosmical science could be made and re- 
corded, if the system were once arranged, the classes of observation deter- 
mined on, properly ruled and arranged log-books prepared, and the making 
certain observations (to be determined on by the central board beforehand 
in each instance) made matter of duty. Navigation and commerce would 
gain, eventually, quite as much as, by the small sacrifice of time and labour, 
