126 CORALS AND CORAL ISLANDS. 



bell and spreads outward on all sides. The thickness of the 

 coral at the centre is about eight inches, and the breadth fif- 

 teen. Another specimen consisted of an olive jar and glass 

 decanters cemented together by a mass, of like size, of the same 

 species of coral. The interval since the wrecking of the ves- 

 sel, to 1857, was sixty-four years, and if the corals commenced 

 their growth immediately after the wreck the increase of this 

 species of coral is very slow. 



The journal of Mr. Whipple, in the library of the same 

 society, contains the records of his observations on the spot, 

 and the efforts made to remove the corals in order to examine 

 the wreck. The following are a few extracts made from it by 

 Prof. Verrill : 



April 21, 1857. — Moored our boat over the remains of a 

 large wreck, * * its depth being from three to ten fath- 

 oms. I made the first descent in the armor. I found the bot- 

 tom very uneven and covered with the remains of a man-of- 

 war, what appeared to be the bow lying in a gulch, with the 

 shanks of three large anchors, the palm of only one of which 

 projected out of the coral rock. 



April 22. — Made a second descent and commenced exam- 

 ining in six fathoms of water on what appeared to be mid- 

 ships. All astern of this is thick branching coral (Madrepora), 

 and it must have made very fast, the branches being twelve 

 inches in diameter and sixteen feet in height. To look among 

 it from the bottom reminds one of a thick forest of a heavy 

 growth of timber. * * * This branched coral appears to 

 grow where there is but very little iron, as I could see no guns 

 or shot around its roots. Commenced examining the cannon 

 with hammer and chisel. * * * Near these cannon, which 

 must have been near the forward part of the ship, I com- 

 menced to work on a clear space between the cannon. After 



