COMPOSITION OF OCEANIC AND LITTORAL MANGANESE NODULES. 



463 



As the locality where the nodules are found is very restricted, it is important to fix 

 its position as nearly as possible. Now, there is not much difficulty in fixing a vessel's 

 position in a direction up and down the loch. Skate Island and adjacent features make 

 it possible to get good leading marks in a direction perpendicular to the coast, but to find 

 her place on this line is very difficult, as there is no feature that gives any leading, and 

 there is nothing near and in the right direction to take bearings from ; still, with careful 

 work, it was always possible to find the spot. Thus, on the day in question, 21st September 

 1878, the first sounding gave exactly 104 fathoms, and everything was done to drop the 

 anchor in the same spot ; yet, when it was let go, it took the ground in 60 fathoms, the 

 vessel having drifted, owing to the south-westerly breeze, towards the north shore. The 



s 7? w 



N 47? E 



i o * Fathoms 



Loch Fyne. Section III.— Cantyre to Cowal through deepest spot parallel to Section II. 



cable was immediately brought to the winch and the anchor hove up, though it required 

 a good deal of humouring to get it out of the ground. The anchor was not brought quite 

 up to the bows, but, when about 5 fathoms of cable were still out, the yacht was steamed 

 out to the proper position and the anchor immediately dropped, and the depth, as given 

 by the wire-rope cable, was as nearly as possible 104 fathoms. More cable was then given, 

 until 150 fathoms were out. It must be remembered that I was using a small kedge- 



Loch Fyne. Section IV. — Cantyre to Cowal through Tarbert Bank and Eiln. Buidhe. 



anchor of ordinary type and weighing half a hundredweight, and my object was simply to 

 anchor the vessel in the deepest water so as to be able to take temperatures and collect 

 samples of water at leisure and without having to manoeuvre the vessel. Although the 

 anchor had not dragged, she had tailed before the south-west wind so far toward the 

 north shore that when I put over the sounding-line with a number of deep-sea. ther- 



