168 



Dr. Carpenter's Preliminary Report [Dec. 17, 



II. "Preliminary Report/' by Dr. William B. Carpenter, V.P.R.S., 

 " of Dredging Operations in the Seas to the North of the British 

 Islands, carried on in Her Majesty's Steam-vessel f Lightning/ 

 by Dr. Carpenter and Dr. Wyville Thomson, Professor of 

 Natural History in Queen's College, Belfast." Received October 

 22, 1868. 



In accordance with the request of the President and Council of the 

 Royal Society, conveyed in the Letter written by their direction to the Se- 

 cretary to the Admiralty on the 18th of June (Appendix), the Lords Com- 

 missioners of the Admiralty were pleased to give their sanction to the 

 scheme for Deep-sea Dredging therein proposed, and to furnish the means 

 of carrying it out as effectively as the advanced period of the season might 

 permit. 



2. The Surveying- ship 'Lightning' was assigned for the service, and 

 was furnished with a " donkey-engine," and with all other appliances re- 

 quired for the work, together with the most approved Sounding-apparatus* 

 and Thermometers. The vessel was placed under the charge of Staff-Com- 

 mander May, who had been much engaged in exploratory service elsewhere ; 

 and the instructions given to him were so framed as to enable him to carry 

 out my wishes in every practicable way. 



3. I was accompanied by my friend Professor Wyville Thomson, with 

 whom the idea of this inquiry had originated f , and to whose zealous and 

 efficient cooperation I have been greatly indebted in the prosecution of it. 

 His large previous experience in Dredging-operations, and his extensive 

 knowledge of the Marine Fauna, not merely of Great Britain, but of the 

 Scandinavian and Boreal provinces, have supplied much that would other- 

 wise have been deficient on my own part ; and he has shown himself ever 

 ready to relieve me of the more laborious part of the work we had jointly 

 undertaken. Although it has been deemed fitting that, as it was by me 

 that the proposal for this inquiry was brought before the Royal Society, 

 and as I w r as entrusted by the Admiralty with the direction of it, this Re- 

 port of its proceedings should proceed from myself, I have the satisfaction 

 of saying that it has the full concurrence of my able Coadjutor. — I was 

 permitted to take with me one of my sons as an Assistant ; and we were 

 all three considered as in the Public Service, and liberally provided for ac- 

 cordingly. 



4. It is with great pleasure that I am able to state that the results of 



* The Sounding-apparatus which we employed was that known as " Fitzgerald's 

 Sinker," and we found it to answer perfectly. It carries down a weight of either 56 lbs. 

 or 112 lbs., which detaches itself on reaching the bottom, so that the sinker (the weight 

 of which is itself small) can be brought up by a small line ; and this sinker is provided 

 with a scoop, which brings up a sample of the bottom in a wedge-shaped box furnished 

 with a cover that falls down and closes it when it has struck the ground. 



t See his Letter of May 30 in the Appendix. 



