818 



ON THE BED OF THE 



and its greatest breadth from west to east, reckon- 

 ing from St Abb's-Head, on the coast of Scotland, 

 to Ring Kiobing Froid, on the opposite shore of 

 Denmark, is 135 leagues. The greatest depth of 

 the water in this basin, seems to be upon the Nor- 

 wegian side, where the soundings give 190 fathoms ; 

 but the mean depth of the whole may be stated at 

 only about 31 fathoms. 



To be more particular with regard to the depth 

 of the German Ocean, or North Sea, it will be ob- 

 served by the sections and soundings marked upon 

 the chart, that the water gradually deepens as we 

 sail from south to north. The first of these sec- 

 tions which we shall notice, is on the parallel of 3 

 degrees of east longitude, running from Ostend to 

 the latitude of the northmost of the Shetland Is- 

 lands, being an extent of 22,7 leagues. The depth, 

 as will be seen from this section, (which, to avoid 

 confusion in the body of the chart, is traced along 

 the western side of it,) varies rather after an irre- 

 gular progression, from ]20 fathoms towards the 

 northern extremity of this sectional line, to 58, 38, 

 24 and 18 fathoms, as we proceed southwards, to 

 within five miles of the shore, nearer which we do 

 not approach in our remarks regarding the sound- 

 ings. Notwithstanding the irregularity of the 

 depth, from the occurrence of numerous sand- banks, 

 it is curious to observe the increase upon the whole, 

 as we proceed from south to north, by which this 



