46 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 
PAET II. 
Bepoet on the Sounding and Deedging Appaeatus. 
By Eev. W. S. Geeen, M.A. 
Intlie summer of 1 885 1 received a letter fromProfessor A. C. Haddon, 
stating tliat lie had been entrusted, in company with. Mr, Joseph Wright 
of BeKast, and others, with a grant from the Royal Irish Academy for 
the purpose of dredging for marine animals oS the south-west coast of 
Ireland, and asking me to undertake the general management of the ex- 
pedition. Immediately I entered into negotiations with the late Queens- 
town Towing Company, and secured the use of their paddle steamer, 
Lord Eandon," for a period of six days. The rope and dredges were 
brought to Queenstown on the day of sailing (August 4th) by Professor 
Haddon and Mr. Wright. I had had a small surging drum fitted on 
the intermediate spindle of the steam-windlass, which gave greater speed 
in heaving-in, and had also constructed a small beam trawl, with fine- 
mesh net. A report of this expedition having already been published, 
it is unnecessary for me to enter into details ; suffice it to say that the 
general conclusions I came to with regard to the working of our gear 
were briefly these : — 
Sounding with hemp-cord was too slow, and our dredges, more 
suitable for obtaining the smaller forms of marine life, were so quickly 
filled with mud that no room was left for the larger animals. 
In 1885 our deepest work was in 120 fathoms. Since the con- 
clusion of that expedition, a larger grant was entrusted to our Com- 
mittee with a view to prosecuting our researches to a greater depth, 
and I was again able to secure the use of the "Lord Eandon" from 
her new owners, the Clyde Shipping Company. As we could only 
have her for twelve days, it was obvious that our gear should be the 
best that the small amount of money at our disposal could provide. 
Captain Sigsbee's book I found most valuable ; and I came to the 
conclusion that in order to secure celerity in soundings, we must have 
an automatic, steel wire sounding machine, like that in use in the 
United States JS'avy, the principle of which was devised by Sir 
William Thompson; that for gathering the larger forms of life, the 
American double-trawl was the best implement, or at all events a 
dredge made on the same principle ; and lastly, that we must try 
to work with a steel wire rope, instead of one made of hemp. 
The day fixed for the sailing of our second expedition was July 5th, 
