* o 
10*2 
THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
" PORCCTIX* " 
ExPEomoxa 
The “8ncAE 
A TER * * 
MEKVATIOXfL. 
another th: t an hour’s sail may be sufficient to pass from the extreme of heat to the 
extreme of cold. 
“ Finally, it had been shown that a large proportion of the forms living at great 
depths in the sea belong to species hitherto unknown, and that thus a new field of bound- 
less extent and great interest is open to the naturalist. It had been further shown that 
mam of these deep-sea animals are specifically identical with tertiary fossils hitherto 
I li' ved to be extinct, while others associate themselves with and illustrate extinct groups 
of the laum of more remote periods ; as, for example, the vitreous sponges illustrate and 
unriddle the ventriculites of the chalk. ” 1 
In consideration of the value and novelty of these results, the Royal Society urged 
the Admiralty to provide means of extending the observations. In 1869 the surveying 
ship “ Porcupine, Captain Calver, was appointed for this service. In addition to 
the temperature observations, which had turned out so interesting in the cruise of the 
‘ Lightning,” it was decided to make a number of chemical observations on the water. 
For this purpose, the chartroom was fitted up as a laboratory, and a chemist was invited 
to join the biologists on the cruise. A number of arrangements were also made for 
facilitating dredging and the subsequent observations. The “ Porcupine ” was well 
adapted for the purpose, and between May and September 1869 she made three distinct 
trips. The first of these was under the scientific direction of Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys, 
and it was chiefly devoted to dredging off the west coast of Ireland and in 
the channel between Scotland and Rockall. The deepest dredging was in 1470 
fathoms, and no lack of life was found at that depth. It was accordingly resolved 
that, during the second trip, under the direction of Professor Wyville Thomson, 
an attempt should be made to dredge in the deepest water within reach, so that a 
deliuite answer to the general question of the existence of life at great depths could 
lie arrived at. The “ Porcupine ” was steered for the Bay of Biscay, and at a point about 
250 miles west of L shant two highly successful hauls of the dredge were taken in water 
over 20<>0 fathoms deep, and in both animal forms from the Protozoa to the Mollusca 
V" r c abundant. * It was on this cruise that Captain Calver suggested the employment of 
hem]- n tangles attached to the dredge frame, which resulted in the capture of many new' 
animals. The third cruise of 1 869, during which Dr. Carpenter was the naturalist in charge, 
was intended to be a repetition of that of the “ Lightning ” in the previous autumn. 
The observations of the earlier expedition were confirmed and extended in various 
directions. 
In 1870 Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys and Dr. Carpenter continued the work in the 
Porcupine’ by a highly interesting series of soundings and dredgings in the Medi- 
tfrram m and current observations in the Strait of Gibraltar. Dr. Carpenter resumed 
the study of this region in the following year in the “Shearwater,” commanded 
1 Thom»oa, op. ciL, pp. 79, 80. * Ibid., pp. 90, 97. 
