DEEP-SEA. EXPLORATION. 
1^91 
itscU was concerned, but was and is still recorded to show comparative results 
under the varying conditions of actual "pratdice. 
The explorations of the U. 13. S. Dolphin Irom 1851 to 1853, under Lieutenants 
Lee and Berryman, were accorded a prominent place among the notable achievements 
of the day. They used the apparatus Just described, introducing irom time to time, 
such improvements as exxierience suggested, and under their hands the science ot 
deep-sea sounding rapidly api>roached a practical basis. They sounded from boats, 
whicli were held in position by the use of the oars, operations being confined to 
smooth or moderate weather. They used waxed twine, observed time intervals, and, 
the sinker having reached the bottom, the sounding line was cut, no effort being made 
to recover the weight. ISnbmarine telegraphy was assuming great importance in the 
public mind at that time, stimuhitiug invention in everything pertaining to the 
development of ocean depths. 
BROOKE’S DEEP-SEA SOUNDING APPARATUS. 
In 1854 Passed Midshipimin John M. Brooke, Bnited States Navy, devised a simple 
and effective method of detaching the siidver and bringing rp) a specimen of bottom soil. 
This timely invention (plate xiv) marked the beginning of an entire revolution in the 
appliances and methods of deep-sea sounding and remains the acknowledged progeni- 
tor of all the various forms of .sounding rods and detachers that have been introduced 
to the present time. It is no longer used in its original form, yet a brief descrii)tion 
will be given to show how completely the i)riuciple of his apparatus is retained in all 
subsequent modifications, which are little more than successive refinements of his 
simple mechanism. 
The sinker is a .spherical sliot cast with a hole through it and shallow grooves on 
o]>posite sides to guide and steady the slings. A number of goose cpiills are .shown in 
the lower end of the specimen cup, held in place by their own elasticity, intended to 
act as collectors and foot valve. A leather circadatiiig valve 0 ])ens outward from the 
upper end of the enp, which allows free circulation of water through it during its 
descent, but closes a.ud protects the contents while it is going up. 
The rod and detacher are so designed that the former retains a vertical position 
during the descent of the sinker. When it reaches the bottom its weight is removed 
from the detacher and the tatter falls by its own gravity, thus releasing the sliugs 
and freeing the sinker from the rod after it has performed its function of carrying 
the latter rapidly to its destination and pressing it into the liottom soil to secure the 
desired specimen. 
In 1856 the U. S. S. Arctic, Lieutenant Berryman, made a cable survey from 
Newfoundland to the coast of Ireland, which may be considered the first deep-sea 
sounding expedition in which an approach to modern appliances and methods was 
successfully used. The line was of flax, 1 inch in circumference, wound on a steam 
reel arranged to work from the bow of the vessel. The Brooks apparatus was used 
with sinkers about 150 pounds in weight, and the depths were checked by a Massey 
self-registering sounding machine. 
The results of the survey, although accurate for the time, were at first somewhat 
di.scredited from their having discarded the time interval, but in the light of modern 
ex]»erience it is evident that the officers of the Arctic, who were certainly the best 
Judges, considered their methods and results reliable withoixt its use. The secret of 
