292 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
their success is attributable to the Massey machine combined with a comiiaratively 
lieavy detachable sinker, controlled in its descent by an intelligent application of the 
friction brake, which stopped the reel promptly when bottom was reached. Tlie 
line weighed about 200 pounds to the nautical mile and would have carried a sinker 
of 500 pounds with safety, thus materially increasing the rapidity and accuracy of 
the work. 
The Stellwagen and the Sands cup leads, with noudetachable weights, were among 
the many devices brought forward for sounding. They were both excellent for use in 
shallow water, or moderate depths where the lead can be recovered. 
CcT 27.— Sands cup, 
and sectional views. 
Belknap describes the 
Sands cup as follows : 
A key, a, bolds the tenon /> 
into the bottom of the deep-sea 
lead, into which tenon is screwed 
the tube c (which is conical at 
the lower end for penetrating the 
bottom), over which moves a 
cylindrical sliding valve d, with 
flange e, which, resting on the 
bottom when the lead reaches it, 
is pushed up above the elliptical 
hole/, in the side ol' the tube for 
the admission of the specimen, 
and closed by the spiral spring (j 
(when the lead is free from the 
bottom), which keeps it lirmly 
down on the rest-pin li, prevent- 
ing the washing out of the speci- 
men in the jerking motion of 
hauling in the line by hand. The 
tube is unscrewed from thetenon, 
and the specimen emptied out at 
the upper end. 
The material of the specimen cup is brass; it is easily attached to an ordinary 
deep-sea lead, and may be used to advantage in moderate depths. Sands subsequently 
added to his cup a detachable sinker composed of two hemispheres of cast iron with 
suitable grooves on their Hat surfaces to take the rod where they were held in place by 
appropriate studs and springs, which also released them on contact with the bottom. 
British naval officers were also active in deep-sea sounding and did much toward 
its advancement; the “bull dog” apparatus, a modification of Ross’s “deep-sea 
clamm,” was introduced in 1860. The forceps are retained but the weight is 
detachable. The Fitzgerald and Hydra, both having detachable weights, were 
brought out in 1868, and the latter was successfully used on the Porcu])ine during her 
scientific cruise, where with a line 0.8 inch in circumference, weighing 125 i>ounds to 
the nautical mile, and detachable sinker of 336 iiounds, they reached bottom at a 
depth of 2,435 fathoms at the mean rate of 72 fathoms i^er minute, about seven-tenths 
of the best modern practice with wire. 
This was evidently an exceptional sounding, made under the most favorable 
conditions, and can not be accepted as average work, yet it shows marked improvement, 
the result of increased weight of sinker, 
