DEEP-SEA EXPLORATION. 
297 
rod well into ordinary soils, lifts the valve_/’, and lills the cylinder to a greater or less 
extent witli a bottom specimen. The reverse motion, when the ascent begins, i)romptly 
closes the valves and protects the contents from wash, to w hicli it would otherwise be 
subjected. Tlie specimen is readily removed by di.sconnecting- the cylinder at the 
screw joint i, which also facilitates the cleansing of the cup. 
Failtire to detach the sinker. — The Sigsbee soundiiig-rod has been used exclusively 
on the Allxitross since 1882, except during the cable survey between Calil'ornia a,nd tlie 
Ilawaiinn Islands, when a few No. 2 Belknap cylinders were received and successfully 
used I'rom time to time, although the Sigsbee rod was preferred in deep water. 
Several thousand soundings have been made with the latter on board the 
Albatross without a single failure to detach the shot and bring up a bottom si)ecimen 
through any fault of the instrument itself. Failures from the following causes have 
occurred, however, at rare intervals : 
1. Tlie wire liail was too short and brought sufficient tension on tiie lip of the tumbler to sustain 
the weight of the pawl by friction of the latch surfaces, a rare occurrence, ]iossible only through the 
determined eli’ort of a muscular man. 
2. It has failed to detach in deep w.ater and very soft bottom, from the rod having been carelessly 
sent down with the spring n out of action. 
3. The rod Jammed in the shot by a pebble becoming detached from the scale in the hole, whicli 
had not been properly cleaned. The bail was free. 
4. Partially disintegrated volcanic rock was driven into the space between rod and sinker so lirmly 
that the shot was brought back although the bail was free. 
5. The rod struck bard rock with sufficient force to bruise and distort the bottom to such an extent 
that it would not go through the hole in the sinker although the bail was free. 
6. Once during a gale of wind, with heavy breaking sea, the descent of the stern of the vessid 
from crest to trough was so violent that it slackened the wire and detached the shot. It is remarkable 
that this should have been the only instance of the kind, for the Albatross sounded from the stern in 
all conditions of wind and weather. 
7. An officer unaccustomed to sounding with wire allowed the reel to “run wild’’ until slack 
turns of wire were seen, and, supposing bottom had been reached, hove in the wire, bringing the sinker 
back from the few hundred fathoms that had run out. 
Failures of tlie rod from any cause were so rare as to provoke comment when 
they did occur, and it was seldom those mentioned above happened more than once. 
The Belknap cylinder No. 2 failed to detach its shot on a few occasions: 
1. In deep water and very soft bottom it sometimes failed to detach promptly, but it was usually 
accomplished after repeated efforts, although on a few occasions the shot was brought back. 
2. Tbo rod .and detacher unscrewed from the cylinder on one occasion and the Latter was lost. 
3. The shot was brought back with the bail over the detacher, which had fallen the wrong way 
when the ware slackened. It was caused doubtless by the shot landing on rough bottom and capsizing 
before it was detached. 
The failures mentioned in connection with the Belknap cylinder No. 2 did not 
happen with the Sigsbee rod, but such as occurred with the latter are equally liable 
to happen with either. 
IMPROVISED SOUNDING-RODS. 
It may be desirable at times to have a cheaper and lighter sounding-rod, in very 
deep water for instance, where small specimens are required, sufficient only to indicate 
that bottom has been reached, or the supply of rods may be exhausted by unexpected 
losses while at sea engaged in important work which would suffer from the delay 
incident to an immediate return to iiort. Hence any device, however crude, would be 
