NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
A Summary of the Deep-Sea Zoological Work of the Royal Indian
Marine Survey Ship Investigator from 1884 to 1897.
BY
MAJOR A. W. ALCOCK, M.B., C.M.Z.S., F.G.S.,
SUPERINTENDENT OF THE INDIAN MUSEUM AND PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY IN THE
MEDICAL COLLEGE of CALCUTTA, FORMERLY SURGEON-NATURALIST TO THE
INDIAN MARINE SURVEY.
"Forasmuch as the main ocean is . . . . by nature left free for all men to deal withal, as very
sufficient for all men's use, and large enough for all men's industry."— Drake's Voyage.
CONTENTS.
Section I. Introductory.
Section 2. An Outline of the Origin and Development of Marine Surveying in India.
Section 3. A Brief Notice of the Deep-sea Apparatus used on Board the Investigator.
Section 4. A Sketch of the Topography of the Indian Seas.
Section 5. A Summary of the Zoological Results obtained by the Investigator in the deep-
sea,
Section I.—Introductory.
The whole history of Oceanography, in all its branches, has been so com-
pletely related by Sir John Murray, in the recently issued Summary of the
Scientific Results of the Voyage of H. M. S. Challenger, that any general
remarks upon the subject would here be out of place, and it will be sufficient for
my immediate purpose—which is to give a general summary of our present
knowledge of the zoology of the depths of the Indian Seas—to introduce the
subject with a short account of the steps by which this local knowledge has
been acquired.
I cannot, however, forbear to quote the fact that it was a retired officer of
the Indian Medical Service, to wit Surgeon-Major G. C. Wallich, who, as
Naturalist with Sir Leopold M'Clintock's North Atlantic Expedition of 1860,
first proved that the ocean depths, below 1,000 fathoms, were actually inhabited.
Up to and even beyond the middle of the present century, notwithstanding
the evidence of a few isolated observations to the contrary, it was believed that
the bed of the ocean was not merely uninhabited, but uninhabitable. The facts
that, at great depths, there is an enormous barometric pressure,—often amount-
ing to several tons upon the square inch; that the temperature, owing to the
interception of the sun's rays, is persistently low,—often little above that of
46
Scientific Memoirs by
freezing point all the year round; that absolute darkness prevails, and that,
therefore, living vegetation must necessarily be absent;—these overwhelming
facts seem to have been sufficient to convince the earlier naturalists that animal
life could not possibly exist where such conditions reign. And even Wallich's
demonstration that creeping animals like starfishes did actually live at the
bottom of the deep sea—although it was but a corroboration and amplification
of forgotten discoveries made by English explorers earlier in the century—was
not at once sufficient to shake this firmly established pre-conception, but was
explained away.
However, in the year 1881 when the R. I. M. S. Investigator was launched
for the systematic survey of the Indian Seas, the existence of a bythabial fauna,
as rich and varied as that of many parts of the littoral, had become, thanks
chiefly to the world-wide researches of the Challenger, one of the familiar facts
of Natural History.*
Section 2.—An Outline of the Origin and Development of Marine
Surveying in India.
The history of Indian Hydrography, to which it is necessary to refer very
briefly, begins with, or even before, the history of the English in India.
The illustrious Admiral, Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to follow
Magellan in circumnavigating the globe, although he did not actually enter
Indian waters, yet, in the course of his famous voyage (1577-1580), spent
several months cruising among their approaches in the East Indian Archipelago,
and may, therefore, be regarded as the pioneer of Indian marine surveying.
I have been accustomed to venerate him as the pioneer of Indian Zoology
also ; for, to any one who knows that animal in a state of nature, the following
quotation will, I think, be sufficient proof that he and his companions were the
discoverers of the curious Robber Crab (Birgus latro) : —
" Neither may we without ingratitude, by reason of the special use we made of
them, omit to speak of the huge multitude of a certain kind of crayfish, of
such a size that one was sufficient to satisfy four hungry men at dinner
They are, as far as we could perceive, utter strangers to the sea, living always
on the land, where they work themselves earths as do the conies, or rather
they dig great and huge caves under the roots of the most huge and monstrous
trees, where they lodge themselves by companies together. Of the same sort
and ki nd we f ound . . . . s ome t hat , f or want of ot her r ef uge, when we came t o
take them, did climb up into trees to hide themselves, whither we were enforced
to climb after them."
* For notices of all the ships, etc., that have been engaged in deep-sea work, from the beginning, up to
the present day, see Murray, Summary of the Scientific Results of the Exploring Voyage of H. M. S.
Challenger, First Part, pp. 76.106 E.
Medical Officers of the Army of India.
47
According to Sir Clements Markham, the approved authority on this sub-
ject, the renowned Arctic explorers John Davis and William Baffin are also to be
included among Indian marine surveyors.*
John Davis piloted (1598-1605) three expeditions to this country, of which
the last was fatal to him; for, near the Malacca Straits he fell in with a "Juncke
of the Japons", manned by pirates, by whom he was treacherously murdered.
In the narratives of his eastern voyages several quaint natural history obser-
vations are recorded, which show that he and his men possessed that wide
sympathy with other branches of science besides navigation, which has become
traditional with British naval officers.
William Baffin may properly be called an Indian marine surveyor, for
(1617-1622) he actually made surveys and charts of parts of the Red Sea and
Persian Gulf. His career, like Davis's, was grievously cut short in this part of
the world, for he was killed in action before Ormuz, by the Portuguese,
From the establishment of the Honourable East India Company, up to the
revival of the present Marine Survey Department in 1874, the history of
surveying in these seas is to be found in a most interesting Memoir on Me Indian
Marine Surveys by Sir Clements Markham, printed by order of the House of
Commons in 1871, † to which I am indebted for almost all my facts.
From the middle of last century, until the establishment of the Indian
Navy in the year 182, hydrography was carried on as a secondary duty by the
officers of the Bombay Marine, whose explorations not only covered much of
the ground now occupied by the present survey, but also extended to the Red
Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Seas of China. Among the survey vessels of
this period was an old Investigator.
From 1832 until the abolition of the service in 1862, the Indian Navy
continued the marine surveys, and we now begin to hear of officers of the
Indian Medical Service who utilised the opportunities afforded by service on
board the survey ships to do valuable work in behalf of natural science.
Among the most distinguished of these were Dr. H. J. Carter, F.R.S., a
geologist and naturalist of the widest attainments, who afterwards became one
of the leading authorities on the lower invertebrata, particularly on the Porifera;
and Dr. Theodore Cantor, a vertebrate zoologist, whose works on the mammals
and reptiles, and most of all on the fishes, of the Malayan Peninsula, have
become classical; there are other distinguished names that can hardly be
mentioned in a paper devoted to marine zoology.
* See C. R. Markham, Voyages of Sir fames Lancaster to the East Indies, Dedication and Introduction
(Hakluyt Society, 1877); and Voyages of William Baffin (Hakluyt Society, 1881); also A. H. Markham,
Voyages and Works of john Davis (Hakluyt Society, 1880); from which these facts are taken.
† See also the same author's Memoir on the Indian Surveys, London, 1871, 2nd edition, 1878.
48
ScientificMemoirs by
Among the naval officers of the survey a surprising number became dis-
tinguished for lasting contributions to science, but the only name that I can
find relevant to the subject of this paper is that of Captain Moresby, whose
surveys of the coral archipelagos of the Indian Ocean are well known to all
readers of Darwin's Coral Reefs.
The work of Moresby and of his Lieutenant, Powell, like that of Lieutenant
John Wood who discovered the source of the Oxus, and like that of the numerous
officers who were engaged on the survey of Mesopotamia, shows how marine
surveying in India, although, as elsewhere, it had its origin in the extension of
commerce and the safeguarding of navigation, soon became identified with the
wider interests of science.
On the abolition of the Indian Navy the survey of the seas of India came
to an end, until, in consequence of the exertions of Commander Dundas Taylor,
the present Marine Survey Department was inaugurated in 1874.
It was about this time that a new world was being opened out to naturalists
by the extraordinary discoveries of the Challenger (1872-76), and when the
revival of the Indian Marine Survey was decided, the question of utilizing the
new department for the purpose of deep-sea dredging was warmly taken up by
the Asiatic Society of Bengal, with the result that the appointment of a sur-
geon-naturalist to the survey was sanctioned. It is due to Commander Dundas
Taylor to state that in all his reports he, too, urged the importance of having a
naturalist attached to the survey.
Accordingly, when the new department began its operations in the field,
Surgeon J. Armstrong was appointed Medical Officer and Naturalist.
But deep-sea dredging requires special apparatus and a well-engined vessel,
both of which were wanting at this time; so that Dr. Armstrong, who was with
the survey from 1875 to 1879, first in the I. G. S. Clyde and afterwards
with a boat-party, had to report "it quite impossible to carry into execution the
scheme of deep-sea dredging proposed by the Council of the Asiatic Society".
He, however, dreged successfully up to the hundred fathom line, and
published numerous observations on the littoral fauna and flora and on
Ornithology, as well as several descriptions and figures of new species of
Hydroid Zoophytes. And although he was himself unable to carry his re-
searches into deep water, he made every arrangement for the equipment of the
Naturalist's Department in the survey ship then under construction.
After 1879, until 1884, the post of Surgeon-Naturalist seems to have been
vacant, so that when the new and well-equipped survey ship Investigator
was launched in 1881, and put to sea in December of that year, she did not
carry with her a trained zoologist to undertake the long-expected deep-sea ex-
plorations. At this moment, too, Commander Dundas Taylor retired from the
command of the survey.
Medical Officers of the Army of India.
49
Under his successor, Commander L. S. Dawson, R. N., who was in charge
of the survey from 1881 till 1884, the scheme of deep-sea dredging seems to
have been lost sight of, although some deep-sea soundings were taken, and the
specimens of bottom brought up were roughly analysed. Commander Dawson's
Reports are only interesting to Indian Zoology in so far as they refer briefly to
the launching of the Investigator : —
"The Investigator is a wooden paddle-steamer of 580 tons, built at Bombay, *
and was launched on the 3rd March 1881. The Investigator underwent
a preliminary steam trial November 2nd, a further steam trial November
4th, and a six-hours' full-power steam trial November 7th. The average speed
attained during the last trial was 10.5 knots an hour. December 3rd the
Investigator, being ready for sea, proceeded outside of Bombay Harbour
to adjust compasses, and on the 28th. . . sailed."
This is a convenient place to mention that the field operations of the
Investigator are conducted during the fair-weather season, from the middle of
October to the beginning of May. During the prevalence of the south-west
monsoon, from May to October, the ship refits in Bombay Harbour and Dock-
yard, the surveyors collate and fair-copy their charts, and t
out his collections of the past season.
In 1884 Commander Alfred Carpenter, R.N., was appointed to the charge
of the Survey. He had been one of the officers of the Challenger, and so
had not only grasped the importance of deep-sea research, but was also an
expert in the technique of the subject. He was fortunate in having as Surgeon-
Naturalist Surgeon G. M. J. Giles, who, in addition to high scientific attainments,
possessed artistic talents and a practical knowledge of mechanics, that were
specially valuable at this stage. Under these good auspices, deep-sea dredging
at last took its proper, if secondary, place in the economy of the Marine Survey
of India.
Unfortunately for Marine Zoology, Dr. Giles was away from the ship a good
deal, serving as Medical Officer and Naturalist with one of the Political Mis-
sions to Chitral. He finally left the Survey in 1888.
In April and May 1888 Mr. James Wood-Mason officiated as Naturalist
and in November 1888 the present writer was fortunate enough to get the
appointment.
Captain Carpenter not only made the best use of all the gear that he
found to hand, but he also took pains to get improved apparatus from England
and America, by means of which it became possible for his successors to
surpass the good results that he himself attained.
*The ceremony of "driving the silver nail" into the stem (the equivalent of laying a foundation-
stone) was performed in the Bombay Dockyard on the 14th December 1878, by Miss Carew.
50 Scientific Memoirs by
Under his immediate successor, Commander R. F. Hoskyn, R.N., dredging
was carried on up to a depth of close on 2,000 fathoms, and many important
additions were made to our knowledge of the seas of India.
I was Surgeon-Naturalist under Captain Hoskyn until his death in 1892, and
I cannot imagine a man who, while making no pretensions to special zoological
knowledge, and perfectly indifferent to any credit that might come of discoveries
made under his auspices, could be more indulgent to the naturalist's department
and more tolerant of the extra noise and of the mess that commonly accompany
dredging operations.
For a few months, after Captain Hoskyn's death, Lieutenant G. S. Gunn,
R.N., officiated in charge of the Survey, and made eight successful hauls of
the dredge in deep water.
Commander C. F. Oldham, R.N., who was in charge of the Survey from
1892 to 1897, made about fifty hauls of the dredge in water over ioo fathoms
deep. Most of these fell to the care of Surgeon Captain A. R. S. Anderson
(who joined as Surgeon-Naturalist in 1893), except during the season of
1896-97, when Surgeon-Captain J. W. Grant officiated for Dr. Anderson.
The present Chief of the Survey, Commander T. H. Heming, R.N., with
Dr. Anderson as Naturalist, has, up to the end of the year 1897, made seven hauls
in deep water, one of which, off the Travancore Coast, in 430 fathoms, is one
of the most successful on record.
Altogether, as far as I can ascertain, the ship, up to the end of the year
1897, had made about 105 more or less successful dredgings in water over 100
fathoms deep.
Section 3.—A Brief Notice of the deep-sea Apparatus in use on board
the Investigator.
For our knowledge of the depths that lie between the meridians of 70° and
I00° E., and between the parallels of 5° and 20° N., we are principally indebted
to the Investigator.
It is true that deep-soundings were occasionally taken by the old surveyors,
and that in the vicinity of certain harbours, notably those of Ceylon, the bottom
contours have been determined by other agencies; but the systematic explora-
tion of these depths with modern appliances, including their thermometry and
all those features that lie outside the practical interests of navigation and meteoro-
logy, is almost entirely the work of the Investigator.
A very few words will suffice to describe the apparatus in use on board the
ship in my time (1888-1892).
For Deep Sea Sounding " Sir William Thomson's " sounding machine was
used, with a steel wire line and a Baillie's sounding-rod sunk by weights that are
detached and left when the rod touches bottom.
Medical Officers of the Army of India. 5 1
For Deep Sea Temperatures, Cassella-Miller's Six's maximum-minimum
thermometers were used, with the bulb enclosed in, and protected from the
enormous pressure by a second bulb rather more than half-filled with spirit.
For Deep Sea Dredging, Captain Carpenter was very fond of the "tangle-
bar," which certainly catches a lot of crabs, Anomura, Echinoderms and Alcyo-
naria, but knocks them about dreadfully. He also used, in deep water, a large
dredge much of the Challenger pattern, and a trawl of ordinary pattern. In
his time hemp-rope, paid out and hauled in very slowly by the steam-winch, was
employed. A dredging in deep-water, in those days, was a long business: the
rope took a long time to sink, and could not, therefore, be run out quickly for
fear of tangling, nor could it be hauled in quickly, for fear of breaking. After-
wards we always used the American reversible trawl and a practically unbreak-
able rope of steel-wire reeled on and off a drum and surging-drum revolving
by steam. This is a very quick and convenient way of dredging, but the speed
is not altogether an unmixed advantage, for delicate specimens suffer greatly
from being dragged rapidly through a mile or two of deep water. In all cases
we used an "accumulator," consisting of a row of thick india-rubber disks,
between iron guides, to equalize the strain.
The routine way in which a deep-sea haul was managed, in my time, was
as follows:—
The ship was stopped and brought head to wind, and observations for
fixing her position were then taken. Steam was then turned on to the sounding
machine and the depth was ascertained, as well as—by a thermometer attached
just above the sounding-tube—the bottom-temperature. At the same time,
the temperature at the surface was taken.
Meantime steam had been turned on to the dredging machine and winch, and
the dredge made ready. The dredge was lowered from the peak of the fore-
yard, the dredging-rope passing through a hawsehole in the bows and playing
over a steel block pendent from the bowsprit.
Before the dredge reached the bottom, the ship began to go slow astern to
stretch out the rope, and continued to do so, at intervals, while the dredge was
on the bottom. When sufficient ground had been covered, the position and
depth were again taken, and the dredge was hauled in.
"Swabs" were always attached round the trawl.
SECTION 4 —A Brief Outline of the Topography of the Indian Seas.
Geographically, two seas are generally recognized as bounding the penin-
sula, namely, the Arabian Sea and the Bay, of Bengal; but of late years the
H 2
52
Scientific Memoirs by
isolated basin that lies to the east of the Andaman-Nicobar chain has been very
properly granted an independent name, as the Andaman Sea.
For the purposes of this paper it will be convenient to divide the Arabian
Sea into two areas, namely,—(I) the Arabian Sea proper, lying to the west of
the Laccadive-Maldive chain or plateaux, and (2) the Laccadive or Malabar
Sea (including the Gulf of Manár), which lies to the east of that chain. This
division is a purely conventional one, but it is necessitated by the fact that the
second area has been fairly well explored by the Investigator, while the first
has not.
I. The Laccadive Sea is a narrow trough, the bed of which is very uneven.*
Its greatest depth south of latitude 10° is about 1,500 fathoms, and north of
that latitude, about 1,200 fathoms. On its eastern side its bed rises with a
gentle slope of two or three degrees up to the 100-fathom line; this near latitude
14° north (the northern limit of this sea), is about 75 miles from shore, and
decreases in distance, as we go southwards, to about 35 miles from shore. On
its western side the bed rises very abruptly to the plateaux which form the
Laccadive Islands, the slope being so abrupt that soundings of a thousand
fathoms have several times been taken quite close to shore.
The bottom, on the Malabar side, consists of dark mud derived from the
small rivers that drain the Western Ghâts; on the Laccadive side it consists of
grey calcareous ooze, the detritus of the coral reefs. This coral ooze becomes
more and more mixed with shells of Foraminifera (among which Globigerina,
Orbulina and Pulvinulina predominate), up to 25 per cent. of its dry bulk.
"Green sand" occurs between the deposits of calcareous ooze and the river-
borne sediment.
According to Commander Oldham, the bottom temperatures are somewhat
erratic in certain parts of this sea. Speaking generally, at first the temperature
falls rapidly from about 80° Fahrenheit at the surface to 58° Fahrenheit at a
depth of 100 fathoms; it then falls less rapidly to 51° Fahrenheit at 300 fathoms,
and then sinks slowly to 35° Fahrenheit at 1,300 fathoms.
The deep fauna of this sea is rich, and, as a whole, has a stronger resem-
blance to that of the Andaman Sea (so far as we know it) than to that of other
Indian waters, One striking peculiarity of this sea is the abundance of bathy-
bial M a d r e p o r a r i a .
2. The Bay of Bengal is a vast shelving plain, the gradual slope of which
to the 2,300 fathom line at its mouth is broken, so far as we know, by only one
large elevation. This elevation is locally known as Carpenter's Ridge (after
* See C. F. Oldham: Topography of the Arabian Sea in the neighbourhood of the Laccadive Islands.
(Journal, Asiatic Society, Bengal, Vol. LXIV, 1895, pt. 2, pls. I and 11.)