The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-08-28 00:00:00

THE CRUISE OF THE "CHALLENGER."

The following extract of a private letter records
the deepest sea-soundings yet obtained (says the
Standard) :—"At Sea, March 23, 1875, lat. 11 24 N.
long. 145 16 S. . . • I must tell you of to-day's great
success. The day is hardly over, but I think I may
say it is one long to be remembered by the old Chal-
lenger. This morning, at six, we commenced sounding,
and reached the astounding depth of 4,575 fathoms,
without the intervals taken at every 25 fathoms, show-
ing the slightest sign of the 3cwt. sounding-weight
having reached the bottom. We could not understand
it quite; but, however, we thought it advisable to heave
in a little to see what the strain was like on the
accumulators, when, to our surprise, it showed at once
that the weights were free, and so we hove the line in,
not knowing what the depth was. Although we knew
it to be very great, still, whatever it was, we had not
discovered it, so we determined, if we recovered the
line, to try again, adding another cwt. By eleven
a.m. the Bailey machine water bottle and two ther-
mometers appeared on the surface, one thermometer
smashed to atoms, the glass having ppwdered up like
fine sand; by this alone we knew it must have been a
peat depth, owing to the enormous pressure on the
thermometer, which caused it to break. The rod, un-
fortunately, brought up very little bottom, it having,
in all probability, been washed out on the way up;
the little there was proved to be a reddiA clay. We now
sounded again, attaching 4cwt., and by the interval of
every 25 fathoms showed a sudden increase from 28
seconds to 59 seconds. We knew immediately that it
had struck the bottom, besides having checked the line
several times. Watched the strain on the accumula-
tors, and this was at the enormous depth of 4,450 fa,thoms
(or about 26,700 feet). The line is now being hove in,
but it is a source of great satisfaction to have deter-
mined the depths so accurately. It only shows how
frail and false must have been the deep sea soundings
in days gone by, with all their primitive gear, when
we cculd not detect bottom with a weight of 3 cwt. and
all our appliances. I cannot understand one of our
thermometers out of the two that went down in the
morning coming up whole, for they are all tested alike
—at least, so we believed. However, it came up and
registered the bottom 35i Fahrenheit uncorrected,
which, I think you will say, has made it a very satis-
factory day for the old ship The sounding
line has just come up; the rod full of mud, and both
thermometers smashed to atoms. A deluge of rain is
falling We hope to arrive in Japan in a
few days, and after leaving we shall have nothing but
sea work, aed have to travel the last 30,000 miles in
the year left, according to the present programme,
before reaching home."

PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATIVES. The
various European Powers furnish the respectable
total of nearly six thousand Deputies, divided into
twenty Assemblies. France has 750; England, 656 ;
Italy, 503; Sweden, 433; Prussia, 432; the German
Empire, 397; Austria, 353; Hungary, 351; Spain,
335; Belgium, 120 ; &c. "Six thousand members of
Parliament!" exclaims the Figaro. "Happily they
are not all speakers.*