Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1857-02-12
lWIIOLE NO 964.
The Ocean.

Lient. Ma Try has sent o report TO the
Secretary of the Navy concerning the sub,
marine explorations made by the North Pa
chic Exploring Expedition under the Cum
mand of Lieutenant r R,dgers, and from this
valuable document we take III. following in
tere>ting extract:--"Desp sea sIundlngs,
with specimens of the bottom, have aisr
been returned to this offi:e from that expe-
dition. They were taken in the Norh Pa
cifc with Brooke's app .ratus, ard have en-
studied through the microscope of Profe ssor
Bailey at West Point. TneY all ;e,l the
same story. They stsach Us that the quiet
OF the grave reigns everywhere in the pro-
! :ound depths ofthe ocean; that the rep1se
here is beyond the reach Of wind---it is so
perfect that none Of the powers of earth,
save only the earthquake and volcano, can
disturb it. The specimens ofdeep sea soun-
dings, for which we are Indebted to the inge-
nuity of Lieutenant D ooke, are as pure IN
as free from the sand OF the sea as the snow
lake that falls when it is calm upon the sea
is. from the dust of the earth Indeed, these
soundngs suggest the idea that the sea like
the snow-cl nd with Its flakes in calm, is
always letting fall upon its bed showers OF
:hese microscope shells; and we may readily
imagine that the sunless wrecks which
strew its bottom are, in the process of ages,
hid under this feery covering, presenting
the rounded appearance which is seen over
the body of the traveller who has perished
in the snow. storm. The ocean, especially
hin .uA tho n
lite. The remains of its myriads of m0yin.
things are conveyed by currents, aud scat
tered and lodged m the course of time all
over its bottom. This process, Continue
for ages, has covered the depths of the
ocean as with a metal, consisting OF or
ganism as DELEGATE a, the macled frost, and
as light as the undriftel snow-flakes on
mountain. Wherever his beautiful sound
ing-rod has reached the bottom Of the deep
sea, whether in the Atlantic Pacific. the
bed of the ocean has bten found Gi down.
like softness. The lead appears TO sink
many feet deep into the oozy matter there
which has been strained and filtered through
the sea water. This matter consis of the
skeletons AMI casts OF insects of the sea of
microscopic minuteness. The fact that the
currents do not reach down to the bottom
of the deep sen; thlt there ar, no a1o md
ing agents at work there, save alone the
gnawiny tooth of time Int q rope Of sand.
If stretched upon The bed Of he OCEAN. tcoEid
he ctbte st o7g enough 10 hO'd he longest
ts'egraphic wire that art can drcR; these,
with other discoveries mad. in the course
of the Investigations carried on in the
Autographed derartm eht OF this Office
concerning the phys Of the sea, and a!ready
announced in its ofic ial Publications and
correspondence, are likely to prove Of great
actical value and importance in Submarine
teie 5raphy-1 line of business only in the
tirst stage of is infancy, bat deeply inter-
Z ting t, the whole human f,mily; for its
bearings and result it touched most nearly
the pro gress Of man in the march that is
leading him upward and ons .rI. The no.
ton was that telegraphic cable must be
OF great strengih to rrSis, and withstand tie
forces of the sea. Whereu25n thc conduct
ing ire, Il ter being coated TO insulation
with gu taper chl, was encas I'd in wire haw-
eF cable stout enPugh 10 hold the largest
seven y-foIr' to her anchors. These cables !
were very expensive in therr manufacture, !
bulky Tor s;owsge, unwielly fer handing !
and difficult to lay. 1t was such w!re-!a d |
cable that the Telegraphic Company lost
in The laying between Nssfuunei4ni and |
Cape Breton. in 1855 and it is such one |
-wirc-laiJ, stiff and larger than 4 mars
arm--that the French have twice attempted |
tn Law in the Mediterranean, ami twice lost
But nIw we have learned, IN the course OF
these Investigations that all the obstacles
intirp ,sed by the sea 10 the lavinI of sub |
mar ne tele sraphs lie between the surface |
and the depth OF a few hundred f,tnom< b.
low; and that that these are not to be mas
tered by force, nor over cume by the ten
sile strength of wire drawn ropes, but that,
with little artiice they will yield to
mere thread 1t is the case of a man-of-
war and the little nautilus in the hurricane
the one, week in its strength, is dashed
to pieces the other, strong in the weak
ness, resists tho utmost violence Of the
st rm, and rides as safely through it as
through there were no rasingS in the sea.
There ore, 1t may now be considered as a
settled principle in srbmarine tel'graphy |
thst the true character Of a cable for the |
deep sea is not that of an iron rope as large
as a mans arm but single copp wire, or
icsccle Of wires, asated with gutta- perchs,
plant & supple, end not larger iEan Iady's