Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1869-07-29
FICTITIOUS PINNACLES.
Our Ocean Mo.antains'

The correspondent of the London Times
on board tho Great Eastern contradicts
some commonly received conclusions, thus:
'The line Of tho French cable first starts
| in worry shallow water from Minon Bay. but
! in four or flve miles it deepens from II to
| 20 fthoms, and thcn gradually shelves
! from 80 to GO and 30 fathoms; a depth
which is pretty equally maintained over
tho whole bed Of the English Channel. At
this level, but on tho whole gradually
deepening, it continues till in q limo with
tho westernmost part of the Irish coast,
whore, taking northern course, 1t passes
down gentle slope Of sand, TINT continues
descending till tho depth Increases from
200 to 500 and 900 tathoMs and then, IN a
short distance, to l, 700fathoms. Over all the
rest of the course to mid-ocean the bottom
is mud, shells, and sand, and with uni
form depth of about 1900 and 2, 200 faith
| Oms. This course would have brought
tho Groat Eastern close to tho northward
Of tho gaunt spires known as tho Three
Chimncys, and which as hid down in the
admiralty chart, wore confidently beloved
| to exist. Whom this was mentioned some
| months ago in the Times, o controversy at
| once arose in those columns, s0mo naval
men merely denying the existence of those
| rocks; while the other sido rendered tho
| evidence of eyo witnesses, who averred that
| they had actually seen thom. The matter
is now set Mt rest. and if ever the Three
Chimncys' had on existence they have mono
now. Tho Atlantic cannot nfford to lose
the small amount of interest which attach
ed to tho supposed presence of these soil
| tary peaks, but facts are stubborn things,
and it LIS now been placed beyond doubt
that thoy arc not to be found, at least in
the latitude and longitude in which they
appear on tho charts. Liout tombstone, in
the course Of his soundinge, went over the
| exact spot whore they aro indicated in the
chart, and found more than 1000 fathoms
of water, with deep sea oil around, and not
| tho slightest trace of rock or shoal in
any direction. The sooner, therefore,
they come out of the admiralty map the
better, and it wo6ld bo curious to know
how they ever got there ut all.
..From tho locality of these fictitious
pinnaclea, tho cable course il kept in
pretty regular depth Of from 1900 to 2, 1000
fathoms, and throughout over q soft bed
of mud mixed with myriads of the most
minute shells. These shells comprise vari-
GUS forms of diat0maci4 which, though
perfect in their organization, are 80 exquis-
itely small as only to be visible under the
most powerful microscopes. They are
really as fno as -four, and the greater part
of the bed Of the Atlantic is covered with
tho debris of these minute animalculp,
tho existence of which proves conclusively,
which was long denied, that at these great
depths there is an absolute cessation of
all motion. Over such bottom the line
is taken in an arc of large circle, tho
most southerly point of tho cable being in
northerly 4s degrees Along the southern
end of the Newfoundland bank it is sunk
in about $50 to 200 fathoms, tho water on
tho bank itself varying from so to 80 faith
oms. Thus it is completely sheltered from
ice, which, if tho icebergs pass tho bank
at all, must clear tho cable, which lies I'M
der it's lee by some hundred fathoms or
moro. From this point it is taken up
due north in the channel between the
Green bank and the st. Pierre bank in an
almost unvarying depth of 500 fathoms.
From this point out the course is over very
regular shoal water, 80 to speak-being at
no part less than 100 fathoms, and general
ly over $50 to near Boston"