The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1872-08-08
A Great Oceanic Survey.

''''' "''"biN I)ul wye
Ih government is now planning
one OF the most important and com
prehensive oceanic surveys ever un-
d~ertaken. Under authority OF re-
cent Congressional Legislation the Bu-
reau OF Navigation is arranging the
details of an expedition whose mis-
sion will DO to examine and survey
the wa'crs of the Pacific, and to fur
nishmaterials for accurately charling
its vast furnace aud countless is
lands.
1t has been but little more than
three centuries since Va3co Nunez dc
Balboa, with rapt admiration, first
gazed upon this wondrous sea, and
Magellan navigatcd it and named it
from the fair weather that he met
with on his great voyages. But the
time that las interviewed has not
served to acquaint MARITIME nations
with the "Glout Ocean," and already,
in this comparatively early stage Of
the worlds commerce, we find SO
urgeut u demand for u better know
ledge Of 1T that the principal Euro
pean powe shave instituted extensive
explorations OF its immense waters,
its winds and currents, and its in
Vulnerable but ~eyerchanging archI-
pelagoes. In the projected o&ptdi-
ton OF our own government the first
step will be to survey ali that part Of
the Pacific running from tho coasts
Of Lower Cal fornla to the north
We.tcin boundaries Of the United
States, off Alaska and along the
AlcutiAn group Of islands, and thence
southwark to the Sandwich Islands.
One Of The most interesting and I'M
portant physical phenomena that will
be brought under scientific review III
this preliminary exploration will be
the Smgasso Sea Of the Pacific,
which lies to the westward OF the
Lower California coast, and is al
most as distinctly marked as tie ft-
nous SargaSso crossed by Columbus
in his first transatlantic voyage,
The expedition will also have mo-
qualled opportunity for a full lnyosti-
cation Of the great ocean current
known us the kuIo Siwo, and which
pours It's immense volumes Of super
heated water ON tho Pacific coasts Of
America, ailordIug them the best and
most delicious Of American climates,
tempering Hl.ko the heats Of GUNNER
and tho colds Of winter.
After tho moro general survey OF
the North Pa Tic it II proposed that
the expcdit ON ssall return to Homo
lula, and thence continue It's I2bor5
| over the on ire ocean, taking belts
: Of latitude Of five degrees at 4 time
and covering the area between the
lortioth parallel Of north latitude
and the forlioth Of south latitude.
Tho time likely to be consumed III
the whole work will b. necessarily
protracted over ut least ten years.
But this long period viii afford
great advantages for the study o.
numerous practical physical pro,
blcms III which the maritime world
is now SO deeply and materially in
tcrostod. III. "lierald,' some
months ago, suggested the impor-
lance Of tho Navy Department keep.
ing one or two vessels constantly on
such service in the Pacific, owing tt
, the well known changes that are con.
tinually occurring IN its bed, Oi
this we had last year " signal Illus
t~ration in the sudden disappearance
of Aurora Island (in the New lie.
! brides gloup,) which sank without
leaving the smallest trace OF the spo
=, Of its submergence.
The arrangement OF the plans an,
8 details for this great survey ~ we.
- intrusted to Captain Il. Il. Wymon
Chief of the photographic Office, b,
: which the results achieved VIII a
DO elaborated and chartered. Ih
credit of urging the importance Q
! such researches upon the .Govarn
/ mcnt, and Of obtaining through Con
gress the means for p%roaccutIn
them, is mainly due to the energy q
e. the New York underwriters a"'
= sIlippora.-N. Y. HcroGd.