The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-07-31
THE VOYAGE OF THE CHALLENGER

THE VOYAGE OF THE CHALLENGER.
H.. b. Ms ship Challenger. engaged on a
scientific voyage around the world. arrived at this
port On tuesday last, from Yokohama japan.
Leaving Portsmouth,, England. on the Dist Of
December, 1872. this vessel. first under tie COM
mand Of Captain Mares and now under that of
Captain Thomson, has been engaged in the
great work Of sounding the ocean depths. and
ex pioring is mysteries. She has been a wonder
full traveller since leaving England thirty-one
months ago, having in that time visited some
f%orty-two ports in Europe, Africa, Australia, the
East Indies, China and japan, and sailed some
46 ,G74 miles. The amolnt of scientific observa-
ton and investigation accomplished by her officers
and scientific staff lat the head of the latter is
Professor c. Wyville Thompson) must be some
thing prOdigious. The table which we print
elsewhere, gives an interesting view of this
ships wanderings over the waste Of waters, with
the number Of soundings made, etc. In the
90 TRAVELLING - many were the strange and beautiful
forms of animal life, of fauna and vegetation,
brought to the surface, from depths varying from
ten to three thousand fathoms, objects of intense
interest to the scientific observer.
The instruments for sounding, dredging, and
for ascertainiag the temperature, are all of the
latest invention, and are euriously suggestive.
We are indebted to a gentleman on board the
Challenger for a description Of some of these,
promising that a sounding rope is used six miles
in length.
The dccamuhtOr-consists of about 40 or 80
india rubber bands, 4 inch in diameter, and three
feet in length. They are capable of stretching
seventeen feet, when they each exert q pressure
of seventy pounds. At the bottom of the accu-
mulators are two discs of wood, through holes in
which each of the bands pass and are attached to
a block, through which the dredging line passes.
The sounding rods an improvement on the
first supplied on leaving England by Lieutenant
Bailey, r. n. 1t is a cylinder of iron tubing,
three inches IN diameter, and about four feet
long, having at its bottom a butterfly valve. On
the upper part is a mechanical continuance for
letting 60 the weight on the rod touching the
bottom. The weights are 112 pounds each, of
cylindrical form with a hole through the centre.
Through this hole the rod is passed, and as many
weights put on as found necessary, one for every
J 900 fathoms. At the bottom of the last weight
a small iron ring is reved on the rod to which is
attached a piece of iron wire, about ten feet long.
The blight of this wire is passed over a |" ketch,' -
and the rod being lifted the weights rest on the
iron ring. BY their reaching and resting on the
bottom, the wire is forced off the ketch, and the
rod h'ing i"~iAd mn by the line clears ita~lf 0fH
the weights, which remain at the bottom.
The slip a0ater bottle, for bringing up water
from the bottom, consists of a brass rod, with
three radiating plates to strengthen it and to act
as a guide for a brass cylinder which encloses the
water. At the bottom and half way down the
radiating plates, are two finely ground sections of
cones, and the brass cylinder is so arranged that
its upper and lower surfaces fit with great accu-
raey on these cones, thus enclosing anything that
may happen to be between them. At the top of
the rod is a brass tumbler with a slit in it; to
the tumbler is attached a lanyard to fasten the
bottle to the lead-line, and over the slit is placed
the blight of a line the ends of which are secured
to the cylinder, by means of which the cylinder
is kept suspended above the cones while the bottle
is descending, thus allowing the water to pass
freely through it. Directly the strain on the
lead-line above is released through the bottle
reaching the bottom. the tumbler falls over,
pushing off the line that suspends the cylinder,
leaving 1t free to fall on the two cones. 1t thus
effectually encloses a specimen of the bottom
water. A tap is arranged at the bottom, so as
to draw off the water for analysis, &c.
The Miller CdseHa Thermometer. The Their
mometers used to ascertain the temperature of
the bottom, or at any intermediate depths, are
sslfadiusting maximum and minimum thermom-
eters, constructed to resist the pressure of the
water. They are the invention of the late Mr..
Miller, F. r. S., and are made and tested by Mr..
Casella, hence they are called Miller Casella ther-
mometers. Each consists of a curved tube with
a bulb at each end the left bulb is filled with
creosote, the expansion and contraction of which
gives the temperature. The creosOte acts on a
small quantity of mercury in the U part of the
tube, which moves up or down as the creosote
expands or contracts. The other tube is partly
filed with e~reosote, and in addition has a small
quantity of air in it, at the pressure of the atmos-
phere to act as a buffer on the mercury in the
tube, to keep it always in contact with the
ereosote in the bulb. In each part of the tube
above the mercury Is an index shaped like a
dumb-bell, being of steel. and the other index is
retained in its place when the mercury recedes
from it by q hair attachment, which pressing
against the glass tube of the thermometer, acts as
a spring. These indices are set with a magnet.
1t is evident that the bulb of the thermometer
would be exposed to the pressure of the water as
well as the temperature, and consequently would
register the temperature and pressure. To elm
mate the element of pressure, an additional bulb
is blown outside, enclosing an inner one. This
bulb is partially filed with spirits, which is
boiled before it is Theoretically closed, so that
when cold it contains some spirit and some vapor.
The pressure now acts on the outside bulb and
not on the inner, SO that the inner one is only
affected by the temperature.
These thermometers are tested on board in an
hydraulic press at a pressure of from two to three
tons on the square inch, and they have been
foundI to answer admirably. On one occasion,
when sounding in $3.50 fathoms, they were
broken from the enormous pressure of four and a