The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1884-11-27

1t cannot be too emphatically stated that this
| Government should take a share of the general
| photographic work of the world commensurate
with its maritime interests and Importance.
Charts are issued continually which, from the
nature of their origin, are known to be only
| Indifferent approximations to what should be
| represented. Good photographic reconnas-
ances can be made in a short time at compara-
| lively slight eX penSe, and when the danger to
| life and property Is considered there seems to
be no excuse why many parts of the earth
visited by our merchant marine, or In the gen.
eral track of trading vessels, should be left in
| their present doubtful condition as regards
| hydrograpny.
| The recommendation of previous hydrograph-
eers with regard to survey of the Caroline and
Marshall groupes in the Pacific should be i'm
mediateiy carried out. The consul of the
United States at Hong Kong, under date of July
2l. 1884, reports to the Department of State the
loss of the American ship Rainier on the Mar
Shall Islands, ortng to detecttce charts. and urges
that survey be made of the Marshall, Caroline
and Pellew Islands," This has been repeatedly
advocated by the photographic Office, and
when the position of these islands is considered,
| lying as they do in the trade wind and westerly
current belt of the North Pacific, the natural
| highway of vessels bound to Japan, China the
| Philippines and the East Indies, the conviction
as to what should be done becomes irresistible.
| In the North Pacific alone there are more than
| 5000 reported dangers which do not exist or are
|
| island has a half dozen different positions as
| signed to it by AS many authorities, the maxi
! mum difference often amounting to fifty miles.
| This Is source of continual uncertainty to
| mariners in these waters which ought to be
| eliminated, now that the science of deep-sea
sounding is so well developed. So little time is
| necessary to sound in great depths that an eX-
| animation of any locality where a danger is
supposed to exist could be very quickly made
| and the contour of the bed of the ocean abSo-
| luttlV determined.
Every vessel of the Navy should be provided
with an apparatus, and be required to sound
! wherever the charts show no depths at distan-
ces of at least twenty miles. The method of
| examination by posting a lookout aloft while Il
| vessel is in the vicinity of danger is no longer
| of sufficient value to be accepted as final. The
| Hawaiian government is CARRYING on hydro
| graphic survey, to extend to depth of 100
fathom>. The government of the United States
| should continue the soundings to the other
| principal groupes of the Pacific.
| New surveys of the north coast of South
| America and the West Indies are most urgent
| ly required. Our commercial interests abso-
| lutely demand better charts of this general 10
| cality. vessel should be sent to the Spanish
| Main this winter to collect data for the revision
| OF the charts of that region which are mostly
| based on old Spanish surveys dating back to
| 1874. The coast of South America eastward of
| Trihioad. and the outlying islands, should also
( be examined Immediately, and a vessel should
| De selt lnefe lnlS winter 10 commence the
| work.
| Wafson'S rock lying in latitude 40 deg II
min. n. longitude SO deg. % min. W.. in the
path Of North Atlantic traders, has been re-
| ported 50 many times that its existence ought
to be settled definitely. ship provided with
a deep-sta apparatus should be sent next sum
| mer TO sound out this locality and to develop
| the subm irne mountain ridge that probably
exists between the Azores and the Flemish Cap
as indicated by Milne Bank and the numerous
reported dangers lying between the two eX
lftremcS.
| Last winter the United States Fish Commits
sion Steamer Albaross, with party composed
entirely of naval officers working under the d
recion of the Bureau of Navigation, showed
how efficiently this could be done. This parry,
among many other things, determined the pos
ion of "A ridge between Santa Cruz and Puerto
Rico which was known to exist from the inves-
| legations made into the temperatures of the
Caribbean Sea by Commander Bartlett during
the Years 1879 and 1880.
This work, eminently within the province
of the Navy, and performed with much sue
cess by naval officers. should be continued and
Il ship should be fitted out expressly to make
Investigations into ocean temperatures at all
depths, and thus obtain the data necessary to
determine the actual circulation of the ocean.