The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-06-17

How Shots are Sunk In Water Four Miles

How Shots are Sunk In Water Four Miles
Deep.
After steaming for two days to the
eastward, the line of deep sea sound
ings were taken up again in the SouthAt-
lantic Ocean. where the Enterprise had
left off on her outward passage around
the Cape of Good Hope over three
years before. The soundings are taken
with iron balls similar to nine-inch
shot slung with wire. A hole three
inches in diameter through the middle
of tho ball reduces it's weight from
ninety-six pounds (the weight of nine
inch shot to sixty four pounds.
Through this hole brass plunger is
inserted several inches longer than the
diameter of the shot. The plunger is
filled with u worm, cup. and hook,
to which the shot is fastened to q reel
containg five thousand fathoms of steel
wire fastened to swivel forming the
head of the plunger and led over a
wheel in an iron frame several feet clear
of the ships side, and over another
wheel a little below the frame. This
leads the wire still further clear of the
ship. The frame on which the upper
wheel hangs has five hollow stanchions
In which are springs. to each of which
a rope is fastened, roll over roll, as in
the top Of the frame, and to which the
wheel hangs so as to give way several
feet to ease the strain which naturally
comes on the wire, and would surely
break it on a heavy roll of the ship, as
1t has done once, causing loss of 1000
fathoms of wire. When everything is
ready the shot is dropped overheard,
and the wire runs off of the reel. at the
rate of one thousand fathoms in ten
minutes. AS soon as the plunger reach
es the bottom, the hook to which the
shot is fastened turns over by the slack
ening of the strain, and so releases it,
A tell-tale on the axle of the reel tells
how many fathoms of wire have run
of. A little steam engine then winds
the wire with the plunger on the reel,
minus the shot, which forever remains
at the bottom of the ocean. The plung-
er consists of hollow brass tube ten
inches long, in which is inserted
worm with a cup OH the lower end.
The worm serves for the purpose of
twisting the cup into the bed of the
ocean and to fetch up a sample from
the bottom. The cup is the invention
of Lieut.. Belknap, U. s. N, and is
named after him. He has invented
three different cups, but the one used
on board the Enterprise is Belknap
cup No. 2, and the best adapted for
the purpose. The contents of the cup,
after the water is drained out, are put
in small bottles and labeled with lat
titude, longitude, and depth. These
bottles are packed into boxes, to be
sent to the photographic Office in Wash
ington.
When under steam alone the engines
are stopped for sounding, but when un-
der sail alone steam has to be gotten
up and all sail taken in, as the ship has
to lie perfectly quiet, and to be under
control, which is impossible under sail.
Soundings were taken about every one
hundred miles, the depth usually being
two or three thousand fathoms. The
greatest encountered was 3, 200 fathoms,
or about Al miles. In latitude 30 de-
grees south and longitude 30 degrees
west, shoal water of about four or five
hundred fathoms was found, revealing
the existence of a range of mountains
on the bottom of the ocean. These.
the Challenger, an English man ofwar,
on deep-sea sounding expedition
around the world ten years ago, had
failed to discover. That day fifteen
soundings were taken, one every five
miles, till deep water was reached
again. The cost of shot is 81. Lieut..
Mark, the navigator, had charge of
the work, and it required quarter
master, an assistant, and fireman to
run the engine to take a sounding,
which altogether lasts about one hour.
Should the shot fail to discharge, as it
did once during the cruise, the whole has
to be wound up again by hand, which
takes three hours for depth of three
thousand fathoms, as the engine is not
powerful enough to wind up wire, shot,
and all. Baltimore Sun.