The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-06-03
DEEP SEA SOUNDINGS.
How Shots Sunk in Water Four Miles
Deep.

After steaming for two days to the
eastward. the line of deep-Sea soundingS
were taken up again in the South At
| 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 lhe
| ball reduces its weight from ninty-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 a worm,
cup, and hook, 10 which the shot is
fastened to a reel containing five thou
sand fathoms of steel wire fastened to a
swivel forming the head of the plunger
and led over wheel in an iron frame
several feet clear of the ships side, and
over another wheel 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
/
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 Il heavy roll Of the
| ship, as it has done once, causing loss
| of 600 fathoms of wire. When every
thing is ready the shot is dropped over
| board and the wire runs off Of the reel
at rate of one thousand fathoms in ten
minutes. As soon as the plunger reaches
| the bottom the hook to which the shot
| is fastened turns over by the Stacking of
! the strain, and so releases it. A tell-tale
on the axle of the reel tells how many
fathoms of wire have run off 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 plunger consists OF a
| hollow brass tube ten inches long, in
which is inserted a worm with a cup on
the lower end. The worm serves for
the purpose of twilting 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, .. S.
n, and is named after him. He has in
vented three different cups but the one
uSCI Ou DOdiu u lilC I4lliCi Dl iSt IL DCIhhtl ~
cup No. ,, and the best adapted for the
purpose. The contents of the cup, after
the water is drained of, are put in small
bottles and labeled with latitude, longi
tude. and depth. These bottles are
packed into boxes, to be sent to the
photographic office in Washington.
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 con-
troll, which is impossible under sail.
Soundings were taken about every one
hundred miles, the depth usually being
two or three thousands fathOms The
greatest encountered was $500 fathoms,
or about 1-2 miles. In latitude 80 de-
grees south and longitude 80 degrees
west, Shoal water of about four or five
hundred fathoms " as found, revealing
| the existence of a range of mountains
on the bottom of the ocean. These the
Challenger, an English man-of-war, on
a deep-sea sounding expedition around
the world ten years ago, had failed to
discover. That day fifteen soundings
were taken, one ever five miles, till deep
| water was reached again. The cost of
shot is 81. Lieut. Mark, ths naviga-
tor, had charge of the work, and it re-
quired quartermaster, an assistant,
and fireman to run the engine to take
a sounding, which altogether lasts about
one hour. Should the shot fail to dis
charge, as it did once during the cruise,
the whole has to be wound up again by
hand, which takes three hours for a
depth of three thousand fathoms, as the
engine is not powerful enough to wind
up wire, shot, and all.-BaLtinl0re Sa4n.