El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-09
Sea Floor,
Possible Revelations of the Bed
of the Ocean Do Sunken
Ships Go to the Bottom9

Who is there among us that has ever
seen a lake. a pond or a river bed laid
dry that has not felt an almost child
ish interest and curiosity in the aspect
of q portion of the earth's surface hith-
erto concealed from our gaze? says F..
T. Bellen in the London Spectator. The
feeling is probably universal. arising
from the natural desire to penetrate
the unknown. and also from a primi-
tive anxiety to know what sort of
abode the inhabitants of the water
possess. since we almost always con-
slider the water folk to live as do the
birds-really on land. with the water
osity be SO general with regard to the
petty depths mentioned above, how
greatly is it increased in respect of the
receSSes Of the sea, for there is truly
the great unknown. the undiscovered BILE
country of which. in spite OF the con-
slant efforts of deep sea expeditions.
we know next to nothing. Here i'm
agination may (and does) run riot. at
tempting the impossible task of repro
ducing to our minds the state of things
in the lightless, silent depths, where
life is impossible.
Suppose that it were possible for
some CONFUSION of nature to lay bare.
let us say. the entire bed of the north
Atlantic ocean. With one bound the
fancy leaps at the prospect of redis-
covery of the lost continent. the tabled
Atlantis. whose wonders have had so
powerful an effect upon the magma
lions of mankind. Should we be able
to roam through those stupendous
halls. climb those towering temple
heights reared by the giants of an
elder world or gaze with stupeied
wonder upon the majestic ruins of
cities to which Babylon and Palmyra.
with all their mountainous edifices.
were but as a suburban townlet? Who
knows? Yet maybe the natural Won
ders apparent in the foundations Of
such soaring masses as the Azores.
the Cape Verde islands or the Ca
naries. or. greater still. the altitude Of
such remote and lonely pinnacles as
those of st. Paurs rocks would
strike us as more marvellous yet To
thread the cool intricacies of the still
vext Bermoothes" at their easements
and seek out the caves where the sea
monsters dwell who never saw the
light of day. to wander at will among
reefs that cramp up the outpouring Of
the benefcent gulf stream and make
1t issue from it's source with that tur
bulent energy that carries it. laden
with blessings, to our shores-what a
great pilgrimage that would be! I'm
agine the vision of that great chain of
islands which we call the West Indies
soaring up from the vast plain 5000
Ill =, -
form and color belonging to the lovely
homes of the coral insects. that build
for themselves. yet all I'M
rear stable abodes for man |
kind!
1t would be an awful country to |
view. this suddenly exposed floor of |
the sea. barren land Of weird out
line, Of almost unimaginable complexi |
ty of contour, but without any beau
ty such as is bestowed upon the dry
earth by the kindly sun. for it's beauty
depends upon the sea, whose prolific
waters are peopled with life so abun-
dainty that even the teeming earth
Is barren as compared with the ocean.
But at it's greatest depths all the re-
that man has been able to
prosecute go to prove that there is lit
tie life.
The most that goes on there is a
steady accumulation of the dead husks
Of once living organisms settling slow
" down to form who knows what new
granite. marbles. porphyries. against
the time when another race on a reor-
ganized earth shall need them. Here
there is nothing fanciful, for if we
know anything at all Of prehistoric
times it is that what is now high land.
not to say merely dry land. was once
ying cold and dormant at the bottom
IF the sea being prepared throughout
who can say what unrealzable periods
If time for the use and enjoyment Of
is present lords. Not until we leave
he rayless gloom. the incalculable
3ressures and universal cold of those
depths do we find the sea
1oor beginning to abound with life. 1t
nay even be doubted whether any
hing of mans handiwork. such as
here is about a ship laundering in
nidocean. would ever reach in a recog
liZable form the bottom of the sea at
| depth of more than 5000 fathoms.
There is an idea, popularity current
lmong SeafarerS, that Sunken ships in
he deep sea only go down a certain
distance. no matter what their build or
low ponderous their cargo.
Having reached a certain stratum.
hey then drift about. slowly disnte
grating. derelicts of the depths. swarm
ng with strange denizens. the shadowy
leets of the lost and loved and mourn
ID. In time. of course, as the great
olvent gets in its " ork they disappear.
becoming part of their surroundings. |
,ut not for hundreds of years. during
which they pass and repass at the will
# the undercurrents that everywhere ,