The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1904-01-30
THE MOUNTAINS OF THE ATLANTIC.

A~odo &4Otl tAS oSJOAAAhS ~OAeAhSAto
Some of them peep above the surface
and are called by US islands, while
others miss that dignity by perhaps,
two, three or four hundred feet oi
submergeance. In an article entitled,
Under an Atlantic Liner" a writer
in one of the recent magazines says :
Thanks chiefly to the labors of the
cable-laying and cable-repairing shops
our knowledge of the confguration of
the bed of the ocean grows greater
annually. Oceanography as science,
may be said to date only from about
1850. The famous cruise of the
Challenger, between 1872 and 1875,
enabled Sir Wyvill Thomas and Siy
John Murray to give TO tie woT1a
valuable observations concerning ma
rine depths and zoology and oceanic
conditions. It is true that before
discoveries of importance had been
made, mountain ranges and plateaux
had been revealed, but not even the
cable companies possessed very much
accurate knowledge of the bottom of
the Atlantic. Quite recently these
have received the wisdom and value of
knowing the ground, < x x y and a
host of able men in various countries,
headed by Sir John Murray, the
Prince of Monaco, Mr.. Agassiz, and
others, in actively pursuing the science
of oceanography, are laying bare the
secrets of the deep; SO that, at the
present rate, every geographical pc
culiarity of the land beneath the sea
will be as familiar to the minds eye
as any other on the surface of the
globe of which we may possess only
second hand knowledge.
The Laura Ethel Mountain is the
uttermost peak of one of the most
celebrated of submarine elevations of
the Atlantic. 1t was discovered in
1873 and figures on all recent charts.
Adjacent soundings showed depth
of 1000 fathons, SO that the discov-
cry of depth of only 36 fathoms
created much surprise. 1t has been
explored by the sounding
line, until now, after quarter of
century of acquaintanceship, its con-
tour and characteristics are almost as
we'll known as many peaks of the
Alps or Andes.
An interesting group of submarine
mountains, 5000 feet high, consider
ably more lofty than the Snowden
range, has recently been found in
latitude 43 degrees, longitude 22 de-
grees 40 minutes. To these have
been given the name of Edward VII
Range, the peaks being named after
members of the royal family. Mount
Tillotson Bright, in latitude As de-
grees 10 minutes, longitude 27 de-
grees, so minutes, is considerable
elauatiar,--a-4aa- feet -hiah--inth the
North Atlantic. In latitude rs de-
grees, longitude 4S degrees, there
would be found, should the ocean be
drained dry, lofty range of hills and
mountains. The peaks of some of
them come dangerously near the sur
face. Mount Placentia, in latitude
as degrees, longitude 81 degrees,
lacks but FIVE fathoms of being an
island.
It needs but a glance at a chart of
the oceans bed to perceive that all
the islands of the main are merely
the SUBMITS of hills. Some are more
precipitous than others, as the Azores
and Cape Verde Islands, whose hid
den slopes descend almost abruptly
for some thousand fathoms or so.
The Faraday hills, discovered by
the exploring staff on board the steam
ship Faraday, in 1883, in latitude 40
degrees 80 minutes, longitude 28 de-
grees 70 minutes, are noted for the
presence of so much wreckage at their
base, and also for huge white cone,
which rises at a somewhat lower ele-
walton, almost like a marble shaft, to
commemorate the sepulture of enum-
erable ships and lives in this part of
the Atlantic Ocean.
Beclus, in his great geographical
work, observes that many of the
cones and hills in the Atlantic "are
covered by white mantle of carbon
ate of lime," which he explains as
being "the dead shells and skeletons
of pelagic and deep sea organiza-
tions."
Of these vast submarine plateaux
and plains, rocks, cliffs and fells, it
may be said that they are not sub
mitted to the same agencies which
conspire to erode and destroy visible
land. Beneath the ocean there are
no frosts, no lightning, no glaciers,
no meteoric agents at work. If II
were not for the eddies and the per-
petual destruction and accumulation
of animal life, these Atlantic rocks
and hills might rest as immutable as
the "peaks and craters of the moon,
where there is no atmosphere to cause
decay.
There are, by the way, some hill:
in the Atlantic whose immediate vi
cinity vessels avoid with dread, ane
whose close acquaintanceship is usual
ly accompanied by fatality. The
chief of these, which just protrude'
above the surface of the waves anc
is known as Sable Island, hardly
comes within Our scope, save as al
illustration of the fact that an islant
is occasionally a steep hill, even whef
it appears as fiat as as any Newfound
land sandbank.
We have spoken of mountains. bu
have remarked little upon the might,
valleys of the ocean. The deepes
indentation into the earth's crust j:
probably in the Pacific, but there ar
some cavernous depths now well de
fined in the Atlantic. To the great
est of these has been given the name
of Mares Deep, Thoulet Deep, Muir
raw Peake and Monaco Deep. Th
greatest depth yet sounded in the At
| lantic was originally discovered b.