Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1906-09-06

tai to thorough exploration of the
Pacific for a transpacific cable that
she picked up a few handfuls of the
remotest bottom, rs miles east-south.
east of the Island of Guam, six years
ago. The spot was christened the
Nero Deep" and no sounding rod has
ever gone further into any ocean The
depth was $500 fathoms, or only Sc
feet less than six statute miles. The
peak of the highest mountain on earth
is not so tall.
The work of the Nero probably
never has been equaled by any other
vessel surveying for a cable route
Incidental to the soundings the natur-.
alist of the ship collected much ma.
terial relating to the character of the
bottom, adding something to the
great stock of knowledge already &C.
quired. The Nero made soundings
every ten miles over a ZigZag course
of 21,519.5 nautical miles. The ex.
ploration practically covered a sea
territory IA miles wide and 5000 miles
long, and for thorougness has never
been eXcelled.
The pressure at six miles below the
surface Is about five tons to the square
inch, which the tissues of the deep
sea animals are formed to resist.
Some of them are so soft that they dis
integrate when they are hauled into
the air. All come up dead The sud.
den and enormous decrease of the
mersion in temperature of 80 de.
grees from a temperature of So de-
grees is enough to destroy any sort of
animal life.
The first accurate knowledge of
deep sea conditions and life was OBJ.
tanned by the experts of the famous
Challenger expedition around the
world, beginning in 1872 and lasting
about four years. Even the Chal-
lenger, which sounded great depths
and brought up many new animals
and specimens from the ocean floor,
used the old-fashioned and unreliable
rope sounding apparatus. Sir William
Thomson, who devised the machine
for sounding with piano wire, had one
put aboard the Challenger, but the
British conservatism of the explorers
made them stick to the rope which
served them well rather than expert
ment with new tangled things. So
Sir Williams device was consigned to
the Storeroom.
The United States navy and coast
survey profited by Sir Williams inven-
ton, however. 1t was only a few
months after the Challenger expedi
tion had started that Capt. George e.
Belknap, of the navy, in the steamer
Tuscarora, fitted up for sounding for
submarine cable from California to
Japan, took one of the wire machines
along He used it by attaching the
wire TO his own improved apparatus.
1t is Capt. Belknap's sounding ma
chine, perfected by then Lieutenant
Commander c. d. Sigsbee, that is
now in use on the most famous and
complete of all sea searching vessels.
the Albatross of the United States
fish commission.
This machine is here illustrated. The
globular part is the sinker or shot,
WHICH is uetdCHeu ny tHe IMPACT Ol the
rod running through it against the
bottom or by the Stacking of the
sounding wire. The weight of the
shot, including the thermometer, Is
about 70 pounds. When the project
ing bottom of the rod is forced by the
weight of the shot into the sea floor it
lifts valve and fills the cylinder with
specimen soil. The shot is detached
automatically. When the rod begins
to ascend the valves are closed and
the contents of the rod are protected
from wash.