Omaha daily bee., 1906-08-12
LIFE IN THE OCEAN DEEPS
American Workers Make sOundings TO q
Depth Of Six Miles.
pLcUuARrlts Of THE OCEAN FLOOR
Mountains and valleys as Common as
on Land-ResuIts of soundinss
Conducted by the Govern
ment in the PacInc.

nc attalnments even holding 1t, that there
were places in the ocean abysses that
were fathomless Navigators solemnly
assured credulous land lubbers that they
know the location Of certain holes that
never could be sounded because they were
bottornless. This implied that the inn
measurable depth continued through the
earth to another immeasursble depth on
the other side, a proposition that was
fnanifestly not reasonable, TO say the
least
Now the oceanographer knows the moor
Of the sea almost as thoroughly as the
eeographer knows the confguration of the
land. There are tremendous deeps, but the
greatest that a ship properly equipped
with sounding apparatus has ever passed
over was found and recorded by an in
fallible method
The ship was the United States steam
collier Nero, and It was incidental to
thorough exploration OF the Pacific for
'transpacific cable, that II picked up a few
,handfuls Of the remotest bottom, seventy
flve miles east-southeast Of the island OF
Guam, six years ago. The spot was
christened the Nero Deep and no sound
ing rod has ever gone further into any
ocean. The depth was 6,B9 fathoms, or
only sixty-six feet less than six statute
Yniies The peaks of the highest mountain
on earth is not so tall.
The work OF the Nero probably never has
been equalled by any other vessel survey
ing for a cable route. Incidental to the
soundings the naturalist OF the ship col
Iected much material relating to the char
acter Of the bottom, adding something to
the great stock OF knowledge already ac-
quired. The Nero made soundings every
- It q
nautical miles. The exploration practically
covered a sea territory fourteen miles wide
and 5000 miles long and for thoroughncss
has never been excelled.
Peculiarities of the Sen Floor.
The form Of the sea floor is very much
like that of the Visible world about us.
The oceans have their valleys and plains.
their plateaus and their lofty mountain
peaks. There are precipices that put to
shame those OF the land, and some OF
the tallest submits, which project from
he waves in the form of little islands,
would be inaccessible II they rose the
Iame height from the earth as they do
from the bottom Of the ocean.
rhe great difference between the under
ocean territory and that smaller part Of
the planet on which we have our being Is
the difference between light and darkness.
At few hundred fathoms the ocean is as
gloomy as twilight and beyond that to the
uttermost depths there is no light except
that given out by phosphorescent crea-
lures and matter. The sunlight does not
penetrate below this few hundred fathoms
At about 600 fathoms the temperature of
the water drops TO s. degrees. There
after down to a depth of five or six miles
there is an additional drop Of only about
eTa.l q
above the freezing point, is attributed
partly to the absence of the SUMS infu-
ence and partly to the existence of polar
and subpolar currents that have sunk to
the bottom and spread slowly over the
valleys. carrying with them air sufficient
20 sustain marine life even at the depth
OF three or four miles. These currents
are sluggish, and It is conjectured that
the denixens of the abysmal chill and
gloom have an environment Of absolute
calm.
Presume at Great Depths.
The pressure at six miles below the sur
face is about Ave tons to the square Inch,
which the tissues of the deep sea animals
are formed to resist Some of them are
90 soft that they disintegrate when they
are hauled into the air. All come up dead.
The sudden and enormous decrease OF the
pressure as they ascend and the INNER
sion in q temperature of so degrees from a
temperature of s5 degrees is enough to de-
vtroy any sort of animal life
The first accurate knowledge of deep
sea conditions and life was obtained by
the experts of the famous Challenger ex-
pedition around the world, beginning in
1872 and lasting about four years. Even
the Challenger, 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 Thom-
son. who devised the machine for sound
ing with piano wire, had one put aboard
the Challenger, but the British conserva-
tism Of the explorers made them stick to
the rope which had served them we'll
rather than experiment with new tangled
things. Be Sir williams device was con-
aligned TO the storeroom.
The United states navy and coast sur
vey pronted by Dir Williams invention,
however II was only few months after
the Challenger expedition had started that
Captain George Il. Belknap OF the navy In
the steamer Tuscerora, fitted up for sound
ing for q submarine cable from California
20 japan. took one OF the wire sounding
machines along. He used II by attaching
the wire to his own improved apparatus.
1t is Captain Beiknap's sounding machine.
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 tho
United States Fish commission.
The globulsr part is the sinker or shot,
which is detached by the impact of the
rod running through It against the bottom
or by the stacking OF the sounding wire.
The weight Of the shot and all the at.
tachmsnts to the rod. including the ther.
momster. Is about seventy pounds. When
tho projecting bottom OF the rod is forced
by the weight OF the shot into the sea floor
Il lifts a valve and nils the cylinder with
specimen soil; The shot is detached auto
matioally. When the rod begins TO ascend
the valves are closed and the contents OF
the rod are protected from wash.
First of Its Class.
The AlbRtross Is an iron twin screw
steamer and was built twenty-four years
ago. Since then II has been frequently
repaired and improved and is now nttec
with ali the latest appliances for revealing
the secrets OF the seas. II has the dis
tinction OF being the frst United State,
government vessel to receive an electric
light plant for internal illumination. Rea