The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-08-26

The first accurate knowledge of deer
sea conditions and life was obtained
! by the experts of the famous Chal
! lenger expedition around the world, be
! ginning in 1872 and lasting about -four
! years Even the Challenger, which
| sounded great depths and brought VI
] many new animals and specimens from
i the ocean floor, used the old-fashioned
and unreliable rope sounding appa
ratus. Sir William Thomson, who de
vised the machine for sounding with
i piano wire, had one put aboard the
/ Challenger, but the British conser
vatism of the explorers made them
stick to the rope which had served
( them well rather than experiment
with new tangled things. So Sir
| William g device was consigned 10 the
| StOreroom.
The United States Navy and Coast
| Survey profited by Sir William 8 in
vention, however 1t was only q few
months after the Challenger expedition
, had started that Capt. George E. Bel
KNAPP of the navy, in the steamer Tus-
earora, fitted up for sounding for a
| submarine cable from California to
machines along. He used it by attach
paratus 1t is Capt. Belknap's sound
ing machine, perfected by then Lieu
tenant 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
giobular part is the sinker or shot,
which is detached by the impact of the
rod running through it against the bot
tom or by the Stacking OF the sound
ing wire. The weight of the shot and
all the attachments to the rod, includ-
ing the thermometer, is about seventy
pounds. When the projecting bottom
of the rod is forced by the weight of
the shot into the sea floor it lifts a
valve and fills the cylinder with speci-
men soil. The shot is detached auto
matically. When the rod begins to
ascend the valves are closed and the
contents of the rod are protected from
wash.
The Albatross is an iron twin screw
steamer and was built twentyfour
years ago. Since then she has been
frequently repaired and improved and
is now fitted with all the latest ap-
pliances for revealing the secrets of
being the first United States govern
ment vessel to receive an electric light
plant for internal illumination. Rear
Admiral Sigsbee and Capt. Tanner
have contributed more genius, energy
and time to pcrfecting deep sea APP
paratus probably than any other men
in any other service.
The large mechanically operated
sounding machine installed in the
stern of the Albatross is Sigsbee g de-
sign, and the smaller one abaft Sigs
lees is Tanners. The big machine is
for great depths and the little hand
operated one. the work of which is
rapid, is for depths not exceeding
about 500 fathoms. The beam trawl
and tow nets shown here also were de-
signed h Tanner and have done splen
did service.
The Albatross has explored the bot
toms of many parts of the Atlantic
and Pacific and the Bering Sea. She
brought up animal life from 4,l73
fathoms near Tonga Islands in the
South Pacific, and in Bering Sea, in
LII fathoms, she captured 500 fishes
in single haul of a beam trawl,
lowed by wire rope and operated by
an egine on deck. She has made more
than 1000 soundings and several
thousand dredge +hauls. From the
great depths the dredge brings up no
life, as it cannot exist in the
cold and sunless valleys. All the ami |
mails away down are carnivorous. Some |
are blind and find subsistence by alb |
normally developed feelers. The deep
er its home. the smaller are the eyes |
of the Ash. but the larger it's jaws. The |
organs most necessary to its existence |
are the hest developed. No really big |
fish has been brought up from a depth |
Of two miles or more. Such fsh-even |
up to the giant sea serpent FORMS