Year: 1875




The following extracts are from lettel
received from off Japan by gentleman il
Sydney, in continuation of correspondence
which has already appeared:


AT sea, March %, 1875.


Latitude 1924 n, longitude l45:l6 E.


al must tell you of to-day's great sue
cess. The day is hardly over, but l think
1 may say it is one long to be remembered
by the old Challenger. This morning at
six we commenced sounding, and reached
the astounding depth of 4575 fathoms,
without the intervals taken at every %
fathoms showing the slightest sign of the
3cwt sounding-weight having reached the
bottom. We could not understand il
quite but, however, we thought it would
be advisable TO heave in little to see
wnat the strain was like on the accumula'
tors, when, to our surprise, it showed at
once that the weights were free, and so
we hove the line in not knowing what the
depth was. Although we knew it to be
very great, still, whatever it was, we had
not discovered it, so determined, if we re-
covered the line, to try again, adding an
other cwt By II o'clock A. N. the Bal
ley machine water bottle and two ther-
mometers appeared on the surface, one
thermometer smashed to atoms, the glass
having powdered up like fine sand: by
this alone we knew it must have been a
great depth, owing to the enormous pres
sure on the thermometer, which caused it
to break The rod, unfortunately, brought
up but very little bottom, having in all
probability been washed out on the way
up, the little there was proved to be a
reddish clay. We now sounded again, at
taching 4cwt., and by the interval of every
twenty-five fathoms showed a sudden in.
crease from twenty-eight seconds to fifty
nine seconds. We knew Immediately that
it had struck the bottom, besides having
checked the line several times. Watched
the strain on the accumulators, and this
was at the enormous depth of 445o faith
oms Tor about $500 feet.j The line is
now being hove in, but it is source of
great satisfaction to have determined the
depths so accurately, it only shows how
frail and false must have been the deep-sea
soundings in days gone by, with all their
primitive gear, when zoe could not detect
bottom with weight of 9cwt. and all our
appliances. cannot understand one of
our thermometers out of the t,oO that went
down in the morning coming up whole,
for they are all tested alike, at least so we
believed; however, it came up and regis
tered the bottom 353 Fab. uncorrected,
which, think you will say, has made it a
very satisfactory day for the old ship.


"After leaving Hongkong we again ran
across to Manila, thence to Zebu and Tan
Wanga, when we again swung for the old
Fox, in the same position as we did on our
passage to Hongkong from thence (having
bounced the Spaniards out of 100 tons of
coal / do not know where we should
have got to had we not done SO. We
stretched away to the eastward; most
deadly work it was, between calms and
light winds. We managed, in course of
time, by aid of as much coal as we could
well spare, to reach Humboldt Bay, New
Guinea. Here we hoped to remain five or
six days to survey the harbor and rate the
chronometers, but we soon found that the
natives did not appear at all friendly in
clined-in fact, when on the point of land
ing, some natives in the canoes showed
fighting gestures, which with some hot
tempered men would have in all proba-
bility exterminated them pretty quickly !;
however, we had not the time to waste in
trying to pacify them, and l think the cap
tain acted wisely in not showing them
what we could do, but decided on sailing.
1t would have been very different thing
had we been ordered to make survey of
the place by the Admiralty; then of course
we should have forced a landing, and soon
have subdued the natives. But am quite
sure they will never be brought to civili-
cation by bloodshed. The only thing that
regretted was that we were not able to
get good photograph of them, for the
ship was knocking about so in the bay it
was impossible to take any. They are in
deed a wonderful sight, naked as they
were born, except wearing such peculiar
ornaments. They were all game for trade,
although not one would venture on board,
yet carried it on from their canoes, which
numbered at one time over seventy along
side of us, some three, four, and five men
in canoe. Leaving Humboldt Bay, we
shaped course for Admiralty Island, where
we arrived on the fourth of March; came
to an anchor in Mares Bay, so named after
our last dear old captain, large canoes i'm
mediately coming off to us. The natives
proving most friendly here, we remained
six days, making a thorough survey of the
bay and the surrounding islands, which
are five in number, which we named after
our noble philos. The natives here have