Page:The National geographic magazine, volume 1.djvu/190

 An epoch in the progress of this science is marked by the appearance of Maury's Wind and Current Charts, his Physical Geography of the Sea, and his Sailing Directions, which contain the record of the first deep soundings taken by United States vessels; and to the United States, through Maury's efforts, belongs the honor of having inaugurated the first regular cruise for the purpose of sounding in great depths.

Under the instructions of Maury the U. S. brig Dolphin, commanded by Lieutenant Lee, and subsequently by Lieutenant Berryman, was detailed in 1851-3 to search for reported dangers in the Atlantic, and to sound regularly at intervals of 200 miles going and returning. The Dolphin was provided with Midshipman Brooke's sounding apparatus and with it succeeded in obtaining specimens of the bottom from depths of 2,000 fathoms. About the same period the U. S. ships Albany, Plymouth, Congress, John Adams, Susquehanna, St. Louis and Saranac also made soundings in various localities, and to the U. S. S. Portsmouth, in 1853, belongs the honor of having reported the first really deep-sea sounding obtained in the Pacific, 2,850 fathoms, in about 39° 40′ N., and 139° 26′ W.

The practicability of this work was thus fully demonstrated, and, although some of the earlier results, through defective appliances and lack of experience, were not entirely trustworthy, its character and success will always be a tribute to American enterprise and ingenuity.

With the advent of the submarine telegraph the investigation of the depth and configuration of the ocean bed became of vital importance, and the work of sounding for that purpose was taken up with activity; one of the first voyages in the interest of these projects was that of the U. S. S. Arctic, under the command of Lieut. O. H. Berryman, in 1856, between St. Johns, Newfoundland, and Valentia, Ireland.

The civil war naturally put a stop to these operations by United States ships. The U. S. schooner Fenimore Cooper was about the last engaged in this work, sounding in 1858-59 in the Pacific to 3,400 fathoms, and also reporting a sounding of 900 fathoms only ¾ of a mile west of Gaspar Rico Reef, in about 14°41' N. and 168° 56' E.

The work so well begun by the Americans was quickly taken up by other governments, and we find from that time to the present, the records of a large number of expeditions for diverse scien-