| Abstract |
The Challenger left England on the 21st December 1872, and experienced heavy southwesterly gales until the 30th, when the parallel of Cape Finisterre was reached. From this position to Lisbon, which port was reached on the 3rd January 1873, the weather was variable, but on the whole fine, so that it was possible to test the sounding and dredging gear, and instruct the ship's company in duties new to nearly all of them. Five soundings and three hauls of the dredge were obtained in depths varying from 325 to 1975 fathoms (see Sheets 2 and 3). These first operations were not very successful, as the sounding line parted on three occasions, the dredge rope once, and the dredge on one occasion came up foul. These accidents were due partly to inexperience, and partly-as was found out afterwards-to the defective condition of the medium-sized sounding line which was at first used instead of the No. 1 line, its breaking strain being 7 cwt. instead of 10 cwt. The dredge rope was lost owing to the dredge fouling something at the bottom, from which it could not be cleared, and at the time it parted the tension was certainly equal to, if not greater than, the warranted breaking strain, viz., 2 1/2 tons. It has been suggested that the dredge may have fouled the telegraph cable which passes along this coast. [NOT CONTROLLED OCR] |
