Excerpt from Deep-Sea Sounding and Dredging: A Description and Discussion of the Methods and Appliances Used on Board the Coast and Geodetic Survey Steamer, "Blake" We were one of the first, after Sir William Thomson, and Capt. George E. Belknap, U. S. N to use piano-forte wire for sounding purposes, and we probably continued its use for a longer time than any other organization. The Blake is the only vessel that has ever been fitted out with wire rope (the suggestion of Prof. Alexander Agassiz) for deep-sea dredging and trawling. But little has been published concerning the use of wire for sound ing; and of wire rope for dredging, nothing, in fact, excepting in a gen eral account of the Blake's dredging work by Professor Agassiz. Nearly all the apparatus for sounding and dredging used on board the Blake is new or modified from previous forms, and is peculiar to that ves sel, the water-cup (plates 20 and 40) being the first and only instrument in the field for the performance of the complex work aimed at in its design. These appliances, which are intended to effect an advance in accu racy or in celerity of operations, and to secure ultimate economy, have been well tested in actual service, and are believed to have accomplished, at least in some degree, the object sought. Having had unusual facilities, in connection with continuous work our methods were perhaps more systematic in certain directions than are generally followed by parties or organizations for the prosecution of deep sea work. Our navigation-record was comprehensive, and adapted to future revision or verification. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.