Through the first Antarctic night, 1898-1899 - Frederick Albert Cook

It is noteworthy that the soundings carried out by the Erebus and Terror to the east of Victorialand, and north of the ice-barrier discovered by Ross, also indicate the existence of a continental shelf with much greater depths to the north. Between the two there still remains a space of 60° of longitude to explore before one can say whether they are connected.

METHOD OF SOUNDING

All the positions were fixed by M. Lecointe, and I am indebted to the kindness of this accomplished astronomer for the exact place of each sounding. The sounding-machine of the Belgica was constructed by Le Blanc at Paris, and is similar to that employed on the Pola by the Austrian expedition. During the wintering in the ice, M. de Gerlache had a simple but effective arrangement constructed on board, which was fitted up on the ice close to the ship, and only required a hole to be cut in order to allow a sounding to be made. It consisted of a wooden drum carrying the sounding-wire, a brake consisting of a cord and a strong piece of wood serving as a lever to regulate the descent of the weight, and two cranks on the axle of the drum to heave in the wire. A wheel of one metre in circumference, with a counter from the Le Blanc machine, allowed the depth to be read off. The line ran through a block attached by a dynamometer to three poles arranged as a tripod. The soundings and temperature observations were laborious, and it is due to the co-operation of MM. Amundsen, Tollefsen, Johansen, Melaerts, Van Rysselberghe, and of M. de Gerlache himself, that it has been made possible for me to write these notes on the bathymetrical conditions of the antarctic regions.

TABLE OF SOUNDINGS.

Date.	Depth in Metres.	Fathoms.	Latitude.	Longitude West.	No.
1898.			° ′	° ′
Jan. 14	296	162	54 51	63 37	1
„ 14	1564	855	55 3	63 29	2
„ 15	4040	2209	55 51	63 19	3
„ 16	3850	2105	56 49	64 30	4
„ 18	3800	2078	59 58	63 12	5
„ 19	3690	2018	61 5	63 4	6
„ 20	2900	1586	62 2	61 58	7
„ 20	1880	1028	62 11	61 37	8
„ 28	625	342	64 23	62 2	9
Feb. 16	135	74	67 59	70 40	10
„ 19	480	262	69 6	78 21	11
„ 23	565	309	69 46	81 8	12
„ 24	510	279	69 31	81 31	13
„ 25	2700	1476	69 17	82 25	14
„ 27	2600	1422	69 24	84 39	15
„ 27	1730	946	69 41	84 43	16
Mar. 1	570	312	71 6	85 23	17
„ 1	520	284	71 17	85 43	18
„ 2	460	251	71 31	85 16	19
„ 4	530	290	71 22	84 55	20
„ 5	520	284	71 19	85 29	21
„ 9	554	303	71 23	85 33	22
„ 20	390	213	71 35	88 2	23
April 22	480	262	71 2	92 3	24
„ 26	410	224	70 50	92 22	25
May 4	1150	629	70 33	89 22	26
„ 20	435	238	71 16	87 38	27
„ 26	436	238	71 13	87 44	28
Sept. 2	502	274	70 0	82 45	29
„ 9	510	279	69 51	82 36	30
„ 14	480	262	69 53	83 4	31
„ 22	485	265	70 23	82 31	32
„ 26	485	265	70 21	82 52	33
„ 29	480	262	70 21	82 39	34
Oct. 7	480	262	70 30	82 48	35
„ 16	532	291	69 59	80 54	36
„ 19	580	317	70 1	81 45	37
„ 24	537	294	69 43	80 51	38
Nov. 2	518	283	69 51	81 24	39
„ 10	490	268	70 9	82 35	40
„ 28	459	251	70 20	83 23	41
Dec. 20	569	311	70 15	84 6	42
„ 22	645	253	70 19	84 51	43
„ 27	630	344	70 20	85 52	44
„ 29	660	361	70 15	85 51	45
„ 31	950	519	70 1	85 20	46
1899.
Jan. 2	1360	744	69 52	85 13	47
„ 4	1470	804	69 50	85 12	48
„ 7	1490	815	69 52	85 32	49
Feb. 10	1166	638	70 34	93 17	50
„ 19	1740	951	70 30	94 12	51
Mar. 2	430	235	70 53	97 17	52
„ 5	425	232	70 51	97 57	53
„ 12	564	308	70 56	100 18	54
„ 13	1195	653	70 50	102 14	55
„ 23	4800	2625	56 28	84 46	56

Appendix No. IV

NAUTICAL POSITIONS AND MAGNETIC DEDUCTIONS

CAPTAIN GEORGES LECOINTE