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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
59
The
conclusions
of
Commander
Dayman
confirmed
in
general
those
of
Lieutenant
Berryman,
though
in
comparing
the
charts
prepared
by
the
two,
we
observe
some
differences
which
ought
to
be
noticed.
Both
agree
as
to
the
general
character
of
the
bottom
of
the
ocean
along
this
latitude--that
it
is
a
vast
plain,
like
the
steppes
of
Siberia.
Yet
on
the
chart
of
Dayman
the
floor
of
the
sea
seems
not
such
a
dead
level
as
on
that
of
Berryman.
(This
may
be
partly
owing
to
a
difference
of
route,
as
Dayman
passed
a
little
to
the
north
of
the
track
of
Berryman.)
There
are
more
unequal
depths,
which
in
the
small
space
of
a
chart,
appear
like
hills
and
valleys.
Yet
when
we
consider
the
wide
distances
passed
over,
these
inequalities
seem
not
greater
than
the
undulations
on
our
Western
prairies.
"This
space,"
says
Dayman,
"has
been
named
by
Maury
the
telegraphic
plateau,
and
although
by
multiplying
the
soundings
upon
it,
we
have
depths
ranging
from
fourteen
hundred
and
fifty
to
twenty-four
hundred
fathoms,
these
are
comparatively
small
inequalities
in
its
surface,
and
present
no
new
difficulty
to
the
project
of
laying
the
cable
across
the
ocean.
Their
importance
vanishes
when
the
extent
of
the
space
over
which
they
are
distributed
(thirty
degrees
of
longitude)
is
considered."
According
to
Berryman
and
Dayman
both,
the
ocean
in
its
deepest
part
on
this
plateau,
measured
but
two
thousand
and
three
or
four
hundred
fathoms,
or
about
fourteen
thousand
feet--a
depth
of
but
little
over
two
and
a
half
miles.
This
is
not
great,
compared
with
the
enormous
depths
in
other
parts
of
the
Atlantic;[A]
yet
that
it
is
something
may
be
realized
from
the
fact
that
if
the
Peak
of
Teneriffe
were
here
"cast
into
the
sea,"
it
would
sink
out
of
sight,
island,
mountain
and
all,
while
even
the
lofty
head
of
Mont
Blanc
would
be
lifted
but
a
few
hundred
feet
above
the
waves.
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