GENERAL INTRODUCTION
5.
upon this spot, when its “îoftiest peak would be fully covered
and lie over half. a mile beneath the oceansurface (Plate 2). '
These deeps are not very numerous and cover only a
small proportion of the ocean oOr.
There are
.
5'} in all,
32 of which are in the Pacic, 5 in—the Indian Ocean, 19
“in the Atlantic, and one lying partly in one and partly in the
other of the ”latter two oceans.
Each deep has been given
a name, such as the “
Murray Deep ”and the “ Valdivia
Deep,” after well—knoWn oceanographers
research
,
vessels.
The deepest sounding in the Atlantic ocean is
5,227 fath‘oms, 'o— Porto Rico.
Taken as a whole the depth of the oceans is very great—,
f0r more than half oi the ocean oor lies between two and
three thousand fathoms, while well over three—quarters is
deeper than a thousand.
One realizes how comparatively
trivial in extent is the shallow water that lies around our
coasts when it is known that the average depth of the oceans
and their adjacent seas is over two "and a quarter miles.
ANCIENT
'
.
The extent of the oceans.was not known to “the
and their ideas of what …the- small Worldthey
knew were probably mostlyËurmise and myth handed down
from generation to generation.
The ChaldeanS imagined '
that the earth, which oated upon the eternal waters, wassurrounded by a ditch in which a river perpetually owed. ‘
Thé Egyptians likewise conceived ever—owmg around their
world a river on the surface of whichoated a boat carrying
_
—
the Sun.
But neither of these civilizations can be said to
have, been maritime, and it was' the Phœnicians who were
the great navigators“ of anCient history. Their knowledge
of the extent of the searnust have been very considerable,_ ‘
__
since they ventured oftenthrough the Rillars of Hercules,
,
_
visiting the coasts of Europe and the British Isl‘ès.’ From
5.
upon this spot, when its “îoftiest peak would be fully covered
and lie over half. a mile beneath the oceansurface (Plate 2). '
These deeps are not very numerous and cover only a
small proportion of the ocean oOr.
There are
.
5'} in all,
32 of which are in the Pacic, 5 in—the Indian Ocean, 19
“in the Atlantic, and one lying partly in one and partly in the
other of the ”latter two oceans.
Each deep has been given
a name, such as the “
Murray Deep ”and the “ Valdivia
Deep,” after well—knoWn oceanographers
research
,
vessels.
The deepest sounding in the Atlantic ocean is
5,227 fath‘oms, 'o— Porto Rico.
Taken as a whole the depth of the oceans is very great—,
f0r more than half oi the ocean oor lies between two and
three thousand fathoms, while well over three—quarters is
deeper than a thousand.
One realizes how comparatively
trivial in extent is the shallow water that lies around our
coasts when it is known that the average depth of the oceans
and their adjacent seas is over two "and a quarter miles.
ANCIENT
'
.
The extent of the oceans.was not known to “the
and their ideas of what …the- small Worldthey
knew were probably mostlyËurmise and myth handed down
from generation to generation.
The ChaldeanS imagined '
that the earth, which oated upon the eternal waters, wassurrounded by a ditch in which a river perpetually owed. ‘
Thé Egyptians likewise conceived ever—owmg around their
world a river on the surface of whichoated a boat carrying
_
—
the Sun.
But neither of these civilizations can be said to
have, been maritime, and it was' the Phœnicians who were
the great navigators“ of anCient history. Their knowledge
of the extent of the searnust have been very considerable,_ ‘
__
since they ventured oftenthrough the Rillars of Hercules,
,
_
visiting the coasts of Europe and the British Isl‘ès.’ From