Shackleton's Last Voyage: The Story of the QuestWild, Frank
History
Shackleton's Last Voyage: The Story of the Quest
Wild, Frank
Antarctica -- Discovery and exploration -- British; Quest (Ship); Shackleton, Ernest Henry, Sir, 1874-1922
In conclusion, a word of thanks is due to Captain Brooke-Smith and
Commander Hennessey of the Meteorological Section of the Air Ministry,
for much valuable advice and assistance, both before we sailed and
after our return home.
APPENDIX IV
HYDROGRAPHIC WORK
_The following is a brief account of the hydrographic work carried
out by_ COMMANDER WORSLEY, R.N.R., _assisted by_ LIEUT-COMMANDER
JEFFERY, R.N.R., J. DELL, P.O., R.N., _and_ CAPTAIN G. V. DOUGLAS.
The hydrographic equipment consisted, besides sextants, theodolites,
chronometers and compasses, of three sounding machines—a Kelvin and two
Lucas machines—a gyroscope compass, two rangefinders, and a wireless
set.
The Kelvin sounding machine has a 7-stranded steel wire ·35 of an inch
in circumference and 300 fathoms long. It is intended for soundings to
a depth of 100 fathoms, for which purpose thin glass tubes of chemicals
are provided which record the pressure to that depth, but we frequently
took soundings to 280 fathoms by stopping the ship and getting a
perpendicular cast.
The Lucas machine, which, in addition to having been lent to Sir Ernest
Shackleton on his different expeditions and supplied to the French,
German and Australian Antarctic Expeditions of 1908-10 and 1911 and
also the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913, has done the major part
of the work of exploring the profound depths of the world’s oceans, and
is, I believe, easily the best machine to-day for the work.
Ours had 6,000 fathoms Brunton wire, having a diameter of ·028 inches
and weighing 12·3 lbs. per 1,000 fathoms, with a breaking strain of 200
lbs. We also had a 500-fathom Lucas, suitable for boat work, and with
which I have always hoped at some time to sound, through a crevasse,
for the thickness of the Great Antarctic ice sheet. The 6,000-fathom
machine could also be used for kites, small balloons and other aerial
work.
The Sperry gyroscope compass worked well as far South as we went—69°
18´—but the liveliness of the vessel made the initial adjustments
difficult, and the constant ramming and blows from the ice threw it
out again. The new type of mercury ballistic with which it was fitted
minimized much of the bad effects of the bumping. Add to this the small
size of the vessel not enabling us to carry more fuel for the actuating
dynamo, and the lateness of the season prevented us stopping often for
the necessary time to steady it up.
We can, however, say from our experience of it that in a slightly
steadier vessel, with more time and dynamo fuel, that even in
latitudes beyond 70° it would be most useful for quickly ascertaining
the variation of the magnetic needles and, in conjunction with the
rangefinder, for quickly making a chart of a coast or islands which
the vessel might be passing. Much of our survey of Gough Island was so
made. Our average time taken to get the gyro running correctly from the
start was about six hours.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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