Through a block pulley strongly lashed to the derrick, a stout cord of the best Italian hemp, wound off a large reel placed amidships, was now running rapidly and with a slight whirring noise.
"I hope it's not the 'cup-lead' you are using, Brownson ?" said the Captain, after a few minutes observation.
"Oh no, Captain, certainly not," replied the Lieutenant.

"It's only Brooke's apparatus that is of any use in such depths." "Clever fellow that Brooke," observed the Captain; "served with him under Maury.

His detachment of the weight is really the starting point for every new improvement in sounding gear.

The English, the French, and even our own, are nothing but modifications of that fundamental principle.

Exceedingly clever fellow!" "Bottom!" sang out one of the men standing near the derrick and watching the operations.
The Captain and the Lieutenant immediately advanced to question him.
"What's the depth, Coleman ?" asked the Lieutenant.
"21,762 feet," was the prompt reply, which Brownson immediately inscribed in his note-book, handing a duplicate to the Captain.
"All right, Lieutenant," observed the Captain, after a moment's inspection of the figures.