In the Depths of the Sea.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVI, Issue 22, 2 June 1906, Page 52

In the Depths of the Sea.

Laving along the beds of oceans are about two hundred and twenty-five thousand miles of submarine telegraph cables. More than half of this immense mileage is British, and every year British messages number all told 190,000— 000 words. In forty years we have virtually forgotten that the seas were once barriers to international communication. Now they have been narrowed by speedy ships ami the deep-lying cables until, as far as commuicatiori is concerned, they are little wider than streams across ■which men can almost shout to each Other. Great depths have been conquered by the cable layers. The greatest known depth of the sea is in the mid Pacific Ocean, and is recorded as five thousand two hundred and sixty-nine fathoms—thirty-one thousand six hundred and fourteen feet —or sixty-six feet short of six statute miles. This sounding was obtained on the United steamship Nero, nnd it is greater than any elevation, in the world.