In 1872 the Royal Navy sent a ship to sound the deep ocean. HMS Challenger
spent three and a half years under sail and worked 362 stations by hand, miles of hemp
line paid out and hauled back at every one. Men died for the record; of the 243 who
sailed, 144 finished the voyage. Publication took nearly two decades more: fifty volumes,
folding charts, the ship’s company listed by name.
For all of that, the instruments of the age allowed a few hundred soundings
on a planet of water. It founded a science anyway. The deepest place in the ocean still
carries the ship’s name.
This volume continues the record. Survey № 001 was run to IHO
S‑44 Special Order by autonomous instruments, the judgment ashore, the standard
unmoved. What follows is the survey: the chart, the instrument, the method, the company.
The tradition, continued at the pace the ocean demands. Copies are issued
on request, without charge, while the edition lasts.
TRIM12 × 9.5 in · landscape
PLATES7 spreads · 1 folding plate, 48 × 19 in
CASEteal buckram · white‑fill deboss · contour emboss
PAPERMohawk Superfine eggshell · archival
PRINTERthe shop floor · San Francisco
EDITION250 · numbered
ENDPAPER IMAGERYUSDA NAIP · public domain