164 proceedings: Washington academy 



Reaching Pago Pago, Tutuila, on April 24, he was transported, 

 through the courtesy of His Excellency the Governor, Commander W. 

 M. Crose, on the U. S. S. Annapolis, to Tau Island, the nearest acces- 

 sible point in the belt of totality. This island is near the 'western edge 

 of the belt, the approximate position of the station chosen being latitude 

 14°. 2 S., longitude, 169°. 6 W. In addition to putting the Annapolis 

 at Dr. Bauer's disposal, Governor Crose also assigned to him several of 

 his ablest officers. 



The party arrived at the station late Wednesday afternoon, April 

 26, the remainder of the day being spent in selecting suitable points 

 of observation and unpacking and assembling the instruments. The 

 following day, April 27, was more or less cloudy and showers fell repeat- 

 edly thus hampering considerably the preparations for the morrow's 

 work. However, the weather on the following day, April 28,- — the day 

 of the eclipse — was all that could be desired and so final preparations 

 were made immediately. The photographic work was placed in charge 

 of Lieutenant McDowell, U. S. N., aided by Dr. Connor and Messrs. 

 Steffany and Reed. The times of contacts were observed by two inde- 

 pendent parties, one aboard the Annapolis, anchored in Faleasau Bay, 

 in charge of Lieutenant Baker, U. S. N., and the other ashore by Dr. 

 Connor aided by Chaplain Pearce. The readings of the magnetic declin- 

 ation were made by Quartermaster Urle, Dr. Bauer assuming the general 

 charge of the entire work, making the necessary astronomical observa- 

 tions for geographic position, azimuth and time, as well as determining 

 the magnetic elements. 



Owing to the inclement weather of the day before, it had not been 

 possible to place the camera in final position so as to try out the finder 

 until a few minutes before the eclipse, when it was unfortunately learned 

 that the finder did not work satisfactorily and Lieutenant McDowell 

 was accordingly obliged to improvise some simple device with the aid 

 of which he might keep the sun's, disk as central as possible on the photo- 

 graphic plates. For orientations of camera tubes in azimuth and alti- 

 tude it was necessary to resort to the preliminary lines established by 

 Dr. Bauer and his calculated azimuths and altitude of the sun for the 

 totality phases. Four photographs of the eclipse were secured and upon 

 development of the plates at Apia on May 3, it was found that the pres- 

 ent corona fulfilled the expectations of chief development in the equa- 

 torial direction during the sunspot minimum. The totality began 

 shortly after 10:00 a.m. and lasted 2 ra 3 s according to the ship party, 

 and l m 59 s | according to the shore party, which is as satisfactory an 

 agreement as could be expected with the limited observing means. No 

 member of the party observed visually the great equatorial extensions 

 shown in the photographs. One of the observers aboard ship stated 

 that he saw two stars. It is possible that although the sky was seem- 

 ingly clear there may have been a fine haze sufficient to obscure the faint 

 light from the coronal extensions. Perhaps due to the fact that the 

 station was not far from the western edge of the belt of totality, it was 

 not very dark at the time of totality, writing being easily read. 



