1 91 9- William Spotswood Green. 83 



In June, 1888, he sailed with his cousin the Rev. Henry 

 Swanzy, for Canada, and crossing the Dominion they 

 together explored the Rocky Mountains, and in particular 

 that part of them known as the Selkirk Range and its mighty 

 glaciers. One of the most important events during that 

 expedition was the ascent of Mount Bonney, a difficult 

 feat which he vividly described in a popular book.^ 



So successful were the cruises organized under the 

 auspices of the Royal Irish Academy that the Council of 

 the Royal Dublin Society felt that they ought to follow 

 the example of the sister institution. A Fishery Committee 

 was appointed by the Society in 1887, the object being to 

 collect information about the sea fisheries in the south 

 and south-west of Ireland and to suggest in what manner 

 the fishing industry in Ireland could best be promoted. 

 In this case also the duty of collecting and sifting the 

 evidence was entrusted to W. S. Green. A prehminary 

 report was pubhshed in 1887, and a second one in 1888. 

 In the latter Mr. Green gives some valuable hints on fish 

 supply and demand, on railway extension, on the brand- 

 system and other problems. 



The writer had the privilege of accompanying Mr. Green 

 on one of these cruises. The pleasure of the trip was 

 somewhat impaired by the instability of the trawler " Fingal/' 

 which had been hired for the occasion, but Mr. Green's 

 even temper and his merry spirits under the most trying 

 circumstances enabled one to bear all hardships with 

 comparative equanimity. At the break of dawn one 

 heard his voice singing lustily "up in the marnin' early" 

 while engaged in overhauling the gear. Always genial 

 and gay and ready to console his fellow-travellers at a 

 time when the heavy ground sweU which prevails on the 

 south-west coast caused them to be mournful and despon- 

 dent, Mr. Green was the life and soul of the ship, and after 

 a few days one felt prepared to admire the marvellous 

 contents of the trawl with a kind of grim pleasure. 



Early in the following year Mr. Green was invited by 

 the British Museum to undertake a trawling cruise off the 

 south-west coast of Ireland merely to procure some of the 

 much-prized deep sea specimens for that institution. The 



^ " Among the Selkirk Glaciers," London, 1890. 



a2 



