PROPOSED MAGNETIC SURVEY OF THE NORTH 



PACIFIC OCEAN. 



By L. a. Bauer and G. W. lyiTTi^EHAi.ES. 



October 3, 1904. 



I beg to submit herewith a project for a magnetic survey of the 

 North Pacific, by Messrs. L. A. Bauer and G. W. Ivittlehales. 

 Reference to this project was made in my letter of the 29th ultimo, 

 requesting that the grant to the Department of International Research 

 in Terrestrial Magnetism for the next year be $25,000. It will be 

 noticed that the project does not call for a separate grant, but is 

 instead a proposal as to the direction in which field work of the 

 department could profitably and advantageously be taken up next 

 year. 



Accompanying the project will be found letters from Captain 



Creak, formerly superintendent of the compass department of the 



British Admiralty, now retired, and from Superintendent Tittmann. 



Captain Creak took an important part in designing the British 



Antarctic ship The Discovery and in planning its magnetic work. 



Very respectfully, 



L. A. Bauer, Director. 



While the state of our knowledge of the distribution of the earth's 

 magnetic forces over oceanic areas, owing to the paucity of precise 

 data, is in general exceedingly unsatisfactory, this is especially true 

 for that great body of water the Pacific Ocean, rapidl}^ developing in 

 great commercial importance. 



Except for data from occasional expeditions and such as were 

 acquired in wooden vessels a long time ago, the present magnetic 

 charts used by the navigator over this region depend largely upon 

 the observations on islands and along the coasts. Such land obser- 

 vations, however, are rarely representative of the true values, because 

 of prevalent local disturbances. It is therefore impossible to make 

 any statement as to the correctness of the present charts. 



The demands of science, as well as those of commerce and navi- 

 gation, require a systematic magnetic survey of this region under 

 the most favorable conditions possible, and that the work be done 



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