FISHING IN THE HUDSON'S GORGE 369 



gorge, and had reached the point nearest New 

 York City where we might expect to find the 

 strange creatures of the abyssmal depths, I gave 

 orders to put out the string of nets which had 

 yielded the best results during the past months. 

 First there was paid out the otter trawl, a great 

 bag of netting forty feet in length, with its gaping 

 mouth held wide open by the oblique pull of two 

 iron-bound boards. Then, at intervals of fifty 

 fathoms, meter nets were lowered, each twenty feet 

 long, made of the finest, most costly silk, with a 

 mouth composed of a brass ring a yard in diame- 

 ter. Five of these nets were attached to the steel 

 cable by guide ropes, and they trailed straight out 

 behind at the various depths as the ship steamed 

 at slowest speed through the water. For three 

 hours they were pulled gently along at 500, 450, 

 400, 350 and 300 fathoms depth, blindly, un- 

 controllably but usually successfully engulfing the 

 weird beings which happened to float along in 

 their path. 



Although, as I have said, the expanse of open 

 ocean conveyed no hint of the actual nearness of 

 land and human beings, yet hardly had the last 

 net disappeared beneath the surface when ships 

 appeared on the horizon. A square rigger drifted 

 slowly along with slack canvas, while at her heels 

 followed casually but watchfully a low subchaser. 

 A line of smoke in another direction marked a 

 dainty white revenue cutter which came tearing 

 full speed toward us. We chuckled as we thought 

 what a suspicious-looking craft we must be — all 



