414 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



June 5th. Still cloudy and grey, though no rain. No hauls to-day. 

 Thousands of purple tunnies leaping round the ship and refusing to 

 be caught as usual. Many shearwaters about, banking and dipping 

 their wings. 



Noon position: Lat. 2° 39' N: Long. 88° 31' W. 



June 6th. Raised Abingdon and Bindloe soon after lunch and 

 passed the former by moonlight. Anxious eyes fixed volcano-wards 

 as we approach Albemarle, but no sign of activity to be seen yet. 

 Boobies are with us once more, and one frigatebird, — the first since 

 Cocos. 



Noon position: Lat. 1° 06' N: Long. 90° W. 



June 7th. Up at 5 a. m. to see the northern point of Albemarle, 

 everyone, even the Captain, astonished that we reached there so soon. 

 A current evidently picked us up in the night and fairly hurled us 

 along, doubling our speed. Far down the central ridge between Mts. 

 Whiton and Williams was a column of smoke, the second mountain 

 veiled in smoke or heavy mist and two large columns of smoke ascend- 

 ing from it. Saw several huge sharks, one apparently helpless, lying 

 on its side. 



Dropped anchor in Tagus Cove just before lunch. Fish taking 

 bait even before we had come to a standstill. Almost everyone 

 ashore, or diving, or photographing, and a busy evening in the labora- 

 tory to follow. 



June 8th. Diving in the morning, with penguins, cormorants, sea- 

 lions, pelicans and great blue herons all round the boat, watching 

 the performance with interest. Not a very good place for diving, as 

 all the rocks are black, the water not very clear, and very deep. 

 Enthusiastic anglers brought back dozens of huge groupers, and some 

 barracutas and mackerel. Then the dynamite squad returned with 

 tubs of fish of all sizes, and the deck became a fishy shambles, with 

 the scientists identifying and preserving those of interest other than 

 gastronomic, and cook and steward frantically cleaning the groupers 

 and mackerel for ice-box preservation. 



At the gangway after dark we caught Sphyrcena, Coryphwna, 

 Menidia starksii and Hemiramphus saltator. 



June 9th. Up anchor at 8 a. m., and round the northern side of 

 Narborough. The most desolate island of them all, it seems, with 

 hardly any vegetation, and the lava cliflFs of the shore-line rising to 

 long black slopes that lead to the central crater, draped in clouds. 



What we suppose must have been a whale-shark rose alongside the 

 ship about noon, floated there for a few seconds and then sank again. 

 It must have been almost forty feet long, as Dr. Gregory happened 

 to be standing on the bulwark at a spot even with the end of its 

 tail, and John Tee-Van was abreast of the head, so it was possible to 

 measure the distance. 



Trawling in the afternoon, with good results. 



