74 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE CARNEGIE 



earth-inductor were continued. We hoped eventually to use it 

 for determining the strength of the earth's magnetic field, as well 

 as the inclination or "dip." This work promised favorable results, 

 but only a long series of comparisons with the deflector would 

 finally prove its reliability. 



While we had been anchored in St. Mary's River, a gyroscopic 

 stabilizer had been installed on the earth-inductor. It was 

 hoped that this device, in addition to the gimbal-mountings, 

 might make the coil more independent of the ship's motion than 

 the gimbals alone. But all attempts to use it had failed, because 

 the strain when the constant-speed motor was started or stopped 

 was too severe on the shafting. Several changes in design would 

 be necessary before it could have been employed, and after a 

 few more trials it was discarded for the time being. 



Living conditions aboard became more and more miserable, 

 due to the continuous rains. The unusual strains on the deck 

 amidships, occasioned by the weight of the whale-boats, had 

 opened up tiny cracks which allowed a slow seepage into the 

 staterooms. We ate, slept, and worked in wet quarters. It was 

 almost more comfortable to don oilskins and fish for surface speci- 

 mens with a dip-net, in the rain. We picked up a large number 

 of interesting fish in this way. 



Portuguese men-of-war would float by, always with a little 

 colony of fish swimming beneath them. It appeared to us that 

 that these fish fed on the tentacles of the "host." But when the 

 creatures were scooped up together in a dip-net the fish became 

 entangled in the stinging threads and paralyzed by the men of 

 war. Again, we would drop the submarine light into the water 

 at night and capture the floating life attracted to it. Jellyfish 

 were very abundant, many of them luminous. They often re- 

 sponded like a flashlight chorus on the stage, when we switched 

 on the depth-light for a moment. During these days, whenever 

 the speed of the vessel was reduced, we dropped over standard 

 silk plankton-nets to collect surface life. 



On the morning of May 18 we occupied our second ocean- 

 ographic station. It failed, because of the strong wind and rough 

 seas. The ship was drifting as much as three miles per hour 



