NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE 



151 



There were two reasons for celebrating October 29. It was 

 Captain Ault's birthday, and we had gained 15 miles against the 

 west wind in the past twenty-four hours ! Oscar cooked one of 

 those elaborate birthday cakes for which he was famous ashore. 



By-THE-WI.\D IN' THE SOUTH pACIFIC 



No creation of a New York pastry-chef could excel his master- 

 pieces of decorative icing. 



Our second oceanographic station was a dismal failure because 

 we could not reduce the wire-angles to less than 66°. The com- 

 bination of strong winds and strong currents kept the bottle- 

 wire so far from the vertical that the messengers failed to slide 

 down with sufficient force to reverse the bottles. Nevertheless 



