160 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE CARNEGIE 



of the ocean, for the use of mariners. Now that trans-oceanic 

 flying is coming to be a serious enterprise and not merely a stunt, 

 it is highly important that aviators have "pilot-charts" as well. 

 They must know the direction and velocity of the wind at many 

 levels, if they are to make succesful flights over the great expanse 

 of the ocean. This work which we were doing, added to the ob- 

 servations made by other marine observers, will some day be the 

 basis for such charts. As we noted in Hamburg, the Germans 

 are very active in this regard. 



On November 14 the wind died down for a time. Captain Ault 

 gave orders to lower the dinghy, to allow Parkinson and Soule to 

 photograph the ship under full sail. They succeeded in taking 

 many striking views of the beautiful vessel, some of which are 

 reproduced in this book. 



A few days later there was excitement on deck. Just before 

 dawn an intensely brilliant meteor appeared in the northeast, 

 swept over the sky, stopped ahead of the ship at about 35° altitude, 

 and faded away. The display lit the decks more brightly than 

 the full moon had ever done. 



The days of fair winds and clear skies were glorious, and we 

 began to appreciate the beauty of Pacific sunsets. It was of 

 times like these that a previous observer on the Carnegie was 

 writing when he said: 



"The exhilaration experienced when making an ocean- 

 passage in a small sailing-vessel like this is beyond de- 

 scription. With but a few feet between you and the sea, 

 gracefully, rhythmically responding to every motion of 

 the water, you feel as though you were part of the sea 

 yourself. Of the many passages in ocean-liners some of 

 us have made we had never been so comfortable, have 

 never gotton so much pleasure as aboard the Carnegie." 



If the days were beautiful the nights were even more so. The 

 27th was one of those extremely rare days when there was no cloud 

 in the sky. What a night for stars followed ! Magellanic Clouds 

 glowed in the south, and the Southern Cross itself fairly blazed. 

 Star-charts were brought out to aid in identifying the Southern 

 Hemisphere's constellations, for some of us had never before 

 crossed the line. We were now more than 30° south. 



