194 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE CARNEGIE 



olite had a close call. Although it is mounted solidly on a tripod, 

 one roll knocked it off its balance and it pitched over the rail. 

 The observer managed to grab one of the tripod-legs just in time 

 to save the instrument. After this experience we never failed 

 to tie the apparatus down to the desk with some rope-yarn. 



At our first oceanographic station out of Easter Island, we gave 

 the glass-tube bottom sampler its first trials. This outfit was 

 loaned to us by the German Atlantic Expedition of the Meteor. 

 It is a superior instrument because it collects a vertical section 

 of the bottom deposit down to a depth of some two or three feet. 

 The snapper-type we had been using merely samples the upper 

 few inches of the bottom and gives very little information as to 

 the successive layers in which the sediment was deposited. Un- 

 fortunately, the German apparatus was very heavy and offered 

 a large surface-resistance to the water. Our power was so limited 

 that it was not possible to use it as a routine procedure. 



Radio conditions continued to be very bad and schedules were 

 uncertain. We occasionally intercepted messages to the Byrd 

 Expedition and communicated with them, but we seemed to have 

 difficulty in pushing our signals through to the United States. 

 On Christmas Eve conditions improved and Jones was able to 

 handle some twenty-eight messages that had piled up during the 

 past days. As these were mostly personal Christmas greetings, 

 they were particularly appreciated. As Captain Ault remarked: 

 "The modern Santa Claus apparently saw the frolicsome re- 

 flecting layers and radio waves as he passed along on Christmas 

 Eve and set things right for our benefit." 



During these days we met unusual meteorogloical conditions. 

 We had drenching dews at night, and on December 22 we en- 

 counted a real fog — an extraordinary experience in this area. 



As we proceeded southward the plankton-tows became heavier 

 and heavier; and surface-life increased as well. Great fleets of 

 Portuguese men-of-war sailed by us from time to time. With this 

 change we also came into regions of heavy surface-currents which 

 were a great handicap in the oceanographic work. At one station 

 we had to lower the Nansen bottle-series four times to a depth of 

 3,000 meters before the messengers finally released the bottles. 



