226 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE CARNEGIE 



The work with the pilot-balloons was made very successful by 

 the beautiful blue skies we enjoyed after clearing the dense clouds 

 of the Peruvian coast. These flights often lasted thirty to sixty 

 minutes, so one can imagine the severe strain on the muscles hold- 

 ing a heavy sextant for that length of time. It was necessary 

 to devise some method for supporting the instrument. One of 

 the deck-chairs was fitted with arms and uprights to support an 

 over-head bar. The instrument was suspended from this by a 

 long, thin coil-spring. In this way the entire weight was removed 

 from the observer's arms; while still allowing freedom of motion. 

 The whole outfit could easily be moved to whatever part of the 

 deck was most favorable for observing the balloon. Captain 

 Ault dubbed the device the "Joshua Chair," in honor of the old- 

 testament hero who commanded the sun to stand still. He had 

 also suggested that it might better have been named in honor 

 of Moses who at one cricitical moment in history had to call in 

 the assistance of two men to support his arms. 



Captain Ault says: "With this device we have perhaps carried 

 the matter to an extreme, and caused the balloon to stand still. 

 On at least three occasions, the balloon has suddenly appeared to 

 be fixed in the sky, moving only very slowly in altitude and azi- 

 muth. On the first occasion, Torreson, the observer at the 

 theodolite, was observing the balloon for fifteen minutes without 

 getting much change. Finally, Paul, who had been watching 

 the flight, accused Captain Ault, the sextant man, of looking in 

 the wrong direction and of reading altitudes that were far too 

 low. It turned out that the theodolite had gotten side-tracked 

 to Venus, and the difference between its altitudes of 76° and the 

 altitudes by sextant of 45°, could no longer be ignored. On the 

 second occasion, both observers got side-tracked to Venus." 



It is remarkable how closely a white balloon floating at a great 

 height resembles the planet in the sunshine of the late morning 

 or early afternoon. For most of us it was a great surprise to know 

 that Venus could be seen at all in the middle of the day. Captain 

 Ault told us that he had occasionally used this planet for deter- 

 mining geographical position at sea. This trick appears to have 

 been known to mariners of former times, but has fallen out of use. 



