NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE 227 



On February 8, Soiile and Leyer moved the sonic depth-finder 

 from the radio laboratory to the control-room on the quarter-deck. 

 This was done to enable us to take additional night soundings 

 without disturbing Jones who slept in the radio room. Paul had 

 learned the technique of using the apparatus and now took a 

 sounding after he had completed his Greenwich Mean Noon 

 meteorological observations. Jones had by this time resumed a 

 large number of schedules with amateur radio stations and had 

 to get his sleep whenever he could, for he had regular magnetic 

 observations and computations to do in the daytime. 



For the first ten days out of port we had noticed an unusual 

 display of "sunspots." These solar disturbances seem to have 

 an effect on radio and magnetic conditions. When our scientific 

 results are analyzed, it will be interesting to see how closely 

 sunspot-numbers are correlated with magnetic and radio condi- 

 tions as measured on board. 



On February 12, with a slight sea running and bright sunlight 

 shining on the sails, Parkinson and Paul were dropped over the 

 side in the dinghy to secure pictures of the vessel under way. 

 Splashing and diving through the waves like a porpoise, the little 

 boat made several circles about the ship while she was held "by 

 the wind." They stayed out long enough to take a few shots 

 after the sails were shortened for the oceanographic station which 

 followed. 



It was not our habit to play practical jokes on each other, but 

 Soule was made the victim of one about this time. Smith, our 

 Chief Clerk in Washington, had sent the staff a ten-pound cake 

 of milk chocolate for Christmas. Captain Ault had cut it into 

 eight pieces and had put one of these in each observer's cabin. 

 Soule came down to his room soon afterwards and found the 

 strange brown bar on his desk. Not being able to decide what 

 it was, he asked his next door neighbor. He was told promptly 

 that it was salt-water soap. The jest worked perfectly; for at 

 his next shower-bath he used it to work up a lather! 



While sailing in latitude 15° south, and longitude 98° west, 

 the sea deepened suddenly from 2,700 meters to 5,380 meters, 

 and soon after shoaled again to 3,400 meters. The new deep 



