266 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE CARNEGIE 



a magnificent tropical moon. Never had the Carnegie looked so 

 beautiful as it did that night. The sails in their gaskets suggested 

 a heavy fall of snow on the yards. 



After a visit to the ship by Governor Shapley and his party, 

 and after a reception had been held on board, we made our prepa- 

 rations for leaving. As Guam has very infrequent steamship- 

 service, we had offered to carry mail to Yokohama. So, on May 

 25, when the sacks were safely stowed, we set sail in a fair breeze 

 northward through the Mariana Islands to Japan. 



On May 29, in 24° north and 144° east, we made the deepest 

 sounding of the cruise — 8,350 meters. This is about equivalent 

 to the height of Mount Everest. We named this new hole 

 "Fleming Deep" in honor of our Acting Director in Washington. 

 Only a few areas of the ocean-floor are known to be deeper than 

 this. 



On the evening of May 31, all eyes were glued to the barograph 

 for the mercury was dropping steadily and we were in the region 

 of the famous "typhoons." By morning there was no doubt 

 about its meaning. The wind and sea had increased, and the 

 ship seemed to be shaking herself awake after her long peaceful 

 months in the tropics. Jones had been picking up daily reports 

 from the Manila Observatory, relayed through an amateur in 

 Guam; and he was able to plot the probable course of the storm- 

 center. The predicted path intersected our course; so at once 

 we headed east by south to draw away from the center. We 

 then hove-to while the wind moderated, and the barometer began 

 to climb. By noting the changes in the wind we were able to tell 

 when the storm had passed our course, and at once set sails to 

 "ride the tail of the typhoon" towards Yokohama. This was our 

 first experience in handling a storm by radio, and as Captain 

 Ault said, everything went like clockwork, just as predicted. 

 By nightfall on June 2 we were wallowing in the swells the 

 typhoon had kicked up and there was not a breath of wind to 

 steady the ship. The next day found us tacking back and forth 

 against a head -wind. The seas had torn away many pieces of 

 sheathing, so that we would have to do some repairing in Yoko- 

 hama. 



