6 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



the manuscript before leaving on the fourth commission of the 'Discovery II', I have 

 not been able to make use of Schott's most comprehensive Geographie des Indischen 

 und Stillen Ozeans (1935). For more modern representations of the temperature, 

 salinity, and current distributions than those referred to in this report, the reader should 

 turn to that work. I have also been unable to make use of the Meteor data which, 

 though published in Bd. iv, Part 2, of the Meteor Reports, dated 1932, were not available 

 in this country until March 1935 — the issue of this part having presumably been 

 delayed. 



It would be ungrateful to publish this report without making some acknowledgment 

 to my colleagues who helped to make the observations on which it is based. The perfect 

 suitability of the ship for her purpose must also be emphasized. To make a success of 

 the circumpolar cruise it was necessary to be able to steam, without refuelling, for about 

 8000 miles at an average speed of 9 knots under the notoriously stormy conditions of the 

 Southern Ocean, and to have a ship and gear which would allow complete series of 

 observations to be made in anything short of a hurricane, and also permit the chemical 

 examination of the water samples with an accuracy as great as that which is attained 

 in a well-found shore laboratory. The 'Discovery II' must have fulfilled the most 

 optimistic wishes of her designers and builders, and, largely owing to the excellence of 

 the scientific equipment, planned after long experience by Dr S. Kemp, F.R.S., the 

 Director of Research, the work was rarely interrupted. 



The success of the cruise was also due in a large measure to the efforts of the ship's 

 personnel. The skill of the Captain, the late Commander W. M. Carey, R.N., and his 

 officers in handling the ship, made the work almost uneventful ; though the water-bottles 

 were often lowered at great risk they were invariably hauled back safely. Apart from this 

 side of the work their difficulties must have been enormous. As Professor Schott (1933, 

 p. 342), in a short description of the cruise, says : " To give a suitable account of what it 

 means to push southwards to the pack-ice boundary in the long winter nights with very 

 little daylight, stopping the ship in rough weather and high seas to make scientific 

 observations, would take more space than is available here." 



Much credit is also due to my colleagues on the scientific staff, Mr D. D. John who 

 was in charge of the scientific work, Mr J. W. S. Marr, Mr G. W. Rayner, and Dr 

 F. D. Ommanney; their patience with the instruments and gear was unbounded. The 

 services of Mr A. Saunders, the laboratory assistant, on deck and in the laboratory were 

 invaluable. The efficiency and cheerfulness of the seamen when handling the gear under 

 the worst conditions in winter were most remarkable. 



One of the smallest services provided by the Chief Engineer, but one of vital import- 

 ance to the hydrological work, was the supply of distilled water ; even when the ship 

 was almost lost in a cloud of spray it contained no trace of chloride. 



The continuous thermograph was found to be most useful; it continued to give a 

 reliable temperature record when it was impossible to go on deck to make other ob- 

 servations. The value of the continuous record was greatly increased by the complete 

 records of distances and positions given by the navigator, Lt. A. L. Nelson, R.N.R. 



