CRUISES OF THE "MICHAEL SARS " 55 



out, as the fog hid everything except a strip along the shore. All that 

 day we tried to establish our whereabouts, but were compelled to lie to 

 for the night in a hard south-westerly gale. Next day we found that 

 we were off Gaukvaer Island and stood in for the land. After burning a 

 little coal our vessel behaved splendidly, and after we had used up most 

 of our coal and water, and so were very light, we could run before the 

 sea in any direction without even having to keep the laboratory door 

 closed. We wanted all our electricity this journey, for it w^as practically 

 night the whole time. 



The " Michael Sars" has carried out a great many different investigations 

 kinds of investigations in the Norwegian Sea, viz. : observa- !^4ndiaei 

 tions on the salinities, temperatures, and movements of the Sars." 

 water-layers ; observations on the floating organisms of various 

 sizes and kinds ; observations on the bottom fauna, especially 

 bottom fishes. We have also made practical fishing experiments 

 to discover what kinds of fish may be caught in the different 

 areas of the sea. 



To describe all the cruises that have been made would take 

 too long and lead to much repetition. In the subsequent 

 chapters of this book the most important results are summarised. 



In order to study the movements of the water-layers and the 

 distribution of floating organisms, cruises were undertaken at 

 different seasons, as opportunity offered, from the coasts of 

 Norway to Iceland, Jan Mayen, and Spitsbergen. To ascer- 

 tain the fluctuations in the water-layers we have run a line of 

 observations, nearly every year since 1900, and always in the 

 month of May, from the Sognefjord to the north of Iceland. 

 This route lies exactly across the axis of the Atlantic water that 

 streams through the Faroe-Shetland Channel into the Norwegian 

 Sea, and we have consequently been able to obtain a section of 

 this layer every year, and to compare its volume in different 

 years. Besides a great many special studies, measurements of 

 the velocity of the currents have been made out in the open sea 

 and in the fjords. 



At the time the " Michael Sars" commenced working there investigations 

 were hundreds of square miles of coast banks where no fishing fi°h1n7^°^ ^^^ 

 had ever taken place, and there was therefore a real fascination industry. 

 in experimenting in these virgin areas with the appliances in 

 common use along the coast, more particularly with long lines. 

 Expeditions were made for several years along the whole coast 

 for capturing spawning cod on all the banks where the depth was 

 30-100 fathoms, and for halibut, tusk, and ling on the continental 

 slope ; drift-net fishing was also undertaken for herring. 



In these investigations we have chiefly aimed at ascertaining 



