58 



DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN 



great depths. Our previous cruises had taught us what damage 

 a rough bottom, especially coral, may do to the fishing tackle. 

 Fig. 38 shows a piece of such coral brought up by the " Michael 

 Sars " when fishing on the slope between the North Sea and 



the deep water of 

 the Norwegian Sea. 

 To avoid the corals 

 we followed the 

 advice given us and 

 took a westerly 

 course when we left 

 Plymouth on the 9th 

 of April, and from 

 the outermost west- 

 erly skerry, Bishop's 

 Rock, we steered 

 out over the coast 

 banks to the conti- 

 nental slope. Every- 

 thingwas meanwhile 

 got ready for trawl- 

 ing and for the 

 hydrographical and 

 plankton observa- 

 tions. 



Before leaving 

 the coast bank we 

 made observations 

 at our first three 

 stations in depths of 

 T46, 149, and 184 

 metres, partly to test 

 the winches and in- 

 struments and partly 

 to get a section of 

 the waters on the 

 bank. All our 

 arrangements for 

 hydrographical and pelagic work were found satisfacftory. 

 We secured a number of samples, and thoroughly tested the 

 appliances. It was particularly important to see if the closing 

 nets were to be relied on, so we lowered them to a depth of 

 50 metres, and closed them immediately. They came up empty. 



38. — Piece of Coral {Lophohelia). 

 About \ nat. size. 



