6o 



DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN 



towed it for three hours till 6 p.m., when hauling in began. It 

 came up at 7 p.m. with a catch of 330 large fishes [Macrurus, 

 Mora, Lepidion, CJimicsra, etc. ; see Fig. 39). This haul was 

 a thorough success. Perhaps never before had so large a 

 draught of fish been made at such a depth. The trawl itself 

 worked most satisfactorily, and considering its size hauling in 

 was done rapidly (about 40 metres per minute). During the 

 process of lowering, however, the big drum got jammed on the 

 axle, and in spite of all our efforts we could not move it. There 

 was nothing to be done, therefore, but to make for the nearest 

 port to repair it, so we steamed into Cork and had it put right 

 at the workshop on Wednesday morning (the 13th). We found 

 after finally getting the drum off the axle that a lot of sand from 

 the foundry had been left in by mistake, which accounted for its 

 not working properly. By Friday (15th) the sand had all been 

 scraped off, and the drum was once more in its place. But in 

 the meantime a strong north-easterly gale had set in, and it was 

 not till Saturday (i6th) that we were able to steam westwards 

 under the lee of the Irish coast. The wind continued strong 

 and northerly, but for all that we steamed back to Station 4, 

 occupying a couple of small stations (5 and 6) on our way, and 

 recommencing our interrupted section, proceeded out to still 

 greater depths. 



On Sunday, 17th April, a sounding at Station 7 gave 

 us 1 81 3 metres. The trawl was shot with 4000 metres of 

 wire and towed for two hours. It came up all twisted and 

 tangled, due to the fact that the swivels for keeping the wire 

 and bridle from twisting had failed to act. The small steel 

 balls in the bearings of the swivels had been crushed by the 

 severe strain or the bend in the blocks. The trawl was got 

 ready for a fresh attempt, but in the meantime the wind and 

 sea rose to such an extent that we decided to give up further 

 work in the deep water. To wait for good weather would have 

 delayed us too long, so we set our course for the north-west 

 point of Spain. 



The pelagic life of the upper 150 metres was extremely 

 uniform. Several series of hauls with fine-meshed closing nets 

 revealed the fact that quantities of the same diatoms extended 

 down to a depth of over 150 metres. This was particularly 

 interesting evidence as to the depth at which plant life can 

 exist, even as far north as about lat. 49' 30' N., under special 

 conditions. From this and other experiments made later Gran 

 is of opinion that the same vertical circulation which produces 



