CRUISES OF THE ''MICHAEL SARS " 63 



eight hours, and the trawl came up (Fig. 42) in perfect order, 

 containing an enormous mass of perhaps a ton of clay-like 

 Globigerina ooze, that was as stiff as dough, and looked as if 

 it might have been dug out of a chalk pit. We carefully sifted 

 and washed it all with the hose, and found only the following 

 animals : four actlnians, of which two were growing on hermit 

 crabs, two cirripeds, a holothurian, some gasteropods, and a 

 few worms. The question now presented itself — was animal 

 life really so sparse down at those depths, or did our catch fail 

 to represent it properly ? Had the trawl perhaps, when dragged 

 through the ooze, been rendered 

 incapable of doing its work of 

 capture? If so, how had we 

 been able to go on towing for 

 such a length of time ? This 

 was a problem that could only 

 be solved by further experi- 

 ment. A number of glass 

 floats, about 3 inches in dia- 

 meter, were sent down with 

 the trawl, and were found to 

 have been reduced to the finest 

 powder by implosion through 

 the immense pressure at this 

 great depth. 



One thing at any rate we 

 had learned. The enormous 

 weight of 8000 metres of wire, 

 with a huge trawl at the end, 

 had worn deep grooves in our 

 blocks and rollers in a very 

 short space of time. It was necessary, therefore, to have 

 rollers in reserve if much of this work was to be attempted. 



After a few successful pelagic hauls we resumed our course 

 on the morning of the 21st April in the direction of Spain, 

 our intention being to do some trawling at different depths on 

 the continental slope, where the trawlers had told us the bottom 

 was good. But when we made the coast of Spain at Cape 

 Sisargas, an easterly gale sprang up and put a stop to all work, 

 so after a few hydrographical observations (Stations 11 and 12) 

 we steered southwards along the coast of Portugal. On the 

 22nd the weather cleared up, and off the town of Vianna we 

 saw the first line-buoys, and shortly afterwards the picturesque 



Fig. 42.— Otter Trawl coming up. 



