75 

 ually exposing undreamt-of scientific wealth. There was so much 

 that I almost got to wishing there was no Coelacanth urge to 

 divert me from what had now become a most fascinating pursuit, 

 unravelling the marvellous fish-life of East Africa. 



In 1950 the 'Discovery* organisation wrote to say that the re- 

 search vessel William Scoresby would be going on a voyage, and 

 would call at and look for Coelacanths in South Africa. She was 

 the vessel which from letters from overseas I had hoped we might 

 get from this organisation for our A.C.M.E. expedition, but Smuts 

 had refused to permit us even to ask. 



The William Scoresby had bad luck. She arrived in April 1950. 

 The engineer had to be shipped back from Cape Town, the 

 vessel had to be dry docked. Her chief scientific officer, Robert 

 Clark, came by land from Cape Town to Grahamstown to tell me 

 their plans. They hoped to find Coelacanths at East London, and 

 had come well equipped with lines, nets, and special traps, and 

 requested my co-operation and advice. 



I warned him of the difficulties he would encounter, currents 

 and foul bottom, and advised consultation with trawlermen. I 

 cancelled a trip to Louren90 Marques so as to be able to visit East 

 London and go out with them for part of this time, and arrived 

 there after they had worked for a few days. Very few things upset 

 Robert Clark, but even he was a bit depressed. They had no 

 Coelacanths. There was no point in my going out to sea with them, 

 for they had no traps, no lines, or whole nets either. The patchy 

 bottom and swift apparently opposing currents at variable depths 

 had beaten them. The traps were lost, the lines ripped away, and 

 the nets all torn. Instead of taking me out to sea, they took me 

 down to the saloon and opened a bottle of champagne, of which 

 my share was by choice only the smell. 



Later in 1950 we worked in the area about the island of Mozam- 

 bique, most of the time at and about Pinda, truly the most won- 

 derful haunt of varied fish-life. It is a jungle-covered peninsula, 

 wild and remote, with a lighthouse at its northern tip. The reef 

 is enormous, at least five miles by eight in extent, and there is 

 every variety of bottom, from sand to coral, sheltering fishes of 

 all kinds. It was a hard life, supplies were difficult, water is very 

 scarce, it is hot and we were plagued by packs of man-eating lions 

 that terrorised the whole area. Almost every night they tore open 



