198 



prepared to offer his vessel and crew without payment, and I had 

 sufficient to cover fuel for his vessel, as well as for food and 

 equipment, as I well knew there is always an element of uncer- 

 tainty in the cost of such ventures. We had some financial reserves, 

 but there was no harm in having more, and no harm in permitting 

 others, if they were eager to do so, to make contributions, provided 

 no uncomfortable terms were attached to them. I wanted to find 

 Coelacanths, not for myself but for science, and if science would 

 help financially, all the better. 



After weighing the matter carefully, I decided to select a limited 

 number of the leading institutions in the world and to send to 

 each the following proposal, namely that the payment of the sum 

 of ,£500 towards the expedition would secure the right to purchase 

 a Coelacanth for a further £s^^' This meant that a specimen would 

 cost ;£i,ooo, which was very considerably less than it might be 

 expected to cost any individual institution if it conducted the search 

 alone, while it limited liability to ;£500 if none were found. In the 

 event of there being fewer Coelacanths available than participants, 

 they would be left to settle the allocation between themselves. It 

 was to be accepted, however, that the first Coelacanth taken in 

 French waters was to be given to France. The money subscribed 

 in this way was to go to Stuttard for expenses. 



The British Museum and several others replied that they did 

 not wish to participate, a large American institution apparently 

 found ;C500 too large a sum to risk, and indeed only two of those 

 approached hoped to be able to do so. Fortunately, however, as 

 far as it was possible to judge at that time, we apparently had 

 enough for our purpose without any such extra aid. 



We shall now follow the course of negotiations with Stuttard. 



Even before I accepted his offer, he had informed me that he 

 intended to come via the Cape, giving sound reasons for that 

 course. In letters dated the 17th February 1953 and the 12th 

 March 1953 respectively, he visualised leaving in good time, stat- 

 ing in the latter his intention to leave in the first week in May 



(1953)- 



Knowing what I did about preparing for expeditions, I won- 

 dered whether he would find it possible to do this, and was not 

 surprised to receive a letter, dated the 15th April 1953, in which 

 he reported difficulty in getting equipment delivered in time. 



