ALBACORA 19 



thread line and the swimmer had brought a harness. He 

 put on his gear, harness and line were attached, and 

 then the swimmer jumped into the water. 



After ten minutes of struggling against my line, the 

 man was quite close to collapse. He was dragged out of 

 the water, and not before a few substantial shots of 

 brandy was he restored. Twenty pounds of pressure, 

 applied correctly, can be an almost irresistible force. 



My own affection for light tackle is undoubtedly con- 

 nected, too, with an affliction similar to arthritis, but 

 never conclusively diagnosed, which affected my hands 

 for several years. With my weak hands heavy tackle 

 was out of the question, but light tackle enabled me to 

 continue fishing until the condition finally disappeared. 

 By that time, of course, I had come to prefer light tackle 

 over anything else. The whole subject of light tackle 

 still fascinates me. That morning running out of 

 Iquique, with the big and varied scientific job ahead 

 of us, I must confess I was looking forward more to 

 whatever chances might arise for light-tackle fishing 

 than to unraveling the mysteries of the sea. 



Off the stern, behind the Explorer, we had placed 

 several tows (resembling oversized cornucopias) in or- 

 der to gather plankton — tiny living matter consisting of 

 larvae, eggs and such — which is the basic food of the 

 ocean, and since the feeding cycle begins at sea, the 

 fundamental food of all life. Our goal was to sift 

 plankton from the sea; enough plankton to occupy two 



