158 ANIMAL LIFE OF THE DEEP SEA BOTTOM 



who hopes to add another record to his hst. The reason for the excite- 

 ment, no doubt, is the element of luck involved; for with all the techni- 

 calities in perfect order, all experience applied to the utmost, there will 

 always remain a large margin of luck, or, in more matter-of-fact language, 

 the influence of outside factors. 



This element of excitement is undoubtedly still more pronounced in 

 deep-sea fishing. The great depth and the unfamiliar fishing-grounds have, 

 of course, something to do with it; but so many hours passed from paying 

 out the Galathea's trawl to hauling it in again that there would often be 

 a change of watch, with the result that nearly half the ship's complement 

 would be directly engaged in the work — on the bridge, in the engine- 

 room, at the winches, and in the laboratory. Everything seemed to be 

 concentrated in rapidly mounting excitement from the moment the word 

 was passed that only 500 metres of wire remained. 



When the hauHng in began I was usually able to get a few hours' rest, 

 with the big diesel engine roaring monotonously down below and the 

 familiar clang of the engine-room telegraph occasionally asking for a reduc- 

 tion of speed. I would then have no difficulty in sleeping. But if the engine 

 stopped or there were other unexpected changes of sound, I would be 

 awake at once ■ — and could usually go on resting because it was only 

 a fuse that had gone, or there was a httle trouble in changing the gear 

 of the winch. 



The concluding stages of the trawl, however, were as good as an alarm- 

 clock, and I would be out on the quarter-deck in the broiling sun or the 

 starry tropical night. All the hours of the day and night were experienced 

 in this way, with each one reflecting its own mood on the scene. 



We will now turn to the results; but why not admit that there were 

 occasional setbacks? More than once we had a torn trawl-bag and a sledge- 

 trawl with its iron frame all crumpled up, to say nothing of the bitter 

 sight of the empty end of the wire, with the entire gear lost. Fortunately, 

 these were exceptions. In fact, the failures were fewer than expected, 

 so that we returned home with a number of implements intact. The most 



Stage of metamorphosis of deep-sea eel; caught at 4,040 metres in the Indian Ocean. 



