258 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN" INSTITUTION, 19 3 2 



It is a great advantage to investigators to have the bottom sample 

 come up in a water-tight condition so that none of the fine washings 

 are lost on the long haul to the surface. To meet these requirements 

 much attention has been devoted, of late, to devising improve- 

 ments on the simple " snapper " and other devices which have long 

 been used. For example, various tj'pes of valves have been tried 

 that will prevent the mud from washing out of the sounding tube. 

 Other more modern samplers are designed to secure long cores of 

 the bottom material. With the present equipment, samples up to 

 3 or 4 feet in length have been brought up, and these have shown 

 that the deposits on the ocean floor are often stratified. It is through 

 the study of such material that eventually the problem of whether or 

 not the bottom of the present deep ocean has ever been above sea- 

 level will probably be settled. Still another type of sampler has 

 been gradually evolved that will take either sand or mud from the 

 region over the continental shelf. Another type, mainly used in 

 shallow water, brings up a given area of the bottom which can 

 then be studied for the plant and animal life and their relations as a 

 feeding ground of commercial fish. 



We have perhaps described enough of the modern oceanographic 

 equipment to show the reader that not only is the design of all gear 

 being gradually improved, but that the technique of securing good 

 observations from a small ship can not be easy even in favorable 

 weather. It is this mechanical or engineering side of oceanography 

 that has attracted a good many men to the field. It often seems to 

 the harassed investigator that the sea hides some monster which is 

 most antagonistic to having his realm explored. Unforeseen things 

 are constantly hampering the work of each oceanographic expedi- 

 tion. For example, there are several kinds of marine animals which 

 become wound around the hydrographic wire and stop the messen- 

 gers. Often a piece of apparatus comes up which has not worked 

 because the messenger never reached it, and this after hours of 

 waiting while miles of cable were unwound and rewound on the 

 winch. If the submarine " devils " are not interfering with the 

 work, the " devils " of stormy weather are very apt to seize the 

 opportunity to persecute the sleepy oceanographer who has perhaps 

 been struggling for hours to complete a series of observations. In 

 wintertime it is a real fight to go to sea and to return home with 

 any of the secrets of the sea safely recorded in the scientific log book. 

 Thus storms and salt water must be combated continually; and al- 

 though most sensible people very wiselj?^ stay ashore, the work at sea 

 holds a real fascination through its difficulties and discomforts, to 

 a small but enthusiastic group of men working in the various oceano- 

 graphic fields. 



