INTRODUCTION 



Waste by-products J, consisting of a solution of sulphuric acid 

 and farrous sijlphatej from an industrial plant in New Jersey^ were 

 dumped in a position approximately 11 nautical miles south of 

 Ambrose Light between April 1948 and April 1949o Other nearby 

 locations have been used since© Individuals and associations have 

 ob^-jected to this practice contending that it jeopardizsd healthg 

 marine life^ and important fisheries o 



To detormine if these objections are tenable, the National 

 Research Council has sponsored an investigation to find out the 

 detrimental effects, if any, of these waste=produotso There are 

 parts of this investigation that cover several phases, but the present 

 paper concerns only the possible drift of the waste=productSo Drift 

 bottles, which approximate the action of flotsam responsive to pr6=> 

 vailing ocean currents, were used as indicators o 



Two sizes of bottles were usedo A common 12=ounce beer bottle, 

 and an 8-ouno© round bottle o The 12-ounce bottle was provided with 

 a drag made from 4 feet of monel wire and a bent piece of sheet 

 aluminum, 4 inches by 5 inches, to minimize wind effect and increase 

 surface current effect© Both size bottles floated with 1 inch or less 

 showing above the surface* 



These bottles were water-tight and made of clear glass o Inserts 

 consisted of a standard one-cent postal card addressed to the Woods 

 Hoi© Oceanographic Institution and a piece of orange paper describing 

 the purpose of the experiment (Figure l)o The orange paper when 

 inserted in the bottle unrolled to reveal its request to the finder« 



Notes Tlie responsibility for studying the drift of floating objects was 

 delegated to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Laboratory at 

 Woods Hole, MaL=!sachusettSo Numerous members of the laboratory staff 

 assisted in the preparation of bottles for releasee Assistance was 

 also offeredj, and gratefully recei-vad from Dr© Bostwick Ketchum of the 

 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Mro Norman Canfield of the 

 United States Weather Bureau office at Bos tone The offshore work in 

 connection with these studies "was supervised by Dro Ketchum.j, and most 

 of the bottle releases were made during two trips under his charge o The 

 financial details of purchasing supplies and making payments of rewards 

 were managed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution alsoo Inters 

 pretations of daily weather observations and information on wind force 

 and direction in the region of bottle releases were supplied by Mro Canfieldo 

 The most important participants in this drift bottle study however^ are 

 those persons who found the bottles and reported themo Their cooperation 

 was surely motivated by more than the small reward that was offered© 



