10 



WORK OF THE CARNEGIE AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE SCIENTIFIC CRUISES 



and Ault usually followed the balloon with a sextant, to 

 measure the altitude. The use of both theodolite and 

 sextant saved the flight from failure many times. When 

 the vessel would roll heavily and the balloon was chang- 

 ing its direction rapidly, it was difficult to follow and 

 was lost frequently. By having the altitude from sextant 

 readings it could be picked up again. On one occasion 

 the balloon was followed for sixty-four minutes, but the 

 average time was twenty to thirty minutes. With a 

 strong trade wind it usually disappeared in fifteen min- 

 utes. Thus we secured excellent determinations of the 

 direction and velocity of the wind at different levels 

 from the surface up to heights of from two to six miles. 



The magnetic and electric program was carried 

 out regularly, the good weather and moderate sea giving 

 excellent results. 



The securing of bottom samples now was being made 

 a regular part of the oceanographic program. Several 

 types of bottom samplers were tried. None worked per- 

 fectly, but the snapper type, as improved by Dr. Vaughan, 

 which he had ordered made for our use, proved to be 

 the most satisfactory. Letting it go down, with jaws 

 open, as rapidly as its 50-pound weight would take it, on 

 striking the bottom the wires would go slack, the weight 

 would release the catches which hold the jaws open and 

 the jaws would close, snapping up about a pint of bottom 

 mud or ooze, a spring then keeping them closed. At 



times the snapper did not close, but even then enough 

 mud stuck to the inner walls of the irregularly shaped 

 jaws to give a good sample. On one occasion the heavier 

 Meteor sampling tube was sent down and it was forced 

 into the bottom for a distance of two feet, bringing up an 

 excellent sample. The second time it was used, it stuck 

 too tightly in the mud, so that the wire broke and the 

 sampler was lost. 



Sending a sampler to the bottom has its difficulties. 

 A small steel wire, 0.9 mm in diameter, is used because 

 of its light weight and because it offers very little re- 

 sistance in passing through the water. By watching it 

 pay out with the 50-pound snapper on the end, one can 

 tell rather easily when the snapper strikes bottom and 

 the strain is released. Automatic devices have been 

 provided for this purpose also, but with the vessel roll- 

 ing and pitching it seems better to keep a strain on the 

 wire through a rod held in the hand. Sometimes the ves- 

 sel drifts so rapidly that the wire stretches out to wind- 

 ward at so large an angle that there is not wire enough 

 to reach bottom. 



On December 6 the ship arrived at Easter Island 

 and six days were spent at anchor in the open roadstead 

 of Cook Bay. We were welcomed and guided to the an- 

 chorage by the entire male population, or all who could 

 get into the few boats, and all seemed delighted to see 

 some new faces. The Governor came out with the Chil- 

 ean flag flying. It had been six months since the last 

 visitor. We then lowered our dinghy with its outboard 

 motor and went ashore to arrange with Mr. Edmunds, the 

 manager of the ranch operating on the island, for sup- 

 plies of fresh meat, vegetables, and fruit and to arrange 

 for laundry work. 



The next day we all took to horses and rode eight 

 miles and back to see the famous Easter Island images. 

 Great numbers of images still stand or lie about in con- 

 fusion over the sides of the mountain from which they 

 were carved, whereas others stand over the platforms 

 and graveyards which line the coast. Apparently Easter 

 Island was chosen as the graveyard for the chiefs of a 



large island archipelago which suddenly disappeared. 

 When this occurred, the thousands of slaves who were 

 kept at work carving out the images, were left without a 

 food supply and they fell on each other until only a few 

 remained. No record of these events has ever been 

 found, and the island's history rests only on inference. 



Here, as at the island of Barbados, simultaneous ob- 

 servations were made of the potential gradient on ship 

 and on shore, using two recording instruments. They 

 were operated continuously night and day for three days. 

 There were also carried on thirteen hours of continuous 

 observation of the magnetic declination, horizontal in- 

 tensity, and inclination. In the daytime the observing 

 tents on shore usually were surrounded by natives, curi- 

 ous as to what the visitors were doing and watching for 

 an occasional cigarette. Some group singing was done 

 for us by the young folk of the island, and their songs 

 were similar to those one hears in Samoa, Hawaii, and 

 Tahiti. 



On December 12 all work had been completed, the 

 equipment was all on board, and plans for a picnic and 

 feast with the natives on shore had been made when the 

 manila cable for the anchor parted, causing the loss of 

 the 1900-pound bronze starboard anchor; the rope had 

 worn through on the hard coral sandy bottom, the wind 

 being fairly strong all the time. Fortunately this hap- 

 pened about lOh when all were on board and in daylight. 

 The lighter port anchor was let go at once but it dragged. 

 Rather than risk the vessel in such close proximity to 

 the rocks without sufficient anchors, it was decided to 

 sail and word was sent ashore to get our supply of fresh 

 meat killed and sent out to us. In the meantime the ves- 

 sel stood out to sea and back again under easy sail and 

 engine power. By 15h, after all arrangements had been 

 completed and supplies had been brought on board, sail 

 was set for Callao. 



The ranch's supply steamer was due any day on its 

 yearly visit. We undertook to find out by radio when it 

 had left Valparaiso since Mr. Edmimds was assembling 

 the live sheep and cattle which he expected to ship back 

 to Chile. Owing to adverse radio conditions, the reply 

 did not reach us until the morning of our departure. 

 The reply stated that the steamer Antarctico was sailing 

 Decemijer 20--information which Mr. Edmunds was glad 

 to receive. Three weeks after we sailed, as we were 

 idling along with light winds twelve hundred miles east 

 of Easter Island on our course up toward Callao, we 

 sighted smoke on the eastern horizon. No steamer would 

 be likely to be on that course except the Antarctico and, 

 as we had predicted, a small steamer stopped off our lee 

 quarter three hours later and we exchanged greetings 

 and news with the skipper and crew of the Antarctico 

 bound for Easter Island. She had left Valparaiso Decem- 

 ber 29, and Juan Fernandez Island or Robinson Crusoe 

 Island, January 1. After ten minutes of conversation, we 

 wished each other good luck and sailed away on our sep- 

 arate courses--two small ships, lonely travelers meet- 

 ing and greeting in the vast solitude of the South Pacific 

 Ocean. 



After leaving Easter Island the Carnegie was driven 

 three hundred miles to the south and out of her course by 

 continuous head winds. We reached 40? 5 south latitude 

 before being able to head up on the course and entered 

 the southeast trade -wind region on January 5, the day 

 after greeting the Antarctico. Steady progress was then 

 made until reaching Callao on January 14. 



On January 8 the shotgun devised for measuring 



