THE CAPTAIN'S REPORT 



the oscillator used with the sonic depth finder to meas- 

 ure the ocean depth failed to operate, owing to some 

 short circuit in the coils. This was a great handicap, 

 since now it became necessary to determine the ocean 

 depth by sending the bottom sampler down on the piano 

 wire before lowering the water bottles and thermome- 

 ters. On November 8, at station 40, about one hundred 

 miles west of the Ecuadorean coast at latitude 1° 32' 

 south and longitude 82° 16' west, it was not planned to 

 secure a bottom sample but to send the water bottles and 

 thermometers down to 3000 meters as the chart gave the 

 depth at alxDut 3300 meters. After 1600 meters of wire 

 had been let out and another water bottle was being at- 

 tached, the chief engineer, at the winch controls, stated 

 that he believed the wire had touched bottom since the 

 reel had slowed down very definitely. On hauling the 

 wire and bottles up, ten meters of wire were found to be 

 tangled around the bottom bottle and the lead weights. 

 From this result it was concluded, after making allow- 

 ances for various factors, that the depth was approxi- 

 mately 1515 meters. A bottom sampler sent down at 

 once on the piano wire reached bottom at 1454 meters 

 and brought up a small sample of black rock fragments 

 with some globigerina ooze. The new mountain ridge 

 thus indicated was named "Carnegie Ridge." It rises 

 about 1800 meters above the general level of the ocean 

 floor in its vicinity. 



With the change of wind on November 8, we were at 

 last on our way westward and on November 11 we sighted 

 the first of the Galapagos Islands. Much to our regret 

 we did not have time to stop. These islands appear 

 rather barren from the south. Isabella Island has a 

 beautiful, though small, lava cone, where lava has boiled 

 up out of the side of the mountain. At one point lava has 

 overflowed and broken down the side of the cone toward 

 the sea. 



On November 13, while occupying an ocean station, 

 the bottom snapper failed to close. Owing to unusual 

 currents, the 4-mm water bottle wire on the port side 

 tangled with the 6-mm plankton pump wire on the star- 

 board side and, before anything could be done, the strain 

 on them, because of the pull against the keel of the ves- 

 sel, parted the smaller wire, and four water bottles-- 

 with eight thermometers, lead weights, and messengers 

 --disappeared out of sight. Later, when we hauled up on 

 the other wire on the starboard side, to our amazement, 

 there came into view all our bottles, etc., tangled up with 

 the plankton pump. By careful work everything was se- 

 cured and hauled up without loss or damage, except for 

 300 meters of the smaller wire which was kinked and 

 useless. During an oceanographic station, the 0.9-mm 

 piano wire with bottom sampler (usually the "snapper" 

 type) is used on the davit ait; the 4-mm aluminum- 

 bronze wire, with about ten water bottles and twenty 

 thermometers, is operated on the port davit, if the ship 

 is hove to on the port tack; the plankton pump is lowered 

 on the 6-mm aluminum-bronze wire on the starboard 

 davit; and the silk townets are operated from the fore- 

 castle head forward, so that four activities are under 

 way at the same time. Formerly the silk nets were 

 towed from the quarter-deck also, but Mr. Erickson 

 rigged up blocks and lines so they could be towed from 

 the forecastle head, thus avoiding the refuse of the ship 

 and reducing the danger of so many lines aft fouling each 

 other. 



Since the receiving microphones of the sonic depth 

 apparatus were still in good order, some means was 



sought to make a noise in the water which might serve to 

 return an echo from the bottom, the time interval to be 

 measured by a stop watch. After considering several 

 expedients (for example, making up a few small bombs 

 with some powder carried for use in the life line gun) it 

 was suggested to the chief engineer that he devise a shot- 

 gun method of firing shells under water out of a 20-foot 

 length of brass pipe. Thus use might be made of the 

 large stock of shotgun shells supplied by Dr. Wetmore of 

 the Smithsonian Institution for securing specimens of 

 land birds from isolated Islands. Within a short time the 

 pipe was fitted with a shell holder at one end just long 

 enough to cover the shell and a firing pin was construct- 

 ed to be operated by hand at the other end. With this de- 

 vice the operator stands on the main deck, starboard 

 side, opposite the microphones, leaning over the rail and 

 holding the long pipe, the shotgun shell being in its hold- 

 er at the lower end, about two feet under water. When 

 the observer at the microphones blows the whistle, the 

 operator releases the firing pin and it slides down the 

 tulje, striking and exploding the shell. This operation is 

 repeated once and at times twice. Very often the observ- 

 er hears and records the second echo of an explosion. 

 The accuracy of this method is rated as 1 200 meters, 

 and by comparison with seven depths as determined with 

 unprotected thermometers calibrated for pressure, the 

 shotgun method gave depths about 200 meters too shal- 

 low. On occasions the agreement was remarkable. With 

 this device soundings were obtained twice or more daily 

 during the remainder of the cruise from November 15 to 

 January 14, the date of arrival at Callao. When sounding 

 in such shallow water as 300 meters near the coast, 

 seven echoes were heard, and the interval between the 

 shot and the fifth echo was measured. 



Although now in the region of the equator with fairly 

 steady southeast trade wind, the temperature of the air 

 was anything but tropical, ranging from 20° to 24° C. 

 The following two months were characterized by excel- 

 lent weather, light winds, cool temperature, very little 

 rain or fog, and one gale which continued for only six 

 hours. The temperature never exceeded 24° C and was 

 as low as 15° for one or two days while the vessel was 

 in the region of 40° south latitude. 



Although the Carnegie passed close to the south side 

 of the various islands in the Galapagos group, no stop 

 was made because of the delay in leaving the Gulf of 

 Panama. In order to make up for some of this delay, the 

 loop to Easter Island was shortened by about ten days, 

 with no appreciable loss in the scientific data secured 

 since we were able to follow previous tracks on the re- 

 vised loop. 



During this cruise we used, for the first time, a 

 theodolite (fig. 26) loaned by the U. S. Navy Department 

 for observing balloon flights at sea. This instrument is 

 constructed with special tripod and gimbal so that it can 

 be kept fairly level as the ship rolls and pitches, and 

 the changing azimuth or direction and the changing alti- 

 tude of the balloon can be measured as the balloon stead- 

 ily rises at its average rate of about 180 meters per 

 minute. Forty-four flights were observed. The balloon 

 is filled with hydrogen gas until it reaches a diameter of 

 about three feet (fig. 27), and is then released to go 

 wherever the direction and velocity of the wind at vari- 

 ous heights may take it (fig. 28). During the first ten 

 minutes, readings are made every thirty seconds, then 

 every minute until the balloon disappears. Torreson op- 

 erated the theodolite, Scott called out time and recorded, 



