CHAPTER I 
PREPARATION 
For many years I have felt the lure of the South Pacific, as 
indeed have most naturalists, particularly those devoted to 
marine zoology. In 1902 I was so fortunate as to be appointed 
one of the civilian naturalists on the Hawaiian cruise of the 
United States Steamer ‘‘ Albatross,’’ and thus made the aequaint- 
ance of the Hawaiian group, including some of its more remote 
members, such as Laysan Island and Necker Island; but the 
southernmost point reached during that cruise was only about 
20° N., and the vast spaces of the South Pacifie still remained 
unvisited. 
The Barbados-Antigua expedition was undertaken and carried 
out in 1918" by a party of nineteen persons, nearly all from the 
University, with myself as director. This enterprise was some- 
what handicapped by war conditions, although these did not 
really interfere with success in the field. The burden of respon- 
sibility placed upon the leader of such a party is much greater 
in war time than under ordinary circumstances, and like the 
ordinary sailor man, I vowed to myself that this would be my 
last voyage in any such official capacity; but the expedition was 
successful and all the party reached their homes in good con- 
dition, as did the very extensive collections. 
When the narrative of the Barbados-Antigua Expedition was 
published in May 1919, a copy was sent to his Excellency T. E. 
Fell, C.M.G., Acting Governor of Barbados at the time of our stay 
there. He had been a friend indeed to the visiting naturalists 
from Iowa, and, one to whom we owed much of our success. 
Nothing was heard from him until a letter was received dated 
January 10, 1921, in which he explained that he had been trans- 
ferred to Fiji where he had been appointed Colonial Seeretary. 
After acknowledging receipt of the narrative and saying some 
pleasant things about it, he added ‘‘If you intend to organize an- 
other expedition, think of Fiji as your objective,’’ and went on 
1 Nutting, Barbados-Antigua Expedition, narrative and preliminary report 
of a zoological expedition from the University of Iowa to the Lesser Antilles 
under the auspices of the Graduate College, 1919. 
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