XII -REPORT ON THE NORWEGIAN DEEP-SEA EXPEDITION OF 



1878. 



By Prof. G. 0. Sars.* 



r. 



Hainoierfest, July 10, 1878. 



Mr. Editor : As has already been aiinouuced in the plan of the ex- 

 pedition heretofore pnbhshed in your paper, Hammerfest will be our 

 chief station during the present year. At this place the expedition is 

 supphed with coal and other necessities for its various cruises into the 

 Arctic Ocean. Three such cruises are meutioned in the plan: one 

 toward the east, one toward the west, and one toward the north. The 

 first of these, which principally concerned the so-called East Sea (Osthav) 

 lias now been completed, and I will improve the time while we are lying 

 here at Hammerfest equipping ourselves for our secoud cruise toward the 

 west, to make good my promise and send your paper something about 

 the expedition and about what it has accomplished so far. 



The scientific investigations were begun, as you have already le^^rned 

 from telegrams, in the West-fjord, where we chose a i)oint a considera- 

 ble distance up the fjord about directly opposite Tran-isle. The West- 

 tjord here has, according to previous soundings, its greatest depth, 

 namely, 350 fathoms. A series of careful observations of the tempera- 

 ture were made in this place, whereby the remarkable fact heretofore 

 observed farther out in the sea, namely, that at a certain depth (here 

 only 40 fathoms) can be found a temperature considerably lower than 

 that found in both lower and higher water-strata, could be established 

 with perfect certainty by the use of instruments improved in many 

 important respects. A cast of the dredge. was also made in this place, 

 whereby various curiosities were brought up from the deep. The 

 weather was here, as on our whole cruise, brilliant, and we most thor- 

 oughly appreciated the summer breezes, well knowing that we before 

 very long should have to exchange this beautiful sunshine for the rough 

 climate of the Arctic Ocean. In Tromso, where we stopped only a few 

 hours, we took on board a pilot who is to accompany us on our cruises 

 this summer. He is an exjDerienced Arctic seaman who has spent no 

 less than thirty-five summers in the Arctic seas about Spitzbergen, Jan 

 Mayen, and Nova Zembla, hunting seal and walrus. He has made the 



* Translated by Prof. R. B. Auderson of tho University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., 

 from a series of letters to "DagLladet" by Prof. G. O. Sars. 



17 F 257 



