115 



from rll the government regencies th'^.t cpor'^te s^i^ips on the high 

 seas, not only United Stntes but nlso C^n^di-^n, especially h^' tlie 

 U. S. ^Tovy, the V. G, Go^.st r:nd Geodetic Surve^-, -nd the TJ. S. 

 Light House Service. It is undei' this ^^e'^.ding thr^.t coopemtion with 

 the Government m^y he expected 1:.o prove most proriuct ive. 



The U. S. Np.v-"^ now h^:s definitely u.ndert^ken ■^ progr-^m of sound- 

 ing (hy the echo method) on n much wider sc'^le th"n heretofore, 

 (Pr^gel27), hoth or the regular cruises, and whenever feasible, in 

 regions unsurve^/'ed, or especially interesting for other reasons. 

 Continuous rea'li^ic-s of t'-e surface temperatvmes by recording therm- 

 ographs piong the mnny tra.ns-ocennic routes traversed bv the vessels 

 of the U. S. Shipping Ponrd, could be depended imon, v/ere the expen- 

 se o^ f-'s instruments "nd install"' tion miet from ot-tsi'^le sources- 

 The st-itement m.'-de bv i-epresenta tives of the Shinpinp; Eo^. rd to the 

 Naval Conference of 1924 makes clear thr't there need be no ".porehen- 

 sion on score of cooper''^ ti on. And even without such nssist^nce, tl-^e 

 installation of Thermogrnphs may fall within the present oce^no- 

 graohic program of the Navy. Dat.i so gathered woiild be of the 

 highest v""iue in connection with clim-^ tological studies, consequent- 

 ly o^ econom.ic impo--t'^.nce. 



The opor-^tion of such instruneats does not reaui'^e a tr-^ined 

 scientist, but c^n be carried out by a competent qu-'^rterm'" ster 

 or iunior wntch of'ficer. Excellent thermogr-^phs en now be h/^d, 

 nor is +he cost of their pi^.rchase and installation prohibitive. 



In many p-^rts of tbe oce^.n, not-^bly in the Pacific, ver^" v"l- 

 u'^ble rdditions to our kno".'ledgQ of temperature •~i-e still to be ob- 

 tainer] bv surf--'ce readings with ordin'''.ry thermometers such r^ s "re 

 taken rt intervals of two or four hours on mnny stenmers as p-rt 

 of the ordin'~r^.^ routine of n^vig^tion. The cost of such instru- 

 ments is negligible, "nd observations of this sort ^.re taken on so 

 many s^ips that they a-'p easily be "-rr^nged for. Put for recor^^s 

 oV)t"ined in this W"v to me'^sure up to modern st'^nd^rds of accuracy, 

 thev must be t^ken with much gro-ter c-re than is ordinarily done. 

 To insure this on com-nercial vessels it would be recess-" r^ ( r, ) to 

 arouse ^ snecial. interest, "rd r.n ■' ppreciation of f^o need for -'c- 

 cur^cy, on the p":rt of the Quartermasters of Wrtch Officers who 

 would actu''^ly r-^p.d f-^e instruments* (b) to train f-em to read ■ac- 

 curately, for, simple f^ough this be, it renuires some instruction. 

 Unless some such precautions -^re taken, ordin'^rv thermometer re-d- 

 ings -^r"^ -'pt to be so ro\?.a:h that only b^ 'rveragi-ig 1-^rge numbers 

 of th ,yn c "n "'n apnroxim"^ tely correct v^.lue be'-rrived '~t. And the 

 d^'y for work of this sort is p-^. st, except for c~;rt". in ver"^ lonely 

 p-^rts of f' a pacific -^.'id Antarctic. 



The U. S. TJavy now definitely provides in its ocernographic 

 program for the coj lection of surf.^ce Temperatures, with stT.finrd- 

 ized instruments, ^^.nd for f'is subsequent an.- lysis m the H^'dro- 

 grarhic Office. 



Collections of wtor samples along thi.- spme routes ccild doubt- 

 l.;ss be arranged for b^ com.mercial vessels, especi^ll" if some 

 small compensation be given to f^e Quartermasters or other 'Potty 

 Officers c-''"" ged with t-'is duty. More important, the U. 3. 'Javy 

 hn s ^efinitelv expr sscd to -'tout committee its villingness to coop- 



