162 



of tine o^en sen., -1th their nvernge ■,l^ndr:nce rel-tive to the flor-e 

 of r^o-st-T se",s- the v-rious proble-ns of ocennic sedimentation: the 

 role of hp.oterir in the deeps: t.v e drift of the rbyssr.l wn.ter r.nd 

 its chemistrv, etc. The he-dqu-rters for such work must not only 

 he within ensv rep..ch of ,-rer..t depths, hut, equr.lDY it must he so 

 f-^r out'frn-., the continento.l edge th' t it is not influenced h^- Imd 

 drplnnge, by terrigenous sedimentation, b- m rgmrl circulation, or 

 by' the violent therm.^l nltern-tions th'-:t nre nssocin,ted with t^e 

 continental climntes. At the spme time, some sm.-ll extent of s-ci 

 r.nd oroteoted w.ter close nt hand, see-s "Im.ost indispensable so 

 that' comparative studies mry be carried on. Therefore the loe-i 

 heada^;-rter.s would not be an artificirl island, anchored in m.id- 

 oce-n as pome h--ve suggested, but rather some sm-11 oceanic island 

 rising steepl^. -rom thfsea floor, but including s^opI waters with- 

 in its boundary reefs. This general requirement greatly restricts 

 the choice of ^, suitable site in the Atlantic, aa do ^^dministra tive 

 and residential reouirements of the sorts that appl- to other sta- 

 tions, such as need of a good harbor, reasonable accessibility, 

 favorable climate, good living conditions, and - convenient sonrce 

 of sunnlies. A station founded, sa^, on St. Paul's rochs or on 

 the island of Ascension, would bo doomed to failure from the st-rt, 

 though surely oce-nic enough. 



In the North Atlantic the choice wonld necessarily fall be- 

 tween some local it^^ in the Azores, in the Canaries, in the Cape 

 Verde a in the Bahamas, in t^e Antilles, or in Bermuda. The re- 

 auiremerit of accessibility would forbid the choice of rn.^^ one o± 

 the first three of t^^^se Archipelagos as t' e site of - sno-station 

 of an institution h-v^np, its headou-rters in North America . Fur- 

 thermore tbese three island groups all arise from plateaux so ex- 

 tensive tbo- their own submarine tonography considerably obscures 

 the oceanic picture in their imraedi-te vicinity. This apnlies eq- 

 ually to the whole Antillean arc. And while oceanoeranhic condi- 

 tions are made so interesting there b- the relationship between _ 

 subm-r^"ne topop-ra-oh-- -^.nd ocean currents (lihewise b" tr e close vic- 

 init- of the deepest of the North Atlantic troughs) th^t a more 

 fertile situation could h-rdly be found for soocial factual liivest- 

 igation, the climatic factor argues against the choice of an Ant- 

 illea- headouarters for a -ear-round station, -s does the fact trat 

 this generol region li«-s within the hurricane bolt. These same 

 drawbacks anplv"to the Bahamas region, similarly attractive taough 

 it be from the viewpoint of special investigations, especially as 

 reg-rrls shoal w-ter -odimentation, a-d lime deposition in tropic 

 se"s iind while ver- valuable investigations of various marine pro- 

 blems h-ve been sponsored -t the Tortugas laboratory of the Carn- 

 egie Institntion, its situation within the Straits of Florida m-kes 

 access to the ocean basin inconvenient -nd inexpensive. 



On the whole, Berm^ud- seems to the committee the best situation 

 in th'-- ^■■^orth Atlantic for investigation into the phenomena th-t are 

 fundamentally c- -rp cteristio of the ocean basins. Its advantages 

 may be sum'a^riserl r.s follo"?s: 



(1) Its slepes rise so steenly from the sea floor that de^-^ths 

 rr-tpr than 20O0 fathoms re re-xhe^l within - .^ew niles from shel- 

 tered wate^-s. ^hls -'o-ld mrke it -ossfhie to crrry on serions in- 

 vestig-tjons -t great depths with snail and inexpensl^^e vessels. 



