6 T. V. HODGSON. 



lowered to a depth of 6 and 7 fathoms respectively on the same line at No. 3 hole, 



half a mile from the ship, the total depth of the water being 56 fathoms. Owing to 



bad weather and the accumulation of drift, these nets could not be recovered for 



eighteen days. It was then found that the line was thickly covered with thin plate-like 



crystals of ice, of roughly hexagonal shape, and from one to four square inches in size. 



The upper net of fine mesh, 150 to the inch, was similarly covered both inside and out ; 



the lower net of coarse mesh, 50 to the inch, was equally thickly coated, but with 



crystals of much smaller size, comparatively minute. Naturally the contents of the 



nets were ruined, their prolonged stay under water would have been sufficient for that, 



independently of ice crystals. The occurrence of these crystals was at first thought to 



be due to the prolonged immersion of the nets. However, they occurred constantly 



from this date, even in twenty-four hours' immersion, but not so badly on the nets. It 



was not suspected for some time that depth had anything to do with it, and most of 



this time I was working alone, and so could not see how far these crystals extended on 



the lines of the traps. However, on one occasion, Sept. 19, 1902, a trap set in 100 



fathoms had been down for three days, and the crystals were measured on the line to a 



depth of 17 fathoms. The line used was a quarter of an inch in diameter; with the 



crystals on it, it was increased to something like a foot. Ultimately it was found that 



under ordinary circumstances, i.e., when nets, etc., could be visited every forty-eight 



hours at the outside, immersion to a depth of 10 fathoms kept the nets free, the 



crystals only descending to a depth of 5-8 fathoms. This phenomenon occurred 



from June to October, when the temperature of the water was 28 '4 F. or 2 C. 



By October the temperature of the water had risen to 28 '8 F. and the formation 



of these crystals diminished, the crystals themselves becoming smaller and more 



scattered, till at the end of the month they finally ceased to exist. During this month 



similar crystals formed on the sides of the holes ; they were easily detached, and had 



to be removed before the nets could be drawn through, in order to prevent their 



dropping into the net and so spoiling the contents. They disappeared about a 



fortnight later. By the middle of November the surface temperature of the water 



went up to 29 F. At the end of December it was 30 F., by the beginning of 



February it had gone down to 29'5 F, and to 28'8 F. before the end of the month. 



The annual range of the sea temperature was, therefore, less than a couple of degrees. 



Various thermometers were used in these observations, and as some of them were lost 



it is not possible to apply any correction for error. 



The tides were irregular, but the ebb and flood occurred once in the twenty-four 

 hours. After two or three experiments in tide gauges one was finally rigged up on 

 board the ship. It consisted of a sounding wire attached to a heavy weight lowered to 

 the sea bottom, the depth being 9 fathoms. To pass through the ice the wire travelled 

 through a glass tube of narrow diameter, which was filled with paraffin and kept full. 

 The wire then passed over a pulley on board the ship, with another weight at its inner 

 end, and a pointer being attached the rise and fall was indicated on a scale. As the 



