Isaacs—Faughn—Schick—Sargent: Deep-Sea Moorings 301 
the float is not at the proper depth, it may be retrieved by hauling in with the 
winch and changing the position of the special wire clamp along the wire. When 
the depth of the float is judged to be right, the mooring wire is cut outboard of the 
sheave. 
The bridge, notified that the float is down, now executes a slow left turn to keep 
clear as the remainder of the nylon pennant is payed out. The safety lines are 
released from the instrument skiff, and several hands stand by to launch the skiff. 
As the last of the slack goes out of the nylon pennant, the skiff is pushed over- 
board on a port roll. If the skiff on the launching pads is not more than 8 or 10 
feet above the water, it slips into the water quite easily and without undue shock 
to its instrumentation. 
The ship now stands clear of the station. Usually in fifteen or twenty minutes 
the station becomes oriented to the wind and the sea, at which time the ship may 
make a careful approach from downwind to obtain a last check on the station’s 
exact geographical position. 
SERVICING INSTRUMENT STATIONS 
When several stations are to be serviced on a routine basis, the vessel will normally 
carry at least one complete instrument station ready for launching. On arrival at 
a station to be serviced, the ship approaches the mooring upwind, keeping the 
moored skiff close aboard off the port side. As the skiff comes alongside, a grapnel 
is thrown over the mooring pennant and the pennant is hauled on board. The ship 
continues to ease up on the starboard side of the mooring. The moored skiff is dis- 
connected and its painter snapped onto a recovery line, which has been led forward 
_ from the skiff ramp and outboard of everything. The skiff is then permitted to 
drift astern. The mooring pennant, which has been hauled on board, is now passed 
aft, outboard of all lines, and connected by the snap ring to the painter of the 
ready instrument skiff. The ship continues to ease past the mooring and the 
mooring pennant is payed back out. The ready skiff on launching rollers or rack 
at a convenient location on the port quarter, where it can be launched easily, is 
cleared for launching with men standing by. When all the slack in the mooring 
pennant is payed out, the skiff is launched. 
During this time another group has lowered the skiff-retrieving ramp and the 
skiff station being replaced is hauled on board, and the ramp is secured. Once the 
skiff is on board, the records are recovered and the skiff is reinstrumented and 
readied for exchange at the next station. Once the system is worked out it takes 
about fifteen minutes on station to make the exchange of instrument skiffs, and 
the reinstrumentation is accomplished while the ship is en route to the next station. 
Weather affects the facility with which stations can be serviced and exchanged. 
Stations have been exchanged, however, in winds up to 35 knots without much 
difficulty, and experience indicates that the operation could be performed under 
considerably worse conditions. 
ANCHORING PROBLEMS 
In connection with anchoring problems in general and the anchoring of moored 
oceanographic stations in particular, questions repeatedly arise in reference to 
