The Log of the Cruise of 1905—1900 



some of this ground, which is covered with great branched coral which 

 would tear anything to pieces. 



I am sorry that more use could not be made of Professor 

 Pettersson's current meter. Probably in the still water of a Norwegian 

 fjord it works with satisfaction, but in the locality where the Silver 

 Belle worked during this cruise it was quite impossible to do much 

 with the instrument ; and, indeed, as the brief notes recorded show, 

 the weather was far too stormy for the use of such a delicate 

 instrument. 



Trawling in a sailing-vessel in deep water is a difficult undertaking. 

 Whereas with steam a ship can move in calm weather, a sailing-vessel 

 is obliged to work in sufficient wind, and with a light trawl, directly 

 there is any way on the trawl rises from the bottom and is liable to 

 turn upside down. In shallow water, with a great length of wire out, 

 it appears to keep the bottom well enough. But under the most 

 favourable conditions for work — namely, calm weather — a sailer will, 

 of course, scarcely move the trawl ; and, again, when it becomes fast, 

 as it will sometimes do in rocky bottoms, the sailer is at a considerable 

 disadvantage, and is liable to lose trawl and everything, for the ship 

 cannot readily be backed as could be clone under steam. 



Then, again, from Lisbon to the coast of Morocco the bottom is 

 really very unsuitable for trawling. Even where the sounding-lead 

 indicates mud there are great masses of coral and rock sticking up at 

 short intervals, and even in a steam trawler a hand has to be kept on 

 the engine telegraph all the time the trawl is down, ready to back 

 astern at the first indication of being caught in the bottom. 



Amongst the tishes brought home from this cruise perhaps the 

 most remarkable was the specimen of Himantolophus Rheinhardti, 

 which, strangely enough, was not taken in the trawl at all. Coming 

 ashore at Gibraltar one morning, Buchau Henry found a great commo- 

 tion amongst the local fishermen over a strange fish which one of 

 them had captured among the rocks on the east side of Gibraltar. 

 Such a fish had never been seen there before ; and, indeed, of the 

 only two examples ever recorded, both had been captured off the coast 



