o 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 sufiicient 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 



