BIGELOW: EXPLORATIONS IN THE GULF OF MAINE. 3-3 



Up to the present time, very little attention has been paid to the 

 oceanography of the Gulf of Maine. But the fact that waters of 

 diametrically opposed origins, i. e. Gulf Stream water and cold coast 

 water, have long been known to meet each other here, gives reason to 

 expect that an examination by modern methods will be of general 

 oceanographic interest, and may be expected to have a practical 

 bearing on the extensive fisheries of which it is the seat. 



It is obvious that observations restricted to two months in mid- 

 summer can not afford a picture of the regular series of changes which 

 its waters undergo during the year, or of the sporadic variations which 

 may be expected from the geographic position of the region in question, 

 and from its relation to the Gulf Stream. Consequently the following 

 report is to be regarded only as the beginning of a survey which, it is 

 hoped, will be continued at other seasons in ensuing years. 



The preparations for the cruise were made in Gloucester, and our 

 first station, some five miles off that harbor, was occupied on July 9th, 

 when we made a trial of the winches, trawl, deep-sea thermometers, 

 water-bottles, and of the current-meter. The current measurements 

 must, of course, be made from a boat at anchor; and we found that time 

 was economized by taking them, and the serial temperatures and 

 water samples as well, from a dory, which we could easily anchor 

 in any depth of water down to 150 fathoms. 



Our first field of work was the northern part of Massachusetts Bay. 

 We then ran out to the 100 fathom basin, some 35 miles east of Cape 

 Ann, where we made Station 7 ; but unfortunately the sea was so rough 

 that it was impossible to make a quantitative haul, although the other 

 work, including the hydrographic observations from the dory, was 

 successfully performed. The nature of the hauls and other observa- 

 tions made at this and the other stations is tabulated below (p. 135). 



From the 100 fathom basin we ran in toward Ipswich Bay, where 

 the plankton is proverbially rich, making a rich trawl-haul of fishes at 

 Station 8, and taking observations in the deep trough between Jeffrey's 

 Ledge and the coast. At Station 10, off Portsmouth, our trawl fouled 

 in some obstruction, and the winch failed to pay out the wire rope, 

 with the result that we lost the trawl with 150 fathoms of wire rope, 

 broke the dredging boom, and did so much damage that we were forced 

 to return to Gloucester to refit. 



After the damage was repaired, heavy weather delayed us until 

 July 22d, when we ran northerly to Casco Bay, touching at Ports- 

 mouth, and occupying Stations 12-14, to develop the hydrographic 

 conditions along the coast and in the trough west of Jeffrey's Ledge. 



