GREENLAND EXPEDITION OF 1940 



By Capt. ROBERT A. BARTLETT 



New York City 



Last spring, because of the international situation, the prospects 

 of my making a trip north again in 1940 aboard the Morrissey 

 seemed very dark. After due formalities, however, I received per- 

 mission from our own State Department to enter Newfoundland and 

 Labrador ports, and from the Danish authorities to land in Greenland. 

 Accordingly, I went ahead with preparations to put the Morrissey in 

 commission. 



Again Dr. Waldo L. Schmitt, Curator of Marine Invertebrates, 

 United States National Museum, supplied us with collecting equip- 

 ment. David C. Nutt, who made his fourth trip north with me this 

 year, helped me most efficiently to get everything in readiness for 

 the trip. Capt. J. F. Hellweg, U.S.N., Superintendent of the LI. S. 

 Naval Observatory, and also Capt. G. S. Bryan, U.S.N., Hydrog- 

 rapher, supplied us with instruments, books, and charts. In return, 

 we sent the Hydrographic Office detailed observations of ice condi- 

 tions, berg movements, and surface-water temperatures taken every 

 3 hours, anchored or steaming, in ice or out of it. Also, meteorological 

 data were sent to the Navy Department by our own radio. Hundreds 

 of bottle papers were thrown overboard. This we have done both 

 in the eastern and western Arctic. We get a thrill when the papers 

 are returned after having gone 2,000 to 3,000 miles, and having 

 been picked up on the Norwegian, English, or French coasts. 



Besides the small crew of Newfoundland fishermen and sealers who 

 go with me year after year, I had this year 13 boys, mostly from 

 preparatory schools and colleges. They take their turns along with 

 the regular crew at all the work necessary. They are all grand lads, 

 standing watch in all kinds of weather, and helping willingly to haul 

 the nets, seine, and big otter trawls. 



The group of boys who accompanied me this year included 

 David C. Nutt, Dartmouth College, now making his fifth trip 

 aboard the Morrissey; Arthur Manice, Trinity College, making his 

 third trip ; Albert L. Barnes, Choate School ; Albert L. Hoffman, East 

 Norwich, Long Island, making his second trip ; James Pond, Jersey 

 City, N. J. ; Warren Ripley, Dublin School ; Austin Colgate, Deer- 

 field Academy; Albert Park, Mt. Vernon, N. Y. ; Fred Littleton, 



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