DEEP-SEA EXPLORATION. 
393 
usiitilly be cleared by steaming slowly in tbe opposite direction from which it was 
laid out. Should this maneuver fail after repeated trials, it is safe to conclude 
that the trawl has buried. In this case tbe rope is hove in to the limit of safety, and 
the vessel allowed to ride to it until the strain is partially relieved, then hove in again, 
the opei ation being repeated until it is worked out of its bed. Then steaming slowly 
ahead, a portion of the load is washed out through the meshes of the net, which is 
tinally hove up. 
If all efforts fail, as sometimes happens, a steadily increasing strain is put upon 
the rope by going ahead, or backing, until the bridle stops part and the trawl comes 
up tail first, or the rope is broken and the trawl and its attachments lost. 
An overload of stones, clay, or tenacious mud is perhaps the most trying, for the 
net can not be relieved from its weight and must be hove up with the greatest care, 
consuming much valuable time and, not infrequently, parting stops or rope just as it 
reaches the surface. 
The trawl is dragged from half an hour to au hour and a half in deep water and 
becomes more or less tilled with ooze, making it very heavy, hence it should be hove 
uj) slowly at the start, and until a portion of it has strained out through the meshes 
of the net, the vessel retaining a little headway until the depth of water exceeds 
tlie length of submerged rope; otherwise tlie steady pull on it will soon tow tlie 
vessel, and as she begins to move through the water the trawl will remain stationary, 
])ossibly sinking more deeply into the soft bottom, and become overloaded, while fish 
and other free-swimming forms that have not yet found their way beyond the pocket 
may swim out of the mouth of the net. 
The vessel should, under no circumstances, be allowed to shoot ahead and over- 
ride the rope, or slacken it sufficiently to allow it to kink, as it is prone to do, or to 
leave a bight lying on the bottom, for it will have to be dragged transversely through 
the ooze, which is sometimes a serious matter. Should the engine be stopiied after 
trawling to windward, and the vessel be allowed to fall off with the rope trending out 
from the weatlier side, as would seem, at first thought, the x>roper thing to do, she 
will soon have the wind abaft the beam, lying at right angles to her former course 
and directly athwart the rope. In this position the helm is ineffective, and the rope 
can be hove in only as fast as the vessel drifts, for as often as it is exceeded the rope 
will draw tightly under her bottom, whereas had she rounded to and stopped with the 
rope to leeward she would have gathered steerage way and held a course sufficiently 
high to clear it until she had nearly reached the trawl, when she could have steamed 
around it until the boom was again to windward. During boisterous weather it is 
advisable to keep a little headway until the trawl is up. In the event of the sea 
being too heavy to land it safely, the vessel may be brought stern to, as in sounding, 
while the last 100 fathoms are coming in. She will then be in the best i>ossible ])osition 
for handling it. 
The speed at which a trawl should be hoisted varies with the character of service, 
the depth of water, and state of the sea, the first consideration being to secure the 
specimens in the best i>ossible condition. A speed that is admissible in 100 or liOO 
fithoms would destroy a large portion of the haul if maintained from a depth of 2,000 
fathoms, and a rate that would be practicable in smooth water would be destructive 
in a heavy sea. It has been customary on board the Albatross to start vei’y slowly 
until the maximum strain is reached, then to run in about 25 fathoms j)er minute under 
ordinary conditions, increasing the speed according to circumstances, following in a 
general way the rule given in dredging Table No. 1, for lowering the trawl. 
