4 
It was off Sen Miguel that ve had our first adventure, and one 
quite unanticipated. Ve were bent on fishing for deepwater molluska 
with the unique rattan traps that John Finlay had devised , and to which 
he introduced us on the 195$ Smithsonian— Bredin Caribbean Expedition. 
Dr. Rehder and I wanted to "fish" the Cozumel channel where the 100- 
fathom curve was but a half-mile off shore. True, the current here 
runs swiftly, all of 2§ toots, but with plenty of line, as John advised, 
and what we deemed sufficient weight, two traps were put over late one 
afternoon within sight of one another to facilitate locating them before 
sun-up the next morning. As planned, we turned out early the next 
morning. In the half light, the channel and its unquiet sea were none 
too inviting, and the current appeared ever so much more swift than the 
evening before. But the large , well-inflated automobile tires that buoyed 
our lines were not where they should have been, had all gone well. Ve 
started then to cruise in circles working more and more to the northward 
of our bearings on the San Miguel light and pier, in the direction of 
the current flow. Ve persevered to no purpose , for having undoubtedly 
miscalculated the strength of the current, we had lost our gear. 
Adventures can't be planned, except perhaps in movie scripts. 
Our present one was suddenly thrust upon us with the utter failure of the 
outboard motor which powered our dinghy. It refused to start no matter how 
hard our crewman, Hal, worked on it. Just when one needs it most 
the typical charter-boat outboard seems to let one down. Here we 
were out in this 2-3 knot current being borne swiftly away ffom ’’home" 
and breakfast. Though we did spell one another at the oars, we 
