leave us alone because of the weather conditions. This presents a very 
distinct problem to the Captain as he does not have storage and fuel 
supplies available for more than 2 weeks at sea at a time. It becomes 
apparent from these reports that the field party may not be able to 
accomplish as much as had been planned in Washington with a lack of 
accurate information on the weather situation at this time of the year. 
McFarlane flew over Pearl Hermes reef in a Navy Albatross and attempts 
were made to photograph the islands but the air was so turbulent that 
this was impossible. He reports that Southeast appears marshy from 
the air at this time with some waves breaking over the southern side 
of the Island. He also reports that he was able to find only 1 of the 
5 entrances to the barrier reef that appear on our charts. He was 
able to procure at Midway a set of aerial photos, teken of the study 
area last summer. These also show only 1 good entrance to the reef. 
There are photos of all 7 islands In the area and these will be helpful 
;o us in gaining some insight as to the layout of the area. The project 
leader talked to Lt. Leabeck about 2000 this date, advised him of the 
problems which were yet to be solved at Midway and asked his advice 
of their solution. I also advised him that the small freezer which 
had been •purchased would not be suitable and advised him that the other 
items which were to be obtained for the ship had not yet arrived. Lt. 
lembeek suggested an early morning call to DESERET to advise them of 
these problems. At 0600 this morning a fire was discovered in the forward 
hold which damaged a considerable amount of electrical wiring before it 
. . ' ' • 1 \ 
\ 
was brought under control. Some of the cable which was destroyed is hot 
available at Pearl and must be obtained from California. Time of delay 
