SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 
WASHINGTON 25. D. C. 
De ar ^r. Ely: 
April 14 , 1964 
Confusionnis everywhere around so I will 
to you. 
try to send some of it along 
If you have any discussions with the captain of ATF 113 0 r whoever 
it is we sail with in June could you find out about a few items. 1. Ask 
them to stock only a small quality of C-rations ( we are planning on 
cooking most of our meals this trip and will require canned and dry tttifi 
foods from the ship). 2. Definitely five people this trip - sleeping 
arrangements? ( crews quarters rather than chief's quarters). 3. You 
might mention that we would like to go to Tahiti rather than Samoa but 
doubt that it is possible. 4 . Are we going to have two labs?? If not we 
will need freezer space and storage space in the afterhold again. 5 . W e 
will supply navigational lights ( battery powered, visable at several miles, 
will run 18 hours on one set of batteries) and radios. 6. C a pt. Cumming 
suggested that it would be a good idea to have the ship yard check out the 
rubber rafts again as these did for this last trip. 7. Schedule as modified 
y ryanna is fine but the only firm datqg are departure from Pearl Harbor 
Arrival and departure at Pago Pago and arrival at Pearl Harbor ( can be earlier 
bu„ not later). S 0 much for things which interest them. Will be interested 
in any information you can pass along about no. officers, soace available 
on board, general atmosphere, etc. 
Returning to the problem of the self contained labs. I mentioned in one 
j.et.er that they could use some internal modifications for our use. Mary- 
anna suggest that the easiest way is to give you the list of suggested 
modifications and let you struggle with them ( thought you were going to 
have some time free did you). On the left side as you enter the lab are 
two shelves and vertical supports ( see drawing below). W e could use 
three 
drawers all the way across the middle shelf space going half way up ( clearanree 
oi 16 inches) in the middle two sections and all the way up on the two 
end sections. In addition some sort of barrier should be put up to prevent 
boxes from sliding into the fan on this side. Probably two drawers in each of 
ie middle sections and four in the end sections. On the right h»n d side 
am not quite sure what to do but will give you the problems involved and 
then my partial solution. At sea everything slides off of the formica top and 
;; : B *s e lfj re waste space as far as storage 2. There is no place to put 
finished bird skins where they can dry(Pat's original idea I believe was to 
have the lights above the present shelves and the present shelves were then 
to serve as drying racks. T 0 alliviate these problems I would sfcggest a serieTs 
of small drawers along the wall using up about half the width of the formica 
v t0P 0t r the8e drawers P ut a series of partitions and edges as on the 
shell above. In this manner a drying rack would be available and part of the 
previously useless area could be used for storage. A rim along the edge of th<? 
formica to P doesn't seen practical although there might be some other’solution 
to nolaing items on. 
