Viewing page 9 of 31

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

          -2-
and light cable I doubt if there [[insertion]] ever [[/insertion]] will be anything to surpass our bottom sampler for some time to come.
     With regard to our orange-peel bucket, I cannot report any such measure of success. Several times I have attempted to bring up bottom in one-hundred fathoms, but have drawn a blank each time. This may be due to one of several causes. Either, because of the strong undercurrent, of which we have had ample evidence, tilting the apparatus over on one side to such an extend that the release was tripped and the bucket closed without gripping the bottom; or as Dahme claimed, the bottom was rocky, that is, smooth hard rock bottom from which we could pick up nothing. This I am inclined to doubt. The former explanation is the one I offer as a reason for our non-success. Of course the question arises in your mind concerning the washing out of the contents, but that I have very serious doubts about. In the first place, I had a new canvas cover built after the pattern of the old one, and in the second place, the bucket was absolutely clean, with one exception of a single rock 6 x 8 x 4 inches. But to set this last doubt entirely at rest, if you have one, I shall have another cover constructed which will extend well down over the blades of the bucket and fastened firmly thereto through small holes which I propose to drill through the upper part of each blade to permit the attachment of suitable lashings. At the