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EDITOR: JAN HAHN

WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION

WOODS HOLE, MASSACHUSETTS

Henry B. Bigelow — Chairmaruof the Board of Trustees —

Arnaud C. Marts — President of the Corporation —

Published quarterly and distributed to the Associates of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and others interested in Ocean- ography.

Edward H. Smith — Director —

Alfred C. Redfield — Associate Director -

— Senior Oceanographers — Columbus O'D. Iselin Bostwick H. Ketchum

wee

There are three Principal Points worth the curious reader's Observation in the following Treatise'.

(I.) A description of the NEW KNOWLEDGE concerning the Sea of Carib, alias the West Indies Sea, the discovery of its bottom and the manner in which it is explored, having not been treated of so circumstantially, as far as I know, by any other author before.

(2.) An account of divers voyages, made by the command of scientific curiosity, for the discovery of a DEEP HOLE in the sea, the success of which proved very fortunate, as will be evident from the ensuing Treatise.

(3.) A succinct account of that monstrous fish called the SHARK and the manner how it is taken. The whole of which I have comprehended in sev- eral draughts obtained from the eminent engraver D. M. Owen and others. Fareivel.

EDITORIAL

W. M. Dunkle

Coon after the voyage of Columbus, the Antilles were well explored, first by the Spanish and Portugese, later by the Dutch and English and the French. Still later, geologists studied the rock formations of islands and shores; but the Caribbean basin remained an unknown territory.

Few oceanographic investigations were made in the area, until it became a favorite haunt for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Insti- tution, when, during the winter months, work in the stormy North Atlantic is not practicable for our small vessels. However, one must not think of the Caribbean as a smooth sea. The past few months saw more bad weather than good, with days on which the northeast Trade Winds were absent and it blew hard from the southwest.

Often called the American Mediterranean — which includes the Gulf of Mexico — the Caribbean Sea yielded many of its secrets, as Dr. Officer points out in his article.

The Associates of the Institution may be proud that their fund was used to support in part the work in the Caribbean, which has added to our store of knowledge of the earth.

The Caryn shows her keel on a blustery day in the Caribbean.

Atlantis under full sail entering St. Thomas.

D. M. Oicen

Martinique

by C. B. Officer

Jf. •-

Exploring The Caribbean

An account of the winter cruise of the R.V. Atlantis and the R.V. Caryn.

ONE of the more fascinating phases of oceanographic science in the recent years has been the geophysical investigation of the geological struc- ture below the oceans. Largely through the impetus of Professor Maurice Ew- ing, Director of the Lament Geological Observatory and long a member of the staff of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the work in this field has progressed at a rapid rate. In 1947 and 1948 the first seismic measure- ments over deep water were made from the research vessel ATLANTIS. In 1949, 1950, and 1951 many seismic refraction profiles were taken from the ATLANTIS and CARYN over the Western Atlantic, the approaches to the North American continent, to tie in with Professor Ewing and his col- laborators earlier work over the conti- nental shelf, and to a smaller degree in the Caribbean. These profiles led to a basic understanding of the geologic structure of the oceanic areas and how they graded into the continents. From

1952 on, the work has continued from our ships and others extending the coverage over the eastern and Southern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Nor- wegian Seas, and the Gulf of Mexico.

Gaps in knowledge

At the time of the present cruise one of the biggest gaps in geologic knowledge was that of the structure of the Caribbean, the island arc of the Antilles, and the associated Puerto Rico trench (the deepest part of the Atlan t ic Ocean ) . It also turns out that an understanding of such an area is most important to the basic questions in geology, for these are the active areas of today; and much of the land geology that we walk across points to the hypo- thesis that once they were similar in structure.

The geophysical equipment on both the ATLANTIS and CARYN was such that measurements were obtained of the topography of the ocean floor from

p/ecision echo sounder recordings,* the upper portion of the sedimentary column from seismic reflection profiles, <md the total sedimentary column and underlying crystalline rocks down to the substrata from seismic refraction profiles. In addition measurements of sound transmission in the ocean were obtained over the differing water and bottom types encountered. A seismic profile is made by one ship, say the ATLANTIS, heaving to and preparing to listen and record from sensing ele- ments in the water. The second ship, the CARYN, then proceeds away from the ATLANTIS on a prescribed course firing explosives, gradually increasing in size from one half pounds of TNT to 350 pounds, out to a distance of 40 to 50 nautical miles. The CARYN then heaves to and prepares to listen, and the ATLANTIS gets underway firing charges up to her to complete the profile.

Some Statistics

Twenty-three tons of explosives were used to fire about 2,000 shots in the completion of 47 seismic refraction and reflection profiles. The ships each sailed more than 4,500 miles, so that 9,000 miles of bottom records were charted by echo-sounding. The scien- tific data obtained during the cruise weighed approximately 500 pounds and the laboratory analysis of these records will take at least six months.

Those primarily responsible for the geophysical work were Mr. Richard

&

See: "New Instruments", Oceanus, winter 1955.

The track of the vessels, the Puerto Rico Trench and the Cariaco Trench.

'And there 1 was hacking me way through the

sargassum' — Milton (Bucko) Rutstein—

best beard — inveterate story teller.

.;

Profile of the eastern end of the Puerto Rico Trench made with the Alden recorc

Captain Bray holding a struggling oceanic bonito, one of many game fishes caught on the cruise.

A conference in Trinidad. Dr. Officer (seated left), Henry Johnson and John Ewing discuss sailing plan.

Edwards and the author on the AT- LANTIS and Mr. John Ewing from Limont Geological Observatory and Mr. Henry Johnson on the CARYN. The geophysical equipment on the ATLANTIS came from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and that on the CARYN from Lamonc Geological Observatory and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Other programs that were carried out con. currently were one in chemical ocean- ography by Dr. Francis Richards and Mr. Ralph Vaccaro, joined for a por- tion of the trip by Mr. Sayed Wardani from Scripps Institution of Ocean- ography; one in marine biology by Dr. John Ryther, and one in a combination acoustical and optical investigation of the deep scattering layer by Messrs. Johnson and David Owen.* Also aboard engaged in one or another of the phases of investigation for a por- tion or all of the cruise were Messrs. Alvin Bradshaw, William Dunkle, Gerrit Duys, Jan Hahn, William Hud- son from Bell Telephone Laboratories, William Moss, and Milton Rutstein.

The ships left Woods Hole on the nineteenth of January, stopped at Ber- muda, and arrived in St. Thomas on the second of February, after an ex- tremely stormy passage. The work in the Caribbean area was along tracks from St. Thomas south to the coast of Venezuela and up to Martinique, from Martinique out to the Atlantic and back to Trinidad, from Trinidad north along the Grenadine Islands and across to Puerto Rico, from Puerto Rico east

Woo.

ing system and the Edo echo sounder. Depth of flat bottom is 3828 fathoms (22,968 ft.)

Loading explosives and clean laundry in Port of

Spain. Each box contains one 350 Ib. aerial bomb.

Ralph Vaccaro has just handed Dr. Richards

a pile of pillow cases.

toward Antiqua and back to the west; north of the islands, and into St. Thomas on the twenty-third of March.

Was the cruize a success? We defi- nitely think so. We obtained almost twice as much geophysical information as we had planned, and we feel that we have the data in hand to determine the geologic structure and variations in geologic structure over the various features of the Caribbean area.

The cruise was supported in part by the Associates through payments for most of the operating expenses of the CARYN. I wish to express my

"Over the side!" Dick Edwards tiring a 1/2 pound block of TNT with a 24-second fuse.

thanks to them for this support.

It was a blow to all of us to learn on returning to Woods Hole that one of cur group, Mr. Gerrit Duys, had died cf a heart attack. Mr. Duys had become sick during the cruise from a virus infection. He was left at Bar- bados and upon recovering returned to Woods Hole. I know that the other members of the scientific party and the officers and crew of the ships join me here in expressing their sympathies at the loss of such a fine person. He was one of the most generous and kind hearted persons that I have known.

The Caryn rolling on "silent ship" station.

Camefish Studies Down To The Sea

OUR game fish expert, Frank J. |n ShJDS Mather 111, is presently on board

the FWS Oregon in the Gulf of Mex- qpHE officers and crews of our re ico. Through the courtesy of the Fish 1 search vessels are often taken for and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department granted. It may be appropriate, in this r.f the Interior, Mr. Mather is able to Caribbean issue, to salute Captain Scott observe "long line" techniques for the L>ray of the Atlantis, his engineers., catching of large tuna, marlin and mates, steward, cooks and seamen for swordfish. This method is a modifi- tj,eir part ;n making our scientific- cation of the successful Japanese long work a success. There were many days line trawls. Mather hopes to use long ar sea and but few in port, lines in his tagging program, so that

more fish can be tagged than with the Captain Arvid Karlson and his offi-

present, more interesting but slow. cers and crew had an even more diffi-

method of rod and reel fishing. cult task. Due to the small size of the

Proceeding to Bimini in May, where Caryn her fuel and fresh water capacity

all tuna caught in the annual tourna- was often stretched to the limit of en-

ment are released, Mr. Mather hopes durance. Lack of washing facilities in

that the participants will aid his studies a warm climate can be most unpleasant,

by marking fish with the new dart tag Due to engine trouble, engineers

he developed during the past winter. Sutherland and Leslie spent five days

From Bimini he will go to Cat Cay, to crawling in the crowded engine room,

work in cooperation with scientists of where the temperature must have been

the University of Miami's Marine over 100 degrees.

Laboratory to study the migration of . .

i , \ r + r The cruise started with an extremely

giant tuna during the annual Cat Cay , , TT .

Tournament. stormy passage from Woods Ho e to

All northern tuna anglers and their Bermuda and, for the Caryn at least,

.IT .1 ended in the same way. That the scien-

clubs are urged to participate in the .

dart-type tagging program during the tlhc results were successful is in no

coming summer. Tags have now been m^an way contnbutable to these men

produced in quantity and may be ob- and to Port Captain John Pike, who

tained, free of charge, from the Woods is responsible for the safe and smooth

Hole Oceanographic Institution. operation of the ships.

In Memoriam William D. Winter

Associate William D. Winter was Association of New York, Mr. Winter

a member of the Executive Com- g^e an address which largely con-

i £ i cerned itself with the activities of this

mittee and one of the most active . . , . , ,

f Institution. Mr. Winter explained that

members of the Corporate Committee. ^ cause$ resukmg in exposing men

In addition he was a member of the an£j women to the hazards of the sea

Corporation of the Woods Hole Ocean- C(lU\d be removed, in a wider sense, by

ographic Institution since June 30, encouraging scientific investigation of

1952. the oceans.

One of his last acts on our behalf The Woods Hole Oceanographic

occured last January when, retiring as Institution and its Associates can ill

P-esident of the Life Saving Benevolent afford the loss of this Benefactor.

ASSOCIATE NEWS

I ATE in February the Executive •* Committee and the Corporate Com- mittee held a joint meeting at the New York Yacht Club, to discuss the growth and the activities of the Associates Program.

Admiral Smith explained current activities at the Institution and made special mention of the fact that the cruise of the R.V. ATLANTIS and R.V. CARYN in the Caribbean Sea was financed in part by Associate funds.

Other uses to which your contribu- tions are being applied were men- tioned by President Swope. $4,300 provides for the salary of Miss Beatrice Stern to operate a spectroscope in the tracing of "tagged water" (see Oceanus III, 1 ) . Also supported are six lectures to be given this summer by Dr. Gifford C Ewing of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Dr. Ewing will also act as consultant oceanographer during the summer months. Further funds are applied to basic research, a fellowship and the making of a motion picture on oceanography.

A report on the vigorous activities of the Committee on Corporate Associ-

ates was presented by Chairman Noel B. McLean. Mr. McLean noted that about $3,500. was received in addition to $16,000 obtained from member corporations and companies.

Mr. M. C. Gale reported that he had explored the need and cost of a game fish library to be established at the Institution. It was thought that such a library would be useful but not es- sential, and the proposal was tabled. It was suggested that an exploratory article might appear in Oceanus asking for an expression by the individual Associates.

Finally, it was reported, that a plan to be known as the Woods Hole Oceanographic Associate Fellowship, will provide funds to permit an out- standing young person to obtain a doc- torate degree in the earth sciences and, it is hoped, a career in oceanography at the Institution. One fellowship will be awarded this year, two the next year, and three yearly thereafter. "Thus", Admiral Smith concluded, "Ocean- ography and the Institution will be nourished with new talent by the use of funds made possible by the Associates."

New Corporate Associates

General Dynamics Corporation, New York The Glenn L. Martin Company, Baltimore, Maryland Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, Inc., New York Sperry Gyroscope Company, Great Neck, New York

In addition to welcoming many other individuals, we are pleased to in- troduce our first foreign Associate, Senor A. E. Llavallol of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

8

THE CARIACO TRENCH

>y Francis A. Richards

A basin of stagnant water was found in the Caribbean Sea and proves

of great aid in studying the nutrient cycles in the sea and

the formation of petroleum in sedimentary basins.

THE Cariaco Trench* is a basin just north of Venezuela, in the south- eastern Caribbean. About 780 fathoms at its greatest depth, the trench is shut off from the rest of the sea by a sill which permits no ocean water to enter from depths greater than about 80 fathoms.

Before any observations were made there, a study of bottom charts showed that the configuration of the trench imd the isolation of its deeper water made it interesting, since it seemed possible that the trench might contain stagnant water and thus afford a place where biochemical processes were tak- ing place in an essentially static part of the ocean, thus simplifying investi- gations by eliminating the time-motion factors which are so difficult to evalu- ate in the open ocean.

First Visit

The trench was first visited by AT- LANTIS in December 1954, at which time L. V. Worthington found that the water was anaerobic — free of dis- solved oxygen — from about 1,600 feet down. This showed that the place was static — at least much more so than any known part of the open ocean where dissolved oxygen is present at all depths. At that time, it was obvious from the odor of the water samples that hydrogen sulfide was present, al- though the ship was not equipped to determine the substance chemically.

* See chart on Page 4.

Similar situations are known to exist in the Black Sea, in threshold fjords and in certain semi-enclosed basins, all of which receive considerable land drainage. This drainage supplies an abundance of nutrients, principally nitrate and phosphate, which so ferti- lize the upper layers that a greater than usual amount of organic matter is pro- duced by the growth of plants — the microscopic phytoplankton. Upon sinking into the stagnant layers, this organic matter decomposes, using oxy- gen until all the oxygen is gone. After that, bacterial decomposition continues, but the oxygen is supplied by the sul- fate in sea water, thereby reducing the sulfate to sulfide. During this decom- position the organic compounds of nitrogen and phosphorus which were bound in the bodies of the organisms during their growth in the upper layers, are again released to the water in solu- tion as inorganic compounds of nitro- gen and phosphorus.

In the deep water of the open ocean, the supply of organic material from the surface is so slow, and is so bal- anced by fresh supplies of waters that were at one time aerated in the surface layers, that anaerobic conditions do not arise. The ocean circulation also prob ably brings about a slow return of in- organic nutrients to the surface layers. In anaerobic parts of the sea, such ex- changes either do not occur or are very slew, and processes of deoxygenation,

sulfide formation and the regeneration of nutrient salts are uninterrupted.

The trench differs from the other known anaerobic parts of the sea, be- cause it receives little land drainage, and its upper layers, almost completely open to the sea, are far from semi- enclosed. Therefore, the manner in which nutrient materials are brought into this marine environment are quite different and give us a new field for study.

Exciting Discovery

The fact that the Cariaco Trench is anaerobic was a rather exciting dis- covery. Woods Hole scientists were anxious for additional information, and a return visit was made in February of this year. The lower laboratory of ATLANTIS was equipped for the determination, at sea, of dissolved oxy- gen, hydrogen sulfide, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, phosphates, and other chem- ical properties of the water, Mr. Ralph F Vaccaro, bacteriologist, who studied the nitrogen compounds, Dr. John H. Ilyther, microbiologist, who conducted

experiments to determine the produc- tivity of the plankton population, and the writer, who did other chemical and hydrcgraphic work, were aboard. Mr. Sayed Ali el Wardani, of Scripps Insti- tution of Oceanography, came on board at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and did the determinations of sulfides and hy- drogen ion concentrations, subjects in which he has specialized at Scripps. Water samples were taken from the surface to the bottom at several places in the trench, and core samples of the bottom were obtained. The work was carried on in conjunction with Dr. C. B. Officer's geophysical cruise which is described elsewhere in this issue.

Only preliminary studies have been made of the data obtained on the cruise, but they should prove helpful in understanding the nitrogen and phosphorus nutrient cycles in the sea, the microbiology of an anaerobic en- vironment, the circulation of the trench, and sedimentation processes which may be of application to studies of the formation of petroleum.

GIFTS AND GRANTS

With pleasure we report that the following gifts and grants have been received :

Alfred P. Sloane Foundation,

Inc. . $5,000.

Shell Company Foundation $ 500.

Both grants have been made to con- tribute toward the cost of making a motion picture on oceanography, the purpose of which is to inform the pub- lic and especially prospective college students about the science of the sea. The final draft of the motion picture script is presently in preparation.

In addition to the above, the Insti- tution received a check for $5,000 from Mr. N. B. McLean, President of the Edo Corporation, College Point, New York.

Although the annual Corporate As- sociates contribution is $1,000, Mr. McLean sent his larger contribution with the statement: ''We sincerely be- lt c-ve that the basic research being done at Woods Hole contributes immeasur- ably to the industry in which ive are interested and also to the welfare and support of our country".

10

SHARKS

No/ c/j" of/672 encountered at sea as they arc in popular literature, much remains to he learned of their behavior.

A problem that has always faced the ^*- naturalist who is interested in the ocean's larger creatures, is that he rare- ly can spend enough of his time at sea to accumulate a significant number of observations. The whales, porpoises, sec turtles, sharks and large fishes are less often encountered than one might suppose from reading much of the literature of the sea. At the Institution, those who see such animals most often are the officers and crews of our vessels

whose job may keep them at sea almost continually. It is in this field that these men can best contribute directly to our scientific endeavors.

Illustrative of this is the shark- fijhing program in which the ATLAN- TIS has been engaged during the last couple of years. With some extra effort in examining specimens and keeping careful records, what was formerly sport or the seaman's traditional ven- geance, has been turned into science.

11

During the last nine months, led by Captain Scott Bray, First Mate A. D. Colburn, Boatswain Carl Speight, and former Radioman Thomas Lyon, the ATLANTIS has preserved data from 45 sharks.

Whenever the ATLANTIS is hove to for coring, hydrographic stations, or is the "silent ship" in an underwater sound exercise, a couple of stout lines with chain-leadered hooks are thrown over, bearing table scraps provided by amiable Steward Joe Lambert. Gen- erally the cry of "Shark!" even brings up "the watch below". The hooked shark is dispatched by a volley of rifle fire by the ATLANTIS' gunbugs. The moribund shark is hauled aboard, whereupon it is measured and cut open. Sharks are hard to kill and more than once the fishermen have had to take to the rigging to avoid the snapping jaws and flailing tail of a supposedly deceased specimen.

The open ocean shark, widespread in the warmer parts of the Atlantic and common in the Caribbean, is the white- tip shark about which, in spite of its commonness, little is known. It is a

brownish shark easily identified by its rounded dorsal fin, the tip of which is white. This shark is usually the nucleus cf an interesting aggregation of other animals. The silver and black-barred shark pilot* often accompanies it, but, contrary to legend, generally swims above and behind the shark rather than in the lead. One or several remoras, or shark-suckers, are almost always adher- ent to the white-tip, and so persistent is their grip that they are hauled aboard with the shark. Sometimes a small school of the beautiful blue-green- yellow dolphin fish swims with the white-tip. These are often caught as they swim near the hooked shark.

ATLANTIS records have shown much about the white-tip's food, breed- ing habits, and behavior. One of the more interesting points revealed is the tendency for large areas to contain pre- dominantly male white-tips, while the females are predominant in another aiea. This phenomenon is little under- stood, but continued efforts on the part of the ships' crews should lead us to the answer to this question and many others about some of the ocean's bigger animals.

Two 'pilots' may be seen on page 1 1 just to the left of the shark's dorsal hn.

Remora

Coming on board.

At the Third Annual Associates Dinner: Mr. & Mrs. Gerard Swope, Jr. (left) and Mr. & Mrs. George H. Richards.

In the model room of the N. Y. Yacht Club before the dinner, from left to right: Mr. F. L. LaQue, Mrs. T. H. Wickenden, Dr. A. C. Red field. Mr. T. H. Wickenden, Mrs. F. L. LaQue.

Third Annual Associates Dinner

The Third Annual Associates Dinner took place on April 19 at the New York Yacht Club. The 140 Associates and guests present, heard an address by Mr. Robert H. Simpson, hurricane specialist of the U.S. Weather Bureau, and saw a motion picture of Hurricane "Carol's" havoc at Woods Hole. The picture was made last fall from the Institution's windows by oceanographer Wm. S. von Arx.

13

SPRING CRUISE OF THE BEAR

by J. B. Hcrsey

From the deepest spot in the Atlantic Ocean to the Blake Plateau, the Bear had some rough going.

THE research vessel Bear, a 103 foot motor vessel, departed Woods Hole on the first of February for St. Thomas, V. I- She was held in Ber- muda for several days by very rough seas, eventually reaching Charlotte Amalie about the middle of the month. With the aid of our new precision echo-sounder recorders we made sur- veys of the Caribbean approach to the Anegada Passage in the Virgin Island area and made various studies of sound scattering including lower ings of the acoustical view finder camera ( see Oceanus III, 2 ) and other purely acoustical observations. Continuing this work off the southern coast of Puerto Rico we sailed to Mayaguez, a seaport on the western coast of Puerto Rico.

There, the scientific party visited the Department of Biology of the University of Puerto Rico and were treated to a very pleasant tour of the newly established marine biological station and zoological garden, being set up on an island off the southern coast by Dr. Juan Rivero, as part of the University's instructional and re- search program. Dr- Rivero not only welcomed us most cordially to the University but was most helpful in solving some logistic problems that would otherwise have delayed our work considerably.

Departing Mayaguez on February 28th, we kept rendezvous with the R/V Vema of the Lament Geological Observatory at a point northwest of Puerto Rico near the deepest part of the North Atlantic, the Puerto Rico Trench. The Vema was equipped with

a precision echo sounder of Lamont's design and together we were able to make tracks of parallel soundings over the deep ocean just east of the Bahama reefs, from the Trench to the North- east Providence Channel of the Baha- mas. The Puerto Rico Trench has a flat bottom (see page 4) over which both ships passed on somewhat differ- ent tracks. We were gratified to find that soundings taken by the two ships agreed within two or three fathoms on the flat bottom, at a depth consider- ably over four miles.

A number of seismic refraction pro- files were made on the continental shelf and the Blake Plateau between the Bahamas and Charleton, S. C, con- tinuing a study commenced by the Atlantis and the Bear last year. Dur- ing March, sailing out of Charleston, the Bear under the leadership of Mr. Ralph Wyrick of this Institution, and the Vema under Dr. John Nafe of Lament, continued the seismic studies in this area until the end of the month when the Vema left us and the Atlan- tis joined in the work, after complet- ing her Caribbean work under Dr. Officer. The special target of the work in March had been to study the geo- logic structural relations between the 2600 fathoms deep ocean to the east, the Blake Plateau, which rises to a depth of 200-700 fathoms in the mid- dle and the less than 100 fathoms deep continental shelf on the western side of the area- During April, with Messrs. Henry Johnson and Richard Edwards on Atlantis and the writer on the Bear, we studied the structures where the Blake Plateau narrows down between

14

the shelf and a topographic ridge which extends outward from the con- tinent into the adjacent ocean basin. In one month, we could hope to do little more than draw a rough outline of the underlying structure. A prelim- inary examination of the results tells us that the topographic ridge is indeed i1 surface expression of a large fold in- volving the whole outer crust of the earth here. We believe that further study of our present data will tell us at least part of the relationship between this folded structure and the deep ocean basin, the North America basin, to the east.

In addition to the seismic obser- vations, the Atlantis obtained a few cores of bottom sediment while the Bear made more lowerings of the acoustical view finder camera. The weather, which had been remarkably good until the middle of April, be- came about equally poor for the re- mainder of the cruise- As a result the last part of the planned program had to be abandoned. After nine days of nearly constant seas of about twelve feet high, we were relieved to cross the Gulf Stream and find much calmer seas for our return to Woods Hole early in May.

Oceanography?

Oceanology?

servations there was a sign on Dean Bumpus' door stating: Laboratory of Oceanology.

This is all very well, but we have heard many people mispronounce oceanographic in various ways and we fear to think what they might do to: Woods Hole Oceanological Institution, if this ever came to pass.

The difficulty with this science is that it is no science at all, but rather a series of sciences. Many people still appear to think that an oceanographer is someone who catches and looks at strange fishes, not realizing that physicist, chemist, biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geophysicist and almost every other 'ist' but the astrologist have a part in the study of the ocean. Finally, this study of the sea is also but ONE of the earth sciences while at the same time containing all of the disciples who study the earth sciences.

By this time we are almost — but not quite — as confused as our readers and can only suggest that you peruse this once more carefully and you will know more about oceanography or oceanology than we can hope to tell you for some time to come.

In the next issue of DEEP SEA RESEARCH, Dr. J. N. Carruthers of the British National Institute of Oceanography will refute Commander Hall and his use of the term oceanology.

JJST about when oceanography has become rather widely known, up comes Commander C. P. N. Hall, R.N., to suggest in the journal DEEP SEA RESEARCH, that we use the word oceanology since this describes the science of the ocean or ocean study while oceanography means description of the ocean.

Some European scientists jumped into the fray and have started to use oceanology and before you could say geomagnetic electrokineto graphic ob-

Whenever in or near Woods Hole, Associates are cordially invited to at- tend our weekly staff meetings, held Monday evenings at 8:00 p.m. in the Conference Room of the Laboratory of Oceanography. At these meetings one of our staff members or a visiting scientist gives an informal account of the latest developments in his work or field.

15

CURRENTS AND TIDES

Dr. M. S. Longuet-Higgins, of the British National Institute of Ocean- ography, visited in April and lectured on "Analyzing the sea surface."

Staff members on the air. On June 21 from 9:30 to 10:00 DST, and on June 23 from 8:30 to 9:00 DST, you will be able to hear a shoal of staff members discoursing on NBC's pro- gram "New England, a Regional Sur- vey". The interviews, recorded last winter, are part of Program number 7 of the NBC series which will start on May 3-

On a recent visit to U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, Admiral Smith demonstrated a model of the new Air Sea Rescue buoy de- veloped for the Navy by our Messrs. Harold E. Sawyer, F. deW. Pingree and Robert G. Walden. The exhibit model is on loan to the Office of Naval Re- search and was designed by Mr. G. G. Pasley.

Plans to invade a "foreign ocean", are being made by Mr. Henry C. Stetson, submarine geologist on our staff. Mr. Stetson plans to take AT- LANTIS to the South Pacific next fall. This would be the first time the ship has left the Atlantic Ocean and ad- jacent seas.

Many grade and high schools featur- ed the oceans in their science programs this spring. A flow of material was sent in reply to dozens of letters from many states. The largest single group of letters came from Mitchelville, Iowa, which we have not been able to find on a map. Such requests are suggestive of a growing interest in oceanography.

A record of whale noises, made by our ketophonist Mr. W. E. Schevill, was sent to the Gilbert School in Win- sted, Conn., to be used during a liter- ary discussion of Moby Dick and other whaling books.

Seventy-three newspaper feature writers, editors and TV men from the West and mid-West visited the Insti- tution in April under the auspices of American Airlines. They made a cruise on the CARYN from New Bedford to Woods Hole and were given a guided tour of the laboratories. During the cruise they witnessed the rescue of our overeager Public Information Officer, who followed a plankton net over the stern.

"The Continental Shelf", is the title of an article by submarine geologist Henry C. Stetson, in the March issue of "Scientific American."

16

MBL WHOI LIBRARY

LJH 17YN S

ASSOCIATES

of the WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION

President: GERARD SWOPE, JR.

Secretary. JOHN A. GlFFORD

Executive Assistant: RONALD A. VEEDER

Winslow Carlton Rachel L. Carson George F. Jewett Noel B. McLean Henry S. Morgan

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Edward A. Norman Malcolm S. Park Thomas J. Watson, Jr. James H. Wickersham

CORPORATE COMMITTEE Chairman: Noel B. McLean, President Edo Corporation

Charles F. Adams, Jr.

Robert M. Akin, Jr.

F. M. Bundy

W. Van Alan Clark

Pomeroy Day

M. C. Gale

Frank Pace, Jr.

T. V. Moore Raymond Stevens

Parker D. Trask Thomas H. Wickenden Miles F. York

President, Raytheon Manufacturing Company President, Hudson Wire Company President, Gorton Pew Fisheries Chairman, Avon Products, Inc. Partner, Robinson, Robinson and Cole President, Monarch Buick Company Executive Vice President, General Dynamics

Corporation

Standard Oil Development Company Executive Vice President, Arthur D. Little,

Inc.

Research Engineer, University of California Vice President, International Nickel Company President, Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company

EX OFFICIO: OFFICERS

of the WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION

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