VOL. VII. NO. 2 DECEMBER 196O

EDITOR: JAN HAHN

Published periodically and distributed to the

Associates of the Woods Hole Oceano-

graphic Institution and others

interested in Oceanography

HENRY B. BIGELOW

Chairman of the Board of Trustees

RAYMOND STEVENS
President of the Corporation

PAUL M. FYE

Director

COLUMBUS O'D. ISELIN

H. B. Bige/o-iv Oceanographer

BOSTWICK H. KETCHUM

Senior Oceanographer

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution • Woods Hole, Massachusetts

-

I

HAHN

Ne cede mails

WB

E have been most fortunate in 30 years of ship operations. Never-
theless, our ships occasionally do get into trouble, trouble which we have
never advertised, being "all in the day's work". The 72 foot 'Balanus', an
unloved craft which was sold in 1951, lost her rudder between Woods
Hole and Bermuda one black night during a gale. For a while some of
those on board did not think they would survive until morning. She is
shown on our cover being taken in tow two days later by the U.S.C.G.
cutter 'Campbell', whose hull is hidden behind a left-over from the gale.

The 'Atlantis' twice lost a propeller, only to return safely under sail.
Once she lost her mizzen mast overboard in the Equatorial Current.
Smaller breakdowns of ships or scientific gear in gales and in moderate
weather are commonplace.

Our ships and men encounter many a severe storm and misfortunes.
They who wish to learn the ocean's nature take these in stride.

Editorial

VOL. VII, NO. 2, NOVEMBER 1960

D

'URING the cruise of the R. V. 'Chain' in northern European waters
many foreign scientists joined the ship for various periods, while still
more visited in ports of call. More and more, our ships are working
together in joint operations with foreign research vessels such as the
R.R.S. 'Discovery II', the 'Winneretta Singer', the 'Helland-Hansen' and
the 'Explorer.'

Plans are well underway for the International Indian Ocean Expedi-
tion, in which some 17 nations are cooperating. In the North Atlantic,
eight European research vessels studied arctic flow in a Polar Front Survey.
In the Pacific Ocean, Scripps' ships have worked jointly with Canadian
and Japanese vessels. The publication of the Atlantic Ocean Atlas (see
p. 14) serves to remind us of the close cooperation with our British friends
during the IGY. The increasing awareness of the international aspect of
the marine sciences also has led to an increase in organizations and sub-
organizations. So many, in fact, that one needs a glossary to decipher the
alphabet soup of initials (APO, IUGG, ICSU, SCOR, SCAGI, etc.).

Writing in "Science Progress", Dr. G. E. R. Deacon states: "All marine
scientists are under considerable pressure from well-intentioned inter-
national scientific and inter-governmental organizations" "Scien-
tists, conscious of the still outstanding need to support the work of
individuals and small groups, are inclined to question the need for such
multiplicity of organization, and hope that it will settle down into
something fairly simple".

HAHN

-^ <

M

.Y first meeting with Dr. Bigelow
was in the early 1920's, about 38
years ago, and we have been work-
ing together ever since. There are
many who can well envy me this
long and productive association with
a scientist whose accomplishments are
well known. My first assignment for
which H. B. was to be my guiding
spirit was a cod-tagging program
inaugurated by the U. S. Bureau of
Fisheries in 1923. I soon found that

he was a dynamo of energy, a quick
thinker who can put his finger on
that which is relevant and play
down that which appears to be
trivia. He brought my attention to
the law of diminishing returns and,
although I do not know the exact
wording of this so-called law, its in-
tent is evident, and as the years
rolled by it saved me — and doubtless
others whom he has guided — much
useless effort.

Scarcely a single species of marine fishes is known
adequately — much remains to be learned about their habits.

z
i

Dr. Bigelow's many published
papers and books, embracing various
fields of science, date back to 1902
and he is still very much in the
running. His "Fishes of the Gulf of
Maine", which appeared in 1925, is
by all odds the most popular book
on fishes ever issued by our govern-
ment, packed as it is with exhaus-
tive information useful to the
ichthyologist, the fisherman, and the
layman alike. It was sold out and a
revised edition, published in 1953,
already has been gobbled up; at least
there were only a few copies left in
the government printing office sev-
eral months ago. The fish book was
followed in rapid succession by the
publication of "Plankton of the Gulf
of Maine" in 1926 and by "Physical
Oceanography of the Gulf of Maine"
in 1927, treatises that have withstood
the test of time. How he produced
three large volumes in such a short
space of time no one knows, not
even H. B. himself as he has on
occasion told me. But I think I know
most of the answers, namely, that he
works relentlessly and knows well
his subject, or if he does not, he
knows where and how to dig out
the answers.

Instead of discussing fisheries
biology from a broad standpoint, I
shall dwell upon a few of the things
that have concerned Dr. Bigelow
and myself since we elected to play
along with fishes.

In 1940, at a meeting in the New
York Aquarium, "Fishes of the
Western North Atlantic" was
launched. We were assigned to work
on the cyclostomes, the sharks, the
skates and rays and on the chi-
maeras, and these proved to be
enough to make up the first two
volumes. The cyclostome-shark man-
uscript was completed in about five
years, but it was three years later,
due to editing and various other
delays, before the book appeared in
print. As soon as we received the
first copies there followed what
might be termed the big clean-up,
always a joy to H. B., for this repre-
sented another milestone. It involved
throwing into a large waste basket
all the great amount of paper work,
galley and page proofs, etc. that
went into the finished book. By that
time work on Volume 2 was well
along and eventually was published
in 1952, the same year that the re-
vised edition of "Fishes of the Gulf
of Maine" appeared.

I would like to add here the fact
that we were fortunate in having at
hand in the Harvard Museum of
Comparative Zoology, an excellent
library and one of the best fish col-
lections in existence. Also, much
material was received on loan from
other museums and agencies, not
only in thij country but from various
other parts of the world. And many
of our colleagues were most helpful
in contributing data.

"Known from"

The literature on fish is large,
even for a restricted area such as
the Gulf of Maine, for which pub-
lished records date back to, at least,
Capt. John Smith in 1616. He was
not an ichthyologist, but fishes were
an important item in the economy
of the colony. One of the shortcom-
ings up to the early part of this
century, and to some extent even up
to the present time, has been that
dealing with geographic range. For
example, the range of a cosmopolitan
species has been given as "known
from the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian

Oceans". Good as far as it goes; but
we would like to have more precise
information. A favorite expression
used until recently for Atlantic
coast species of fish is "known from
Massachusetts to Brazil"; or "from
Cape Cod to Brazil", or from some
other region in the lower latitudes.
Investigation often revealed that only
one or a few specimens of a given
species were actually recorded from
Massachusetts, and information was
lacking as to whether from the
southern coast or the northern, a
matter of interest, for some species
occurring along the southern coast
have yet to be definitely recorded as
far north as Provincetown. Further-
more, some species taken in northern
waters occur there only as stragglers.
So an abbreviated range can be
misleading. I mention this little fact
because a great deal of our time and
energy (although perhaps not much
real brain work as H. B. so aptly has
said) has been devoted to scouting
the literature and digging out and
piecing together, along with our own
experiences, a better picture of
distribution.

This red spider crab was "known from
Cuba", but found off New England.

Puzzling factors

No matter how supposedly well
known a species may be, when it
comes to preparing an up-to-date
account we have found that puzzling
or uncertain factors are likely to
arise. Recently we completed a
paper on the capelin, a fish resem-
bling the smelt and found in north-
ern waters. Quite a lot is known
about its distribution and spawning
habits. The annual catch for Canada
has run around two or three million
pounds of recent years. But when
the Newfoundland statistics first
appeared a few years ago, after
Canada assumed jurisdiction of that
land, the Newfoundland catch was
given as over thirty million pounds.
We were intrigued by this relatively
high figure for the capelin is caught
(in Newfoundland at least) almost
exclusively along the edge of the
shore and only during the six to
eight weeks of late spring and into
the summer, and is taken chiefly
with dip nets, hand scoops, cast nets
and beach seines. The population of
Newfoundland is small. To total
thirty million pounds, about a half-
million pounds would have to be
taken per day. This was not a typo-
graphical error for this amount; with
slight variation, it appeared in the
last several reports. About 21/*' of

Bigelow and Schroeder, an international
by-word in the field of marine biology.

THE CAPELIN

the catch is used for human con-
sumption, the rest for fresh and
frozen bait, fertilizer (chiefly for the
local potato crop as we learned), cat
and dog food, and fish meal. These
categories are not broken down in
the statistics and only a small frac-
tion of the 98' < of the catch is
accounted for. We went to some
length trying to find out where all
this fish ended up, and even had an
acquaintance in the General Foods
Corporation contact the natives and
fisheries interests, while he was in
Newfoundland. His opinion was
that the annual catch was much
exaggerated. Of course all this may
not be of vital importance, but it
points out that we should be careful
how we deal with statistics. And I
might add here that, as far as we are
concerned, we consider statistics
somewhat as a necessary evil that
often must be taken into account for
we are much more concerned with
the life history of a fish and its rela-
tionship to other species.

New species

One of our recent chores has been
the writing up of a collection of
skates and rays from the West
Indian region, coast of Central
America and the offing of the Ama-
zon River taken in 100-500 fathoms
by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
vessels over the past few years. Part
of this area has never been explored
within these depths. As might be
expected, several new species crop-
ped up and one of them proved to
be of particular interest, as well as

In experimental fishing,
quantity is not as desirable
as quality. These lobsters
found in deep water by Mr.
Schroeder have led to an
extensive fishery.

HAH

troublesome. In most respects it fits
the large skate family Rajidae, the
members of which all have two
dorsal fins. But this species lacks
dorsals, and this fact messes up the
characters that heretofore have been
used to distinguish the Rajidae from
other families of skates. Here is a
case where, as Dr. Bigelow has com-
mented, we must take the bull by
the horns and do something about
it. This is one of our problems at the
present time. An item of interest
that has evolved from collections
made in the Gulf of Mexico is the

finding of a number of newly-
discovered species of a small family
of skates, and of a genus of cyclos-
tome, which have their closest
known relatives far away in South
Africa and Japan. The cyclostome
(hagfish or slime eel) is a low order
of fish, eel-like in form. Future
exploratory fishing may close this
wide gap in distribution, but there
the matter stands for now.

This article is an adaptation of a talk given
on the occasion of the presentation of the
H. B. Bigelow Medal on August 10, 1960.
(See: Oceanus, Vol. VII, No. 2.)

6

Depth Ranges

The angler, also called goosefish
or all-mouth because of its enormous
mouth, a species reaching about
forty pounds in weight but usually
much smaller, is often thrown ashore
during the storms as it is commonly
found in very shoal water. But it
wanders far offshore and we have
recently trawled it down to 470
fathoms. Its presence in shoal to
deep water obtains for the year-
round, and does not involve long
migrations, so far as we know. The
common white hake, of which mil-
lions of pounds are caught annually
by the commercial fishery, is found
in greatest abundance in depths less
than about 50-60 fathoms and many
are taken close to shore. But it is
found out to at least 600 fathoms.
There are other species in New
England waters that have a wide
depth range, but for some of them
this is brought about by seasonal
migrations. It will be interesting to
learn why some species of fish dwell
in a habitat that includes wide ex-
tremes of temperature, types and
abundance of food, etc., while others
are more restricted.

MR. SCHROEDER, ichthyologist, has
been on our staff since the Institution's
founding. Co-worker with Dr. Bigelow,
he has made many deep water explora-
tory fishing cruises.

Among the latter we can include
the tilefish, found chiefly in 70-100
fathoms, seldom shoaler than 50 or
deeper than 150. It ranges along the
southern New England coast to the
offing of Delaware, and small num-
bers are found much further south
into the Gulf of Mexico. And the
redfish several hundred million
pounds are taken annually on our
side of the Atlantic, mostly in depths
of 20-150 fathoms. In our recent
exploratory fishing we caught it
along the southern slope of Georges
Bank down to about 350 fathoms.
As we worked westward the last
catch was made in the offing of
Martha's Vineyard, although we
made many hauls in 100-700 fathoms
as far southward as Virginia. As yet
we have no answer to why the red-
fish population stops cold where it
does. Neither depth, temperature, nor

The all-mouth or goosefish
has been known to swallow
seagulls and almost every-
thing else but geese.

HAHN

availability of food appear to give a
solution, but there must be some
factor which restricts the redfish to
waters east of the Martha's Vineyard
region.

Lobsters

Also, we have recently added to
our knowledge of the habitat of our
lobster. From the distant past up to
the present time millions of pounds
have been taken annually in our
coastal waters from New Jersey to
the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Occasion-
ally a few, mostly large, were
trawled offshore by the commercial
fleet, usually in less than about 70
fathoms and these were considered
strays from shoaler depths. In June
1948, enroute from Woods Hole to
Bermuda on the Woods Hole Ocean-
ographic vessel 'Caryn', I made an
otter trawl haul SSW of Martha's
Vineyard in 210 fathoms and indeed
was surprised to find in the
catch three small lobsters, for this
was the first evidence that lobster
occurred in depths well beyond 100
fathoms. To make a long story short,
subsequent exploratory trawling by
the Institution's vessels revealed a
substantial population of lobsters all
along the Continental Shelf slope
from the offing of eastern Georges
Bank to that of Chesapeake Bay,
chiefly in depths of 70-200 fathoms.

Soon thereafter, a commercial off-
shore fishery developed and has
continued up to the present time.

According .to our findings this off-
shore population is distinct and self-
supporting from that of the inshore
one, for it consists of all sizes of
lobsters from very small to very
large and there is as yet no evidence
that extensive migrations occur be-
tween inshore and offshore.

That this offshore population re-
mained undiscovered for so long a
time was due, in part at least, to the
iact: (a) Fishing boats, until recently,
were not equipped with bottom
trawling gear that would enable
them to fish much deeper than about
100 fathoms and (b) Such fishing as
was done along the fringe of the
Shelf in, say, 70 - 100 fathoms was
not promising enough to tempt fish-
ermen to explore greater depths.

Improvements in gear and the
utilization of electronic devices,
allowing for more efficient fishing
and for drastically cutting down the
time required for operations, have
been a great aid in the study of
fishes.

We have much to learn about
fishes in general. There is scarcely a
species concerning which we can
close the book. Fisheries biology has
merely been scratched, and this
brings to mind a quip made many
years ago by a Swedish crew mem-
ber of the U. S. Fisheries schooner
'Grampus', who said to Dr. Bigelow:
"The more you live the more by
yimminy you find out".

An edible red crab (Geryon)
found in large quantities off
New England at 75 fathoms
and deeper has not attracted
a commercial fishery.

Moscow visited

by Mary Sears

O

N 7 October I returned from a
ten-day meeting of the International
Council for the Exploration of the
Sea, held this year in Moscow. These
meetings, held annually since 1902,
afford oceanographers, especially
biological oceanographers and fish-
eries biologists an opportunity to
discuss mutual problems and plan
cooperative programs. Since the
United States had to decline the
invitation to join the Council just
after the war, the Institution has
frequently been asked to send an
observer to the annual meeting. This
was the sixth such meeting I had
attended since 1934.

This year the most recent member
to join the Council, the U.S.S.R., was
the host country. As relatively few
of the delegates had previously
visited Moscow, much of the time
was spent in becoming acquainted
and in visiting the laboratories of
the All Union Research Institute of
Marine Fisheries and Oceanography
(VNIRO) and the two sections of
the Institute of Oceanology of the
U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences. I
felt most fortunate in meeting so
many old friends of long standing
and in the exceedingly cordial re-
ception tendered by Russian col-
leagues, first met a year ago at the
International Oceanographic Con-
gress in New York.

It was most helpful also to meet
and discuss problems connected with
editing DEEP-SEA RESEARCH,
directly with the translators and
interpreters with whom I had been
corresponding. The Russian hydro-
grapher presented me with an
English-Russian Navigation Diction-
ary, just off the press, a scientist
gave me a two volume dictionary
and I had twelve dollars worth of
excess luggage because of the gen-
erosity of the Russian oceanogra-
phers in supplying me with their
most recent books and papers, some
of which had not yet arrived in the
library at Woods Hole.

In return, I presented the Institute
of Oceanology with the first copy of
the Institution's "Atlantic Ocean
Atlas" after first displaying it at a
session of the Council's Hydro-
graphic Committee. It was so well
received that a number of librarians
requested the Atlas within a day or
two of the delegates' return home.

A fisheries biologist, one of the
two women aboard the Russian
trawler that put into Atlantic City
last spring with a sick seaman
aboard, visited me in search of the
sources of data on the menhaden
and herring in the northwest Atlan-
tic. Her headquarters are at the
Baltic Research Institute of Marine
Fisheries and Oceanography in
Kaliningrad, but the work there is
not limited to the Baltic. Rather,
they fan out over the North Atlantic
to the Gulf Stream and even study
the menhaden haunting the inshore
waters along the entire eastern sea-
board of the United States.

'Mikhail Lomonosov', the research vessel of the Marine Hydrophysical Institute of the

Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R.

In contrast to the United States,
more than fifty per cent of the
oceanographers in the U.S.S.R. are
women, some even are directors of
laboratories. Their other character-
istic is their youth. About twenty-
five years ago, three outstanding
men, N. N. Zubov, V. V. Shuleikin
and V.N. Nikitin stimulated thirty
young students to study oceanogra-
phy. Twenty of these are still active
today, but many of those whose
work is known in the United States
graduated from the university with-
in the last ten years. They work
long and hard, usually spending at
least seven months consecutively at
sea each year, the women leaving
their small babies at home. On their
return, their data and material is
worked up and they are ready to
sit down and write their papers.
The program is so intensive that

vacations of six to eight weeks are
the rule. While a school teacher's
salary falls between that of a uni-
versity student and a factory worker,
an oceanographer, particularly when
he also holds a university appoint-
ment, holds an enviable position
making at least 48,000 rubles
($12,000) and possibly twice that
amount. The young married couples
between them do about as well.
Finally, while their research vessels
are much more commodious than
ours, their laboratories are every bit
as crowded. Five more large re-
search vessels are abuilding to be
added to the already existing fleet,
but the building program ashore
appears to be progressing more
slowly, largely, I suspect because of
the extreme need for new living
quarters after the destruction during
the war and the absence of home
construction for the past forty years.

10

Associates' News

Annual Dinner

HE Annual Dinner Meeting of the Associates' of the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution will be held in early February in New York,
probably at the American Museum of Natural History.

The guest speaker will be the noted Swiss scientist Jacques Piccard
who has made many dives in the Bathyscaphe conceived by his father,
Auguste Piccard. On January 23, 1959 Dr. J. Piccard accompanied by Lt.
D. Walsh, USN, went to a depth of 35,600 feet into the Mariana's Trench
near Guam.

The Bathyscaphe 'Trieste' return-
ing to the surface south of Capri
after a dive to a depth of 3,000
feet. Dr. Piccard will lecture
about his dives at the Associates'
Dinner next February.

Tons of Tuna!

November the 12th, six tons
of fish were taken by F. J. Mather III
on the R.V. 'Crawford' about 120
miles southeast of New York. Just
one day out of Woods Hole, Mr.
Mather set a Japanese long line at
the 1,000 fathom curve in the Hudson
Canyon. (39° 15' N., 71° 54' W.) Four
hours later he brought in 34 bluefin
tuna, ranging from 240 to 300 pounds,
four albacore of 15 pounds, one big-
eye tuna, four sharks and two fish
whose name was garbled in the radio
transmission. Two other fish were
lost. Seventeen of the bluefin tuna
were tagged and sent on their way.

OFFICIAL U.S. NAVY PHOTOGRAPH

It was not known how many
baskets and hooks of long line were
set out. The 'Crawford' has a total
length of six miles of line on board
to be set at a depth of 180 to 200 feet
below the sea surface.

Mr. Mather's cruise was aimed at
investigating the migratory pattern
of tuna and other game fishes. We
are awaiting his return with the
'Crawford' before reporting (in the
March issue) on the significance of
this catch and any others he may
have made during the cruise.

11

J. WALTER GREEN

Hurricane "Donna" which struck in September, surprised the 'Atlantis' and the 'Aries' at our
docks. Some of the Starboard plates of the 'Atlantis' were bent in, but otherwise the ships
escaped without damage. In this fine photograph by J. Walter Green it becomes clear why
there was some damage to the pier and further sinking of the foundation of the hydraulic

laboratory.

12

MUNNS

The research vessel 'Chain' at sea, photographed from the R.V. 'Crawford' during "Gulf
Stream" 1960, our multiple ship operation held earlier this year. The 'Chain' is towing a
series of thermistors at her stern to obtain a constant profile of water temperatures from

the surface to a depth of 450 feet.

13

ATLANTIC OCEAN ATLAS

OF

TEMPERATURE AND SALINITY
PROFILES AND DATA

FROM THE

INTERNATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL YEAR

OF 1957 - 1958

BY

F. C. FUGLISTER

Volume I of a series of oceanographic
atlases was published in October
1960 by the Institution as part of
our contribution to the International
Geophysical Year 1957-58. Prepared
by oceanographer F. C. Fuglister
and his associates, the book contains
46 large colored charts showing the
salinity and temperature of the
North and South Atlantic Ocean
from the surface to the bottom. The
ocean bottom obtained by precision
echo sounding also is shown on the
profiles. Eight other profiles in color
provide detailed temperature infor-
mation for the upper 500 feet of
water across the ocean at different
latitudes. It is in these upper layers
that most of the seasonal and geo-
graphical changes take place. The
data from which the charts were
drawn also are included in the atlas.

Measuring 12 x 17 inches, contain-
ing 210 pages and printed on paper
made to withstand the rigors of
shipboard use, the atlas was designed
both as a reference book and a
working tool for oceanographers,
fishery scientists and other students
of the sea.

Never before has oceanography had
such a complete three-dimensional
description available. The German
"Meteor" Atlas, hitherto the most
complete and remarkable publica-
tion dealt with the South Atlantic
only.

The observations for the atlas
were made between September 1954
and July 1959 on board our research
vessels 'Crawford' (Captain David
Casiles), 'Atlantis' 'Captains W. S.
Bray, A. D. Colburn, Jr. and E. J.
Mysona) and 'Chain' (Captain W. S.
Olivey), and on board the R.R.S.
'Discovery IF (Captains S. S. F. Dal-
gleish and J. Gray) of the (British)
National Institute of Oceanography.

This work has not been of a nature
exciting to the general public;
nevertheless, it represents a mile-
stone in our knowledge of the ocean.
It is of interest to note some of the
background of the preparation of
this atlas:

Some 40,000 miles of hydrographic
sections, not including the distances
traveled from home-port to home-
port. (665 degrees of Latitude and
Longitude, all figured at 60 miles
per degree).

14

The observations at sea on which
the atlas is based were made during
the four years by scientific parties,
totaling only 16 members from
Woods Hole. No British scientists
are included here. Figures denote
the number of cruises:

They were:

Wm. G. Metcalf 6, N. A. Rosa 5,
J. R. Barrett, Jr. 3, D. Densmore 3,
D. A. McGill 3, R. G. Munns 3, J. L.
Schilling 3, L. V. Worthington 3,
R. Olsen 2, and each on one cruise:
J. Chase, Wm. Dunkle, Jr., F. C.
Fuglister, R. A. Lufburrow, A. R.
Miller, A. C. Neumann and J. Valois
(M.B.L.).

Last, but not least, we should
mention the ships' personnel who
spent the four years being away
from home for even longer periods
than they usually are and, as always,
provided their unfailing cooperation
to "science".

For a year and a half the enormous
task of plotting and checking was
done by F. C. Fuglister and (Mrs.)
Eloise Soderland. Gale C. Pasley Jr.
directed the drafting and art work
with (Mrs.) Mary K. Minot design-
ing the book. John W. Stimpson
devised the method of reproducing
the bathythermograph records.

An edition of 3,000 copies was
printed and distributed to libraries
around the world. The work was
financed by the National Science
Foundation in support of its IGY
Interdisciplinary Research Program.
Copies may be purchased from the
Institution at $11.00 postpaid.

Work is now in progress on Vol-
ume II which will present world-
wide deep-ocean data.

J.H.

* See: Oceanus, Vol. V, nos. 3 and 4,
"IGY issue"

The "raw material" behind the Atlantic Ocean Atlas. The scientific party o/b the
R.V. 'Crawford' ready to make IGY observations eastward along 40° North and westward
along 16° North Latitude. From left to right: (standing) D. A. McGill. J. Chase,
F. C. Fuglister, N. A. Rosa and G. W. Metcalf. (kneeling) D. Densmore and R. Olson.

15

The area covered by observations for the IGY Atlas is shown on this chart.
The majority of the transatlantic passages were made by the small (125 feet)
'Crawford'. Not shown are the tracks made by the ships going to and from
the beginning of each section. Many additional observations and cross-checks

were made during these passages.

I

"Atlantic Ocean Atlas" Mr.
F. C. Fuglister has presented, in
handsome bound form with colored
plates, the vertical profiles of tem-
perature and salinity made by ships
of the British National Institute of
Oceanography and of the Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution dur-
ing the International Geophysical
Year. The Atlas helps fulfill the

need for a systematic presentation of
oceanographic data.

During the early years of ocean-
ography — up to about 1930 —
oceanographic serial data from single
expeditions were usually rather fully
documented and published in extenso,
as many-volume expedition reports.
Often atlases were included in these
reports.

16

Starting in 1930 the field work in
the United States and Japan became
more or less continuous, rather than
centered around individual expedi-
tions, and full publication and dis-
cussion ceased. The data were
published in tabular form, in annuals
like the Bulletin Hydrographique,
but, without presentation in graphic
form, it remained essentially buried
in a maze of figures. The vertical
profile is one of the most effective
forms of presentation, and Mr.
Fuglister's Atlas will be of great use
to scholars.

We can hope that comparable
summaries of the oxygen data, of
^f, specific volume, of dynamic cur-
rent calculations, etc., will, in due
time, also appear. Whatever the
editorial reservations of those pre-
senting the IGY data may be re-
garding the accuracy of the oxygen
data, for example, it is certain that
the withholding of them will ulti-
mately do more harm than presen-
tation in a somewhat dubious form.

Henry Stommel

The brave little 'Crawford'

Mr. Metcalf fastens a Nansen bottle to the wire
at one of the more than 850 IGY 'stations'.

17

Making hydrographic stations, lower-
ing BT's, marking echo-sounder re-
cords, correcting thermometer read-
ings, titrating salinities and oxygens',
day and night for weeks on end is not
always a great joy. The biting wit
of Conrad Neumann's numerous
drawings provided relaxation during
the many weary weeks.

IGY
Report

18

IGY Atlas

BY DANA DENSMORE

o,

'CTOBER I960 saw the publica-
tion of a project that has taken
nearly four years to complete: "The
Atlantic Ocean Atlas of Tempera-
ture and Salinity Profiles and Data".

Working within the framework of
the International Geophysical Year,
1957-1958 ships of the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution, in associ-
ation with the British National Insti-
tute of Oceanography, ranged the
Atlantic with a series of transverse
profiles from 58° North to 32° South
Latitude designed to outline the
oceanic circulation. Two major meri-
dional sections were also made in
the western North Atlantic and four
others in the Caribbean.

The research vessels, 'Crawford',
'Atlantis', 'Chain' and the R.R.S.
'Discovery, II' made the nearly 850
hydrographic stations covered dur-
ing this period, a particularly hom-
ogeneous effort inasmuch as all the
observations were made by the same
small group employing the same
instruments and techniques, under
the supervision of L. V. Worthing-
ton, W. G. Metcalf, A. R. Miller and
F. C. Fuglister.

The four South Atlantic sections
retraced four of those done thirty
years previously by the German
research vessel 'Meteor', affording
an excellent time-scale comparison,
while many of our own stations were
spot-checked on later cruises.

This was only the beginning.
Countless hours of sheer drudgery
were necessary to mold this great
mass of data into a coherent pre-
sentation; bathythermograph traces,
position plotting, corrected bathy-
metry, thermometer corrections,
temperature and salinity profiling,
ending finally with the painstaking
drafting and endless checking of
galley proofs.

There was much accomplished
that has not been included in this
Atlas: Carbon 14 work, productivity
analyses, meteorological observa-
tions, oxygen and phosphorous samp-
ling and sediment coring, and --an
immeasurable benefit in contacts
with others in the marine sciences
up and down both shores of the
Atlantic.

A sea comes to wash the hydrographic winch on
the stern of the 'Crawford'.

R. V. Chain's cruise

to

Northwestern Europe

The R. V. 'Chain' (Captain E. H. Killer)
returned on November 12th from a 4*/2 months
cruise in northern European waters. The inter-
national co-operation which was started on a
small scale some years ago blossomed this
summer. Fourteen scientists from six European
nations took part in the work on board the
'Chain' while joint programs were carried out
with the Norwegian vessels 'Helland Hansen'
and 'H. U. Sverdrup', the British R.R.S. Discov-
ery IF and the Scottish 'Explorer'.

The primary purpose of the cruise was the
geological and geophysical investigation of the
bottom in northwestern European waters and
between the Bahamas and Scotland. Two hydro-
graphic investigations were made also. One by
Dr. J. B. Hersey in a study of the polar front in
the Norwegian Sea, the other by L. V. Worth-
ington, together with the Scottish 'Explorer',
examining the outflow of Arctic water over the
Iceland-Faroe Ridge.

Chief scientists during various legs of the
cruise were: Dr. E.- E. Hays, Dr. J. B. Hersey,
L. V. Worthington and Dr. R. H. Backus.

Dr. E. E. Hays
in his arctic uniform

Surrounded by the steep, bleak hills of Vestmanhavn, Faroe Islands, the 'Chain' is moored
outside the 'Explorer' of the Marine Laboratory, Scottish Home Department (Aberdeen).
The other vessel is the 'Ernest Holt' of the Fisheries Laboratory in Lowestoft, England.

20

•^jPT-""!**11

During the international
meetings at Helsinki, the
R. V. 'Chain' (foreground)
kept company with two
German oceanographic ves-
sels, the 'Job. L. Kriiger'
(East Germany) and the
small Forschungskutter 'Her-
mann Wattenberg', of the
University of Kiel (West
(Germany).

CAULFIELD

The afterdeck of the 'Chain' beyond the

Arctic Circle or: "Oh, for a cruise to the

Caribbean."

CAULFIELD

In multiple ship operations, transfers of men and equipment generally are made by

rubber raft. Here, a load of frozen water samples for total phosphate analysis are

brought from the 'Chain' to the 'Explorer' rolling heavily in a swell.

MUNNS

21

*

These bottom photographs were
made during the 4Va month's cruise
of the 'Chain', while over the rift in
the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, at a depth
of 3700 meters (± 11,200 feet).

The object on the end of a hose
and wire is a compass.

'Chain' cruise #13

Photographs
of the

Mid-Atlantic Ridge

at

50° 43' North and 29° 47 West

Soundings

Atomic submarine brings
Polar Sea plankton

OOGEOGRAPHY concerns itself
with the understanding of the geo-
graphical distribution of animal
species. In the oceans it is believed
that environmental factors such as
temperature and/or salinity are im-
portant in deciding the distribution
of zooplankton animals.

One of the fundamental questions
in plankton zoogeography has con-
cerned the interrelationship of the
surface planktonic species found in the
two great oceans the Atlantic and
Pacific. Obviously, somewhere under
the great expanse of the Arctic ice
floes planktonic animal species be-
longing to either oceans intermingle.
Such intermingling, if found, would
undoubtedly represent a biological
boundary between the oceans which
may or may not be reflected by other
oceanographic barriers.

During the International Geo-
physical Year 1957-58, attempts were
made to locate the biological bound-
ary by sampling for plankton from
the Arctic ice islands. Under these
conditions plankton nets had to be
lowered through holes in the ice and
towed vertically through the water
column. As a result the area covered
by such sampling was quite restric-
ted and the amount of plankton
retained during the haul was quite
small. Thus the problem remained
btaining sufficiently large num-
bers of samples beneath the ice on
a definite traverse between the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The
obvious sampling vehicle was one of
the Navy's new atomic submarines.

Dr. S. Galler of the Office of Naval
Research provided the necessary
impetus and funds for the develop-
ment of a continuous plankton samp-
ling apparatus for operation aboard
submarines. Mr. A. Vine of this
Institution spearheaded the develop-
ment with the cooperation of C. S.
Yentsch and G. D. Grice. Mr. R. L.
Rather of the Commercial Engineer-
ing Company of Houston performed
the phenomenal feat of engineering
and building the apparatus within
one month.

The continuous plankton sampling
apparatus consists of a rotary turn-
table fitted with 24 nets 12 inches
long and % inch in diameter. Water
is passed through the nets by the
forward motion of the submarine,
each net is allowed to filter for one
hour, after which a timing mechan-
ism in the apparatus rotates another
net into the filtering position. The
sampling apparatus is completely
self-contained, designed to be opera-
tional for long periods and to with-
stand extreme pressures and cold
temperatures.

We were able to test the apparatus
on the recent cruise under the Arctic
by the atomic submarine 'Seadragon.'
During this trip the sampler collec-
ted some 204 samples. Dr. Grice is
now in the process of identifying
and classifying the organisms, and
thus it would seem possible that a
highly interesting question in plank-
ton zoogeography is in the process
of being settled. It should be noted
that this represents a "first" in
plankton sampling from a submarine
and also stands out as a classic
example of the scientific information
that can be obtained by the cooper-
ative efforts of oceanographers and
submariners.

C.S.Y and G.D.G.

24

MBL WHOI LIBRARY

UH 17Z3

Associates

of the

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

(A private, non-profit, research organization)

HE ASSOCIATES of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are a group
of individuals, corporations and other organizations who, because of their love
for the sea and interest in science and education, support and encourage the
research and related activities of the Institution.

Membership dues in the Associates are as follows:

Member $50

Contributing Member $100

Patron $500

Life Member $1,000

Corporate Member $1,000

Sustaining Corporate Member $5,000 or more.

All contributions and dues are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.

NOEL B. McLEAN. President

JOHN A. GIFFORD, Secretary

RONALD A. VEEDER, Executive Assistant

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

CHARLES F. ADAMS JOHN A. GIFFORD

BENJAMIN H. ALTON PAUL HAMMOND

WINSLOW CARLTON NOEL B. McLEAN

RACHEL L. CARSON HENRY S. MORGAN

W. VAN ALAN CLARK MALCOLM S. PARK

PRINCE S. CROWELL GERARD SWOPE, JR.

F. HAROLD DANIELS THOMAS J. WATSON, JR.

JAMES H. WICKERSHAM

Contents

OF H. B. BIGELOW AND FISHES

by Wm. C. Sc/iroeder

MOSCOW VISITED

by Mary Sears

THE ATLANTIC OCEAN ATLAS
POLAR SEA PLANKTON

ASSOCIATED NEWS
TONS OF TUNA
'CHAIN' CRUISE NO. 13
BOTTOM PHOTOGRAPHS

9

14
24

11

11

20

22

Published by the

WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION

WOODS HOLE, MASSACHUSETTS