We were provided with the best sounding apparatus, thanks to the assistance of the United States Navy, and with an equally efficient winch, water-bottles, and thermometers for hydrographical surveys, enabling us to work at any depth. The first bearing mentioned with each station marks the position of the ship at the commencement of the load, and these second bearings indicate the position at the close of the load. We are deeply indebted to the United States Navy Hydrographic Office for the preparation of the accompanying chart.
This was almost a water voyage, due to the fact that the trawl was lowered while the ship was practically standing still, causing the heavy frame, even with its tail weight, to sink faster than the net, with the result that when the frame became stuck at anchor on the bottom, the tail weight with the net overlapped and closed the opening of the dredge. When we landed the net it turned out that one of the otter boards had been lost and the trawl completely destroyed. The dragnet apparently hit the heavy mud bottom and filled with enough mud to completely tear off the fabric.
While the final catch was in progress, a few Carachodon sharks were playing around the stern of the ship. The sludge came up clean, but at the bottom of the belt were a number of glass sponges, some worm tubes, a few deep sea fish and an excellent batch of molluscs. It yielded only a few ascidians, some hydroids and corallines, a crinoid arm, and a worm, with most of the sac torn out.
When the 6-foot beam trawl was launched at 11:15 a.m., the west point of Desecheo Island bore 46° and the northern headland bore 46°.
NO. I 1ST JOHNSON EXPEDITION: STATIONS BARTSCH II
Thehaul yielded two species of stalked crinoids; many comatulid crinoids; multitude of echinoids; brittle stars, including some astrophytons; corals; hydroids; sponges; other molluscs. When the 6m beam trawl was lowered at 4:00 p.m., the west point of Desecheo Island bore 40° and Cape Mone N. When the haul was completed, the east point of Monito Island was 275° and the west point of Mona Island was 205°.
We devoted the greater part of the day to sounding a 5-mile square in the Mona Channel in the hope that the information thus obtained as to the bottom topography might assist us in our dredging operations. It yielded many shallow water features, covering almost all the marine flora and fauna of the region.
NO. I 1ST JOHNSON EXPEDITION: STATIONS UARTSCH I3
NO. I 1ST JOHNSON EXPEDITION: STATIONS BARTSCH I5
At our anchorage near this station, soon after dark, a tiger shark ten feet in length took the hook and was dispatched with a rifle; later in the evening it was attacked by another shark, apparently of the same species, but of considerably larger size. The observer stated that it tried to bite the stomach of the dead shark and later one of the fins. Part of the evening at this anchorage was devoted to fishing with submarine lights and at the gangplank, which produced a number of small fish, some larvae and other adults.
After breakfast a trip was made to the north shore opposite our anchorage, where several birds were shot. In the afternoon we took a launch and a boat and crossed to the other side of the bay, where we examined the edge of the mangroves and later a little of the higher mountain region, collecting a number of shells and other forms.
NO. I 1ST JOHNSON EXPEDITION : STATIONS BARTSCH 1
The haul resulted in the capture of several sponges, hydroids, brittle stars, sea urchins, crustaceans and some molluscs. Despite the fact that this is one of the poorest places for life on the coast of Puerto Rico, due to the end of volcanic ash, we got pretty good results, catching one.
NO. I 1ST JOHNSON EXPEDITION : STATIONS BARTSCH I9
The corer containing a cardboard tube was then thrown overboard, creating a short core of thick pasty clay. The catch yielded a number of deep sea fish, some very brilliantly colored crustaceans, two octopuses and a small number of molluscs. While we were making the last catch, a shark over four inches long, with a basal tail notch like that of a tiger shark, was taken; parts of it.
We anchored opposite Icacos Cay for the night and after dark rri^ed a small collection of fish, crustaceans and worms, using the cargo light and submarine light and the large circle net, as well as dip nets. During the night a ii|-foot shark weighing 660, pounds was caught; we got it on the hook the next morning. Weber and the author went to Lobos Island and made a collection of coastal species of molluscs, crustaceans and other forms.
NO. I 1ST JOHNSON EXPEDITION : STATIONS BARTSCH 21
Weber and the writer visited Flamingo Lake in the interior of Culebra Island, which we were told was teeming with ducks. There was also a huge flock of Yellowlegs, a smaller number of Grebes, a few Spotted Jumpers and the usual number of native landbird species, as well as Fighting Hawks, Brown Pelicans etc. The day being calm and the sea almost as smooth as glass, we decided to try out our Nansen water bottles and double sided thermometers.
A small circular dredge, with a bucket-like rim and handle frame an inch wide and a foot in diameter, with a double net 2^ feet long, one spool and the other ^-inch strap, is up to 3,000 let down the fathom. On moving in it was found that the net did hit the bottom, but unfortunately the wire cable was too abundantly supplied and buckled, so that a large amount of it had to be abandoned due to the buckling. When it was towed in, it was found that all the equipment had been ripped from the shackles and lost.
When another 3-foot dram was put out to sea at 11:51, Culebrita Light bore 196° and the northwest point of St. the thick belt carried several rock fragments which are composed almost exclusively of pteropod shells. This haul, made in 270 to 330 feet, was one of the best of the voyage, bringing up some large deep-sea fish as well as smaller species; some excellent molluscs, among them many Xenophora longleyi; worms; sea urchin; brittle stars; and large pink-red holothurians.
This haul yielded many deep sea fish, some fine hydroids, echinoderms, sponges, many crustaceans and some molluscs. When the otter trawl was lowered at 14:25, the center of Tobago Island was rotating 193° and the western end was Jost Van Dyke. During this haul the battery indicated that we were stuck, and when we roped to the surface it was found that only the bridle of the trawl was present, and the planks and net had been torn away.
When the Chesapeake Bayoyster bore down at 8:53 a.m. Morro Castle Light bore 111° and west end of Salinas Island 136°. We had lined the oyster-trunk chained with a ^-inch strap, and the trunk brought a bag with a bottom, containing a multitude of molluscs, crustaceans, crinoids, sponges, and other forms. By the time the excavation reached the surface, most of the material had washed out of the bag, but there were plenty of fish, molluscs, crustaceans, echinoderms, worms and hydroids.
The material was largely washed out of the dredger again, but many molluscs, brittle stars, anemones and other forms remained. At this station on the north side of the deep a depth of 2,940 fathoms was blown.
NO. I 1ST JOHNSON EXPEDITION : STATIONS BARTSCH 3I
