Scientific Expeditions
p. 31 · Read in the full issue
One Cancelled —One to Proceed
OWING to the outbreak of war, a scientific expedition, which would have been one of the most import ant and interesting ever sent into the Pacific, has been cancelled.
The expedition was organised by the National Geographic Society of America, in co-operation with the University of Virginia and the United States Govern ment. It was to have sailed from San Francisco in September in a specially equipped turbine vessel, and it would have set up temporary observing stations on about 20 islands in the Central and Southern Pacific, and would have carried out a variety of investigations over an area of about four and a half million square miles. One of its principal objects was to explore the great depths of ocean with Sonic sounding machines, and to investigate the deepest ocean with an in genious apparatus invented at the Car negie Institute in Washington. With this, cores of solid mud or other material can be extracted from the ocean bottom at depths below 5,000 fathoms. Investiga tions were also to be made into terres trial magnetic differences and it was planned to do other work in geophysics, geology and marine biology.
It is hoped that when peace returns the project will be reviewed and the ex pedition will take place.
Rare Birds And Specimens
Another American expedition—this one sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History and the University of Columbia—will continue with its plans and the expedition will sail from America for the Central Pacific in a three-masted schooner named “Director II.” early in December. The expedition plans to col lect rare birds and geological specimens and record primitive music among all the islands, from Fiji in the east right across to New Guinea in the west. The schooner will carry a light aeroplane for survey work and to assist in maintaining com munications.
Members of the expedition will include Mrs. Bruce Fahnestock, a stockbroker’s widow, aged 55, and her two sons, all of whom have previously been with scien tific expeditions in the Pacific.