WONDER CRAFT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 301, 20 December 1928, Page 8

WONDER CRAFT.

THE DANA AND HER MISSION.

LAST WORD IK MARINE RESEARCH.

SOME CLEVER APPARATUS.

"H.M.s. Challenger, which visited these shores in 1874, was the first word in marine research, and the Dana is the last word," was the way Mr. A. if. Hefford, Chief Inspector of Fisheries, summed up the trim little trawler Dana, that is now tied up at the Central wharf, where she is the cynosure of all eyes. The distinctive Danish flag, her whiteygrey hull, and the festoons of nets that Hne her bulwarks give the little vessel a character of her own, and even to a very superficial observer she seems full of officers and men.

But perhaps very few of the loungers who have been so interested in the visitor would understand the blue pennant she fliea at the main. The cluster of stars worked on it is the Great Bear, the constellation which has been chosen as the flag of the international council that undertakes research work in connection with the fisheries, the members of the council being all the important maritime countries of the Old World.

The Dana is a long way from home on her fascinatingly interesting task of learning all about fishes, where they breed, what they feed on, and the tracks of their migrations, but at the same time she is not so very far after all. Every night she can talk direct to Copenhagen, and already Christmas greetings have been exchanged between the ship's people and their friends in the Fatherland.

The Dana's people smile when they tell how Copenhagen reports so many degrees of frost and snow for the festive season —which is kept up with great vim in Denmark —while th# wanderers are basking in the brilliant sunshine and warmth of New Zealand at the other side of the globe. And in telling about these talks with the homeland Mr. A. Mow, the.! telegraphist, shows with the aid of a globe that the shortest way from New Zealand to Denmark is actually over the top of the North Pole— which to the layman is etrange, but true.

Multmn in Parvo. The Dana seems full of people, and most delightful hosts they are, from their enthusiastic head, Professor J. Schmidt, down to the A.B.'s. The members of the staff are surprisingly young, and they have very charming manners, which ia not surprising, as the officers are picked men from the Danish navy and the scientists are all highly-edu-cated men.

Tireless Research. At regular intervals when the ship is at sea certain nets are lowered, others tow all the time, temperatures are taken, samples of everything are kept, the most detailed particulars are duly logged, and "from information received" these scientific people will later on be able to make deductions about the lives and ways oi fishes that the layman can understand. But it is only by the tireless, exact and wonderfully complete researches that the men on the Dana are making right round the world that the ultimate facts can be ascertained.

Why should the Danes go to the bother of fitting out this expensive expedition; and why should they bother to come all the way round the globe? These are probably questions that the man in the street will ask himself. In the Old World, where half a dozen nationalities fish the same water—the North Sea, for instance—it is only by international action that something definite can be done in the way of regulation, conservation, etc. Denmark is vitally interested in the fisheries, and that is why she sends round the world the best equipped ship that has ever visited these waters on the same errand. It is only by gathering information from- an wide an area es possible that facts can be arrived at.

Wireless Sounding. If the visitor were asked what struck him most after going through the ship— the snug but comfortable quarters, the museum full of strange sea things in bottles, the wireless room which has kept in touch with Copenhagen ever since she sailed, the trawls and the very varied gear—he would probably say the sounding apparatus. Standing in a case something like an outsize grandfather's clock there is a piece of mechanism whicK does away entirely with the heaving of the lead, and if necessary could tell the depth of the sea for every foot of the way. Such a minute record, however, is not necessary, and the Dana people are content with a sounding every two hours. Lieutenant Greve is quite enthusiastic about this wonderful machine, which is ,of German-American make. In the bottom of the ship there are fitted diaphragms to which are imparted electrical impulses. These impulses or sounds penetrate the sea, are reflected from the bottom, exactly like an echo, and the listener can tell by the time the echo takes to reach him the exact depth, the calculation being worked out by means of a dial in the face of the machine. It is simplicity itself, and arrives at a result which under the old style of sounding was laborious in the extreme.

The Staff. The scientists and officers of the Dana are: Leader of the expedition, Professor Jobs. Schmidt, D.Sc., Ph.D. ; scientists, Poul Jespersen, Ph.D., zoologist; N. C. Andersen, surgeon, scientific assistant; A. Bruun, M.Sc, zoologist; H. Thomsen, M.Sc., hydrographer; E. Nielsen, M.Sc., botanist.

Officers: H. Christensen, captain; S. Greve, first lieut.; C. Ries, second lieut.; P. Vogt, chief engineer; N. Sejrup, second engineer; K. Frohn, third engineer; A. Mou, telegraphist.