Page:Polar Exploration - Bruce - 1911.djvu/165

Rh of these delicate nets within the pack is by no means easy, and cannot very often be carried out. Through a hole in a continuous field of ice, such a net can be lowered with relative safety, but in the drifting pack it may be very difficult and often quite impossible. The successful accomplishment of this delicate operation by the Scotia demonstrates to what a state of proficiency the officers, staff, and crew had attained in the handling of this and other deep-sea gear, and it is a matter of deep regret that such a ship, on which so much thought, ingenuity, and money had been expended, had to be sold for "an old song," and such a set of men, who had come to know how to carry on not only such important deep-sea exploration, but to pursue it in high latitudes within the pack ice, had to part once more, to scatter all over the face of the globe, never again to meet together to carry on such important work for the advancement of science, which is always for the good of mankind.

The handling of a trawl among the pack is difficult, even dangerous, on account of the heaviness of the gear and the great and often sudden strains that occur. With the large fine tow-nets there is no danger, but the apparatus—winch, wire, and net itself—are all of such a light description that, if the wire or net gets entangled on pieces of pack ice, they