Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 118, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 May 1915 — DREDGES USED BY FISHERMEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DREDGES USED BY FISHERMEN

Apparatus Used to Bring Unknown Treasures of the Depths to * the Naturalist There are two styles of dredges by means of which the animals and fish of the great depths are captured—the nets which are dragged over the bottom and those trawled just below the surface, says Popular Mechanics. The bottom dredge consists of a pair of heavy iron running frames connected by one or two cross-bars, 12 feet in length. Fastened to this frame is a cone-shaped bag 30 feet long, made of heavy web. the end of which is closed by a lashing. The dredge is hung over the starboard side of the ship on a lonk boom and by means of a steel cable is slowly lowered to the ocean bottom. A dial indicates the number feet of wire out, and a pointer on a scale shows the strain, which often amounts to five or six tons, upon the cable. When the dredge has reached the bottom the ship steams ahead at about two-thirds of a mile an hour, dragging the net over the ocean floor. It remains down for an hour or so, and is then slowly lifted to the surface. The deepest haul which the Albatross has ever made was five and a half miles, and 4t was 17 hours from the time the dredge was first lowered until it again appeared. The net is towed beside the ship for a few minutes,

then it‘is swung on board, the lashings at the botfom unfastened and the contents dropped upon a table. The ice-cold mud is carefully washed away and the specimens carried to the laboratory. It is like opening a Christmas package for a naturalist to watch the dredge come to the surface bringing unknown treasures from the hidden depths. Strange fish are found which carry incandescent lamps far in front of them to light their way in the inky blackness miles below the surface; others with phosphorescent spots along their sides which must glow like the portholes of a steamer at night; still others with their eyes upon long stalks or with no eyes at all. And, poor things, when from the terrible pressure to which they have become accustomed, their eyes often pop from their heads and their stomachs turn inside out

“Say Nothing About the Candles."