David and an Albatross.
The bridge, or main part of the ship, is built up of five decks, and the members of the expedition have cabins here. The crew’s sleeping quarters are in the after part of the ship, and many of the men have hammocks hung up under the awning there, in which they sleep at night, or lie around in the day time.
On the port side of the ship there is a special boom that goes out over the side. On ships the word “port” means left, and “starboard” means right. You never say back or front, but “aft” or “forward.”
This boom has two railings tied to the bottom plank so one can walk out there and fish or haul in nets or go down the rope ladder. [[7]]Sometimes when the ship rolls a lot the end goes right under the water. And out from the bow a pulpit is hung, a strong wire cage-like thing in which we can stand for harpooning or catching floating objects as we pass. To get down to the pulpit you climb down a rope ladder. When it’s rough it’s pretty exciting.
In the forward part of the ship there are two rooms fitted out as shops, one belonging to Bill Merriam the general handy man, who always mends the nets, shapes a new dredge, puts another seat in one of the rowboats, makes a lobster pot or fixes the motor boats. The other is a workshop for Serge the taxidermist and for Dwight Franklin the sculptor. Dwight makes wax moulds and plaster casts of fishes and preserves them, as well as making drawings and paintings.
Isabel Cooper is the scientific artist. She has been on many other expeditions and made many wonderful pictures. On this trip she [[8]]did over two hundred water color drawings of fish.
In the Pulpit at the Bow.
The Arcturus has two huge cables, one seven miles long, for hauling in the big trawls. These are put down over the side and held out while the ship goes slowly along at half speed. Sometimes the cable goes out as much as three miles and often the sea is over a mile deep below us.