PART V - SUMMARY OF OPERATIONS (CONT) d. The wire vibrated when under load in the water. This phenomenon was not experienced with the former wire. This is not necessarily an adverse effect but it possibly could cause inadvertent premature release of the messengers and premature reversing of the Nansen bottles. (d) Chemistry Instrumentation. Except for minor problems setting the spectrophotometer up and pairing cells for nutrient determinations, the chemical analyses went smoothly; the data are considered to be of high quality. (e) Biological instrumentation. 1. A midwater trawling winch installed just prior to sailing provided the much needed capability for conducting micronecton tows. However, a problem does exist. The cruise specifications required that the tow be conducted at a 5 knot speed so that a depth of 200 meters could be obtained by letting out no more than 800 meters of cable. To stream and retrieve this amount of cable required 43 minutes and the ROCKAWAY cannot operate at 5 knots for this period of time. It was necessary to proceed at 6.2 knots which resulted in: a. The desired depth not being reached. As measured by a mechanical BT attached to the net frame the depths attained varied from 130 to 160 meters. b. delicate specimens were damaged even though the ship was stopped while inhaling the last 100 meters of cable so that the catch would not be dragged through the propeller wash. 2. Although hampered by the lack of required steady two knot ship speed, oblique tows, conducted from the hydro platform amidships, went well except in areas of strong subsurface currents which carried the nets unavoidably beneath the ship so that the desired 45° wire angle could not be maintained while trying to maneuver away from the nets. Rough weather caused the loss of one double net rig when its bridle parted under the sudden impact loading imposed by heavy rolling. While these conditions persisted an additional four tows were not made for fear of losing the spare rig. (f) Pigment and productivity instrumentation. 1. The BCF Moseley recorder, connected to the Turner Fluorometer and designed to record continuous near surface chlorophyll measurements while underway, functioned erratically throughout the cruise. Hours were spent trying to determine the malfunction, but since no maintenance or trouble shooting manual was provided with the instrument, all work was fruitless. Although a continuous record of the fluorometer readings was lacking, periodic notation of the fluorometer readings were logged on the Moseley recorder chart to give a semi-continuous record of near surface chlorophyll.