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402 years, construction of vessel at Dal- muir. Manchester Liners, Ltd, £140,000, 10 construction of two vessels at years, Glasgow. Houlder Line, Ltd. £150,000, 10 years, construction of vessel at Glas- gow. British & African Steam Navigation Co., £600,000, 5 years, purchase of plant, Navy Calls Scientists To Study Ocea OR a constructive survey leading to practical and profitable ends, and not for highly technical and in- volved academic discussions, a notable congress has been convened by the secretary of the navy in Washington. The congress is composed of experts from the various government depart- ments and scientific institutions; men with authoritative knowledge of a wide and diversified character, public spirited enthusiasts in many aspects of knowl- edge, leaders in scientific research. They have been gathered together under the leadership of Secretary Wilbur to con- sider the proposed naval scientific ex- pedition which it is hoped to organize for research work in oceanography. The congress will determine in what way departments of the government, sci- entific institutions, colleges, and others may be benefited through such research work; what each of these may contribute toward such an expedition; what type of vessel and what scientific personnel is to be employed. The congress was formally opened by Secretary Wilbur, who reviewed briefly his aims in calling the congress and stat- ed in the course of his remarks that “this is the time in which the search for truth is the characteristic develop- ment, and in the oceans of the earth there aré still unsounded depths and mysteries yet undiscovered. It is in the effort to co-ordinate the various re- sources here represented that you are asked to gather.” The recently developed sonic depth finder which furnishes a ready means of measuring the depths of the ocean with great rapidity using reflection of sound from the bottom instead of the cumbersome method of the wire, makes it possible now to determine the forma- tion and shape of the ocean basins and promises to revolutionize investigations in oceanography. Plant and animal resources of the oceans enormously exceed those of the land areas, not only because the water area forms five-sevenths of the total surface of the earth, but also because life in the oceans may be found in suc- MARINE REVIEW machinery, and materials in Great Bri- tain for construction of vessels at Bel- fast. Hopemount Shipping Co., Ltd. £150,- 000, 8 years, construction of vessels at Glasgow and Wallsend-on-Tyne. Silvercedar Shipping Co., Ltd., £55,- 000, 8 years, construction of vessel at Glasgow. Klaveness Dampskibsaktieslskab, CAPT. FREDERICK B. BASSETT Hydrographer of the United States navy and newly elected president of the congress on research in oceanography cessive layers, one above the other, each layer having its own particular flora and fauna. The utilization of this enor- mous reservoir of food supply has hard- ly begun. Increased knowledge of these resources and the development of the means of making them available for human consumption, are now appreciated as necessary. The proposed research expedition of the navy promises far teaching, practical and profitable results. Capt. F. B. Bassett, hydrographer of the navy, has been elected permanent president of the congress and Lieut. Commander George E. Brandt, secretary- general. The following executive com- mittee has been named and will hold frequent meetings until the business of the congress has been accomplished: Captain Bassett, ex-officio chairman; Lieut. Commander Brandt, ex-officio sec- retary; Capt.. R. O.. Crisp, .U. S.. coast guard; Lieut. Col. C. A. Seoane, signal corps, U S, army; Dr. George W. Lit- tlehales, hydrographic engineer, hydro- graphic office; Dr. David White, senior geologist, U. S. geological survey; Dr. October, 1924 £128,000, 5 years, purchase of plant, machinery, and materials in Great Bri- tain for construction of vessels at Bel- fast. Klaveness Dampskibsaktieselskab, £128,000, 8 years, construction of ves- sel at Glasgow. Northern Petroleum Tank Steamship Co., Ltd., £72,500, 7 years, construction of vessel at Sunderland. enna enn E. D. Ball, director of scientific work, department of agriculture; Dr. H. B. Bigelow, director of museum of compar- ative zoology, Harvard university, and member of scientific staff of the bureau of fisheries; Austin H. Clark, division of echinodermis, Smithsonian institution; Dr. William Bowie, committee on Pacific investigations of the division of foreign relations of the National Research coun- cil; Capt. J. P. Ault, chief of section of ocean work, department terrestrial magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Wash- ington, and commander of the non- magnetic ship CARNEGIE. Captain Bassett was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., Jan. 4, 1869, graduated from public schools and Polytechnic institute, Brooklyn, and from the naval academy, Annapolis, in 1888. He served in all parts of the world in all grades of the navy. He was on the U. S. S. Marietta in the Spanish war and commanded the U.S. S. Utaw in Irish waters in the World war. He always has taken an active interest in scientific work. He surveyed the harbors of Boston and Pen- sacola, Fla, and the coast of Maine in the U. S. S. BraKe and conducted scientific researches off the coasts of Lower California for the hydrographic office in the U. S. S. Tuetis. He was made hydrographer of the navy, Jan. 9, 1922. Committees Push Efforts for Marine Standards Efforts to develop standards which will enable American shipping to operate more efficiently, were advanced in Sep- tember by a series of meetings in New York and Philadelphia of experts who have been devoting considerable study to the many items in which at present there is no uniformity. Four of the New York meetings were by subject com- mittees, devoting their attention to a single phase of this huge undertaking, while the fifth was a gathering of the executive board of the American Ma- rine Standards committee. The division of simplified practice, department of: