Hewlett's letter on Carnegie stationery with house flag, 1913.

“It is beyond any power to describe the frenzy of the wind, or the madness and grandure [sic] of the gigantic waves ... The watch officer was twice swept from his feet and washed about the deck.  Our Victrola, which has successfully maintained its dignified seat in the library for over four years, was bodily hurled across the cabin.  Its destruction was complete.”

So begins DTM physicist Clarence Hewlett’s dramatic account of the final leg of a three-year, 93,000-mile cruise on the research vessel Carnegie in 1913.  Hewlett’s 28-page letter, written to a college friend while at sea, was discovered recently on eBay by David Chesanow of Olympia, Washington.  Chesanow — a rare book dealer and collector of nautical memorabilia, particularly letters and documents — identified Hewlett from a 2008 story on the DTM website about a donation of Hewlett’s personal papers to the DTM archives.  He explained, “I purchased the letter with the intention of donating it, as I think it belongs with the rest of the collection.”  Thanks to Chesanow’s generosity, the letter is now accessible to researchers visiting the Broad Branch Road campus.

Hewlett’s letter records his impressions not only of marine geophysical research but of the people and places he encountered ashore. He recounted a memorable dinner conversation with one individual he met at Falmouth, England, “a commercial traveler [who] was much interested to know about our work on the Carnegie. Finally he frankly stated that he could not see the good or justification of so much abstract scientific work.  I have talked with so many people that hold somewhat the same opinion that I was loaded with arguments on that score, and soon settled him on that point.”

The challenge of communicating science never ends.

(Article by Shaun Hardy)