Scripps Institution of Oceanography

CAPRICORN was the fourth of a series of oceanographic expeditions into the deep Pacific sponsored by the Navy Department and the University of California. In 1950, the MID-PACIFIC Expedition was devoted largely to exploration of the sea floor in the area between Cape Mendocino, the Marshall Islands, and the Equator. In 1951, NORTHERN HOLIDAY conducted hydrographic and geologic studies in the eastern North Pacific between San Diego and the Aleutian Islands. Hydrographic exploration of the eastern Central Pacific was the principal objective of SHELLBACK, in 1952. On the present expedition we ventured farther south than on any of our previous cruises, and most of the work was done between the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn. Hence the name, CAPRICORN.