SIX years ago I drifted in the Arcturus for ten
days in the Pacific, hovering above a certain spot
in mid-ocean and by dredge, net and sounding wire
learning everything I could about this invisible but
very real bit of submerged earth.

Six days ago I made my first map of Almost
Island, south of Nonsuch, and northeast of Gur-
nets Rock. We are accustomed to speak of air
pockets and mountain chains and hanging val-
leys, so why cannot we have something which is
almost an island? The distinction is much more ac-
curate than that between hill and mountain, creek
and river. I might in fact call my area Once Island
for from its configuration and our knowledge of the
land hereabouts, there is no doubt that it was for-
merly well above water.

I discovered it by accident three years ago when
I rowed out to Gurnets, threw out the anchor at
random and went down in the helmet. I found my-
self in five or six fathoms on the whitest of sand,
looking up at the walls of a splendid reef -- great
cliffs waving with sea-fans and alive with fish. The
minute the helmet was removed I located the
spot definitely in its relation to Gurnets Rock

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