Ed Ricketts last letter to John Steinbeck, May 7, 1948

Pacific Biological Laboratories
Pacific Grove, California
Fri May 7, 1948

Dear Jn:

I am enclosing several things with this letter (and I hope I remember to do so)

1. A casual general map of the region which will serve for rough orientation (If you
require it, you may get a good map of the area there in NY from the Navy
Hydrographic Office, there are several HO charts, one for the whole region, I
forgot the number. I have them all, but you may want a reference copy there in
NY. The HO will have a guide map from which selection can be made, 50-75c
each)

2. A schedule of tides, by this you will see that if you can get there a day or so
sooner than the 21st, you can get in on a few days extra collecting. In other
words, land right down in the midst of it. The set centering around the 21st isn’t
nearly as good as the one centering around July 6th or 7th, but its OK for some of
the quantitative work. I often go out even on fairly high tide, see what occurs
there. And sometimes follow high tide on down.

Something else, forgot now; well when it __ up I’ll write again.

Looks as tho I’m going to have an increasingly busy time until we get started. CalpPack
is also loving me hugely right now. Assigning things to me that arn’t routine at all, and I
have to use my head which I’d rather use for the other work right now especially. Some new
work with effect of DDT on Gambusia- the mosquito fish, one of the research dept. guys
coming in next week to explain about it. And I still have quite a little arranging to do
with specialists. The experimental canning of salmon goes on here, and I'm interested in
in finding out what I can about the meal and oil and Vit A. Spectrophotometer extinction
coefficient curves to compare with those of liver oil, of sardine and anchovy oil. Rik
coming down tonight I guess with the beautiful Chinese girl. Alice is in fine fettle and her
excellent work on the index and other things is a constant joy to me. I wish I new some 
chemistry. I wish I were better than a terrible mathematician. Well for that matter while
I’m wishing things, let me wish for good observing ability and greater efficiency. I do
envy that man Stephenson.

[Ricketts, Edward F. Letter of correspondence to John Steinbeck. May 7, 1948. Private
Collection]
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