The Voyage of the Challenger.

Speaks here and there of the boredom of a scientific voyage that dredged ocean bottoms thousands of times through the ocean world. Dredging was known as “drudging” and even some desertions were attributed to boredom.

p. 24: The end of both trawl-net and dredge-net was commonly lined with what was called ‘bread-bag stuff’, to prevent small animals from being washed out; and despite the greater efficiency of the trawl, the tedium of the operation was not much diminished. Here, at the very start of that long, immensely useful, and uncommonly entertaining voyage, there became evident its essential paradox: a great adventure and a vast reward of knowledge would be paid for by many months of industrious boredom.