Abstract: A tool for use in sampling bottom sediment conditions in oil storage tanks utilizing a thief suspended on a rope. The bottom sediment sample is taken through a thief hatch opening in a tank top adjacent the tank peripheral edge. The tool is an elongated slender member having a U-shaped outer end for receiving the rope, the tool being dimensioned for extension through the tank thief hatch and having an inner end engageable by the user so as to retain the body member generally horizontally within the tank and leave the gauger's hands free so that the thief may be lowered into the tank in areas displaced away from those areas vertically below the thief hatch.