1230 



Journal of Applied Microscopy 



THE EMILY JOHNSTON." 



CHARTERED FOR THE BAHAMA EXPEDITION. 



farther while we were about it and reach one of the richest marine faunae on 

 earth, that found in the West Indian region. 



In the choice of a vessel our poverty did us a real service in compelling the 

 selection of a sailing vessel instead of a steamer. For such a service the sailing 



craft has several important advantages 

 over the more modern type, and, so far as 

 our experience went, very few disad- 

 vantages. In the first place our party 

 would have required a much larger ves- 

 sel if it had been necessary to provide 

 room for engines and fuel for such a 

 cruise, and with a larger vessel we could 

 not have gone to some of the most de- 

 lightful places that we visited. Again, 

 the smoke, dirt and heat of a steamer 

 would have been most uncomfortable in 

 the heat of the tropics. On the other 

 hand, it is remarkable how efficient wind 

 propulsion is when the skipper knows his business, and ours did. A biological 

 party is never at a loss for work in case the vessel becomes becalmed in the West 

 Indian region. In such a case there is always enough animal life at hand to be 

 secured with the dip-net or the tow- net worked from a row-boat if at sea, or by a 

 landing party if at anchor. As for dredging, any sort of a wind will answer for 

 that, and our work was fully as successful as it could have been with steam. 



Our vessel was an ordinary fruiting schooner from the Chesapeake, of the 

 type known as a two-masted, double-topsail, centerboard schooner, with a net 

 tonnage of 116 tons. She was 95 feet long, with 26 foot beam and a depth of 

 hold of 7 feet. Although not notable for speed she was not slow, and was 

 remarkably staunch and " dry " in rough 

 weather. She had four state-rooms and a 

 toilet room opening into a small cabin aft. 

 The rest of the hold was ballasted with 

 pebbles and a flooring was laid over the 

 ballast. Along the sides of the hold were 

 arranged the bunks for the men in two 

 tiers with curtains in front like those in 

 a sleeping car. 



The stores, and these were gradually 

 replaced by the collections, were stowed 

 forward, leaving a large space between 

 the stores and the after bulkhead for the 

 laboratory, library, and dining-room. A door leading from the cabin to the hold 

 divided the after bulkhead into two nearly equal parts. On one side of this door 

 were the shelves for the microscopes, and on the other was the " library " contain- 

 ing the " Challenger " and " Blake " Reports, a number of text-books, and all the 

 works concerning the sea that were contained in the university library. The 



VISITORS ABOARD. 



