INVESTIGATIONS OF THE ALBATROSS. 81 



Pacific. The weather Avas rainy, misty, and foggy at times, but we 

 experienced little difficulty iu runiiing froni point to point. We passed 

 Seymour I^arrows at 4:15 a. m. on the 11th, and reached Alert Bay at 

 2:05 p. m. the same day, where a stop of an hour was made to allow the 

 engineers to effect some slight but ne(;essary adjustments of valve gear, 

 advantage being taken of the delay to send mail on shore. 



Eesuming our course, we stood through Johnstone Straits and Gol- 

 etas Channel, finally taking our departure from Mexicana Point at 

 9:15 p. m. We had succeeded by energetic work in getting the spars 

 all aloft, rigging set up, and the principal sails bent before we left the 

 l^rotection of the land, and otlier preparations were comiileted before 

 Ave passed Cape St. James the following morning. 



Our orders directed us to cross on the parallel of 52° luirth, and 

 this was done, as nearly as wind and weather permitted, without undue 

 delay. A southeast gale was encountered on the 13th and llth, with 

 rough sea and thick, misty weather, followed on the IGthaud 17th by a 

 gale from the southward and westward; thence to port liglit to mod- 

 erate winds prevailed. 



An accident occurred on the 15th from the use of Seattle coal, iu which 

 the vessel narrowly escaped a serious disaster. This coal contains a 

 large percentage of gas, and burns quickly, with a long flame and 

 intense heat, both commendable qualities with specially constructed 

 boilers having large combustion chambers. The boilers of the Alba- 

 tross, however, are designed for the use of anthracite and the slower 

 burning of the bituminous coals, and consequently combustion takes 

 place largely iu the steam drum and smokestack when burning the 

 highly inflammable varieties from the Puget Souud region, a red-hot 

 funnel being of too H'equent occurrence to attract special comment. 

 On the occasion in question, without warning, the simultaneous igni- 

 tion of soot in boiler tubes, steam drum, and smokestack superheated 

 the steam to such an extent that solder ou an extension joint of the 

 main steam pipe began to melt, and the lower seams of the steam drum 

 commenced to leak ; the engine packing was burned out and the wooden 

 casing protecting a small steam pipe which passes through a coal bunker 

 was ignited, smouldering until the following day, wheu it was discov- 

 ered and extinguished after the removal of many tons of coal. Leaks 

 iu the boilers increased to an alarming extent after the occurrence 

 above related. 



We reached the Pox Islands Passes on the evening of the 18th, lay 

 to until daylight, and reached Unalaska at 11 o'clock next morning. 



A constant and vigilant lookout was kept for seals during the trip, 

 but none were seen. They follow a fairly well-defined route which, 

 during the northern migration, is confined to the general direction of 

 the shore line and does not depart very far from it. One sealing vessel 

 was seen off" the coast of Vancouver Island, within sight of land. 



Application was made to the North American Commercial Company 

 for coal immediately after our arrival, the Government having con- 



