18 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



OPERATIONS OF THE STEAMER ALBATROSS IN THE NORTH 

 PACIFIC OCEAN AND BERING SEA. 



At the begiiniiiig of the year the steamer Albatross, Commander Z. L. 

 Tanner, U. S. N., eommandiiig, Ava.s still on duty under direction of the 

 Seeretary of the Treasury, being at I'ort Townsend, Wash., where she 

 hal reeently arrived after eoaling at Departure ]3ay, British Columbia. 

 She left the former plaee on July 1 for Unalaska, but unfortunately 

 (owing to continuous sea service for a long period, much of the time 

 under trying circumstances as regards sea and weather) her boilers 

 were in bad condition, and in several other respects the ship needed 

 a thorough overliauling. Ten days were consumed in nuUcing the 

 passage to Unalaska, where it was found imperative to order a board 

 of survey, which found the boilers unsafe for farther use. Temporary 

 repairs were begun at once, to i^ermit of the ship's returning to San 

 Francisco, but several weeks were required for their completion. 



The unfinished work which the Albatross had been exi^ected to carry 

 on was assigned to the revenue steamers Gorwin and Rush, to which 

 Mr. C. H. Townsend and Mr. A. B. Alexander Avere transferred to serve 

 as naturalists, and also two seal-hunters and the necessary appliances 

 for conducting the investigations. Taking advantage of the delay, Prof. 

 B. W. Evermanu, then acting as chief naiuralist of the Albatross, and 

 Mr. N. B. Miller, laboratory assistant, were dispatched to the Pribilof 

 Islands, where they made a careful inspection of the seal I'Dokeries and 

 obtained an interesting series of photographs bearing upon the same. 



On August 3 the Albatross left Unalaska, having in tow a British 

 schooner which had been captured while engaged in pelagic sealing in 

 Bering Sea, in contraveution of the provisions of the modus vivendi 

 then in operation. After delivering this prize at Sitka, she proceeded 

 to Port Townsend and thence to San Francisco, which was reached on 

 September 3. By direction of the Secretary of the Treasury the con- 

 trol of the ship reverted to the Fish Commissioner at the close of August 

 31, while still upon her passage, having uj) to that date been in the 

 service of the Treasury Department for a period of 5| months, during 

 which she visited 20 ports and steamed a distance of 14,84:8 miles, 

 mostly in northern waters. In order to put the ship in suitable condi- 

 tion for further service it became necessary to provide new boilers and 

 to make many alterations and repairs, which were not fully completed 

 until the following April. Beginning on the 25th of that month, a 

 successful trial trip was made, lasting three days, in the course of which 

 investigations of the sea bottom were carried on off Monterey Bay. 



On May 13 the President directed that the Albatross be placed under 

 the orders of the Secretary of the Navy, for assignment to duty in 

 connection with the sealing patrol fleet in the North Pacific Ocean and 

 Bering Sea, composed otherwise of certain naval and revenue-marine 

 vessels. It was arranged, however, that her commanding officer should 

 receive his customary instructions relative to fishery and fur-seal inves- 

 tigations, which were to be carried out so far as the special duties 



