WORK OF THE STEAMER ALBATROSS. 311 



At 5.10 a. 111. June 7 arrived iu St. Paul, Kadiak. The only vessel ia 

 port was a small sloop used as a tender at one of the trading stations. 

 Copies of the proclamation of the President of the United States, and 

 instructions of the Secretary of the Navy to the senior ofticer command- 

 ing the United States naval force in Bering Sea, were delivered to the 

 deputy collector of customs and agents of trading companies with the 

 request that they be posted in public places. We took on board 73 

 tons of coal, and at 11 a. m. June 8 cast off from the wharf and pro- 

 ceeded to sea. Cruising to the westward iu the track of sealers, we 

 continued to board and warn them against sealing in Bering Sea, until 

 our arrival at Sand Point, Popof Island, Shumagins, on the afternoon 

 of June 10. No sealing vessels had yet reached that point j the fleet 

 was expected during the latter part of the month. 



Our first fur seal was seen near Kadiak Island on the afternoon of 

 June 8, only one being observed that day; but the following morning 

 several were sighted off Chirikof Island. The sealers reported very 

 poor success since leaving the yicinity of Middleton Island. 



In U. S. Hydographic Notice to Mariners, No. 46, of November 12, 

 1892, paragraph 925, is the following : 



Captain Applegate, of the American schooner Matthew Hale, reports a slioal or 

 bank, with 7 lathoms of water on it, extending 20 to 35 miles sontheastward from 

 Simeonof Island, Shumagin group. Cod fishermen anchored on the bauk last year. 



The position of this reported bank, remote from land and outside of 

 the 100-fathom line as established by the soundings of this vessel, occa- 

 sioned no little surprise to the ofiticers engaged in the work; hence, we 

 took the earliest opportunity to investigate the matter. Fortunately, 

 Captain GaflEney was in Sand Point at the time of our arrival, and as 

 he had spent many years iu the cod fisheries of the Shumagins he was 

 able to give us reliable information. He was shown the notice quoted, 

 and in reply said that the only bauk he knew of in that vicinity lies 15 

 miles ENE. (mag.) from the highest point of Simeonof, * and has 27 

 fathoms, rough, rocky bottom, on which he has been in the habit of 

 fishing. It is of small extent and difficult to find except by bearings 

 and ranges; a depth of 23 fathoms has been reported 1^ miles east of 

 the 27-fathom patch, but he had never been able to find it. He had no 

 knowledge of the bank leported by Captain Applegate, but knew pos- 

 itively that fishermen did not go so far from land iu that region. 



In a subsequent interview with Captain Applegate he said that the 

 report to him was vague, and he was not confident as to bearing, dis- 

 tance, or depth of water, but he gave the report as he remembered it. 

 In view of these facts I think we may safely conclude that there is no 

 bank in the position indicated iu Hydrographic Notice No. 46, 1892. 



At 9.25 a. m. June 11, we left Sand Point for a cruise to the west- 

 ward, following the general track of sealers, but saw none between the 

 Shumagius and Amukta (or 172d meridian) Pass, through which we 

 entered Bering Sea on the morning of the 13th; neither were any met 

 with between there and Unalaska. We made Bogoslof Volcano at 



