INVESTIGATIONS OF THE ALBATROSS. 227 



of ])orpoises passed, always at a safe distance from tlie sliip, and sea 

 birds hovered about iiiglit and day. A solitary sliark was reported off 

 Mendocino. 



We commenced coaling at 10:15 a. m., May 10, and fmislied at 0:15 

 a. m. on the 13th, having taken on board 192 tons, 25 tons being in 

 bags on deck. At 3:15 p. m. the same day we left Departure Bay for 

 Bering Sea. 



Schools of herring were seen in the Gulf of Georgia during the even- 

 ing, pursued by sharks and i>orpoises. Among the latter several were 

 observed with peculiar markings, the head, back, and sides being 

 black or very dark; belly, tips of iins, and tip of tail white. It may 

 be a common species, but I do not remember to have seen it before. 

 Passing Seymour Narrows at 5:20 the following morning, we steamed 

 through Johnstone and Broughton straits. Queen Charlotte Sound, 

 and Goletas Channel, entering the Pacific at 5 p. m. We were under 

 one boiler, as usual, consuming about 12 tons of coal per day. 



The customary foggj' and misty weather was encountered, with light 

 to moderate SE. to SW. winds. A plover was captured on the 18th in 

 latitude 52^ 45' N., longitude 118° W. Whales were seen, and a couple 

 of large white albatrosses were about the ship for an hour or more. 

 Floating kelp was observed for the first time since leaving Vancouver 

 Island. Light flurries of snow passed occasionally and many evidences 

 of our northerly course were apparent. Gulls were first noticed on the 

 19th and little auks on the 20th. 



The high land of Sannakh Island was sighted on the morning of the 

 21st, and a line of soundings and dredgings, commenced in 483 fath- 

 oms, was carried over the position assigned to Anderson Kock, and 

 thence to the westward of the islands through Unimak Pass into Ber- 

 ing Sea. The weather was squally and misty at times while working 

 in the region of Anderson Eock, but there were frequent intervals 

 when it was quite clear, and from the masthead we commanded a view 

 of the horizon for 10 miles or more in every direction, but without 

 detecting any surface signs of rocks or shoals; neither did the sound- 

 ings indicate anything of the kind. Our observations do not prove the 

 non-existence of the danger referred to, but simply show that it does 

 not lie in the position indicated. The evidence seems so conclusive as 

 to the existence of rocks somewhere in that vicinity that I am inclined 

 to the belief that they will eventually be found and located properly. 

 Our investigations are gradually narrowing the limits in which they 

 may be searched for. 



Bering Sea. — From Unimak Pass we took the general direction of the 

 100-fathom curve, carrying our investigations about 80 miles to "the 

 northward and westward, when a gale sprang up from that direction, 

 and to save fuel we turned from it and ran a line of soundings and 

 dredgings in the direction of Unalaska, finally anchoring in Iliuliiik 

 Harbor at 7 :40 p. m., May 23, We went to the cofll wharf as soon as it 



