8 
The Bureau maintains two well-equipped seaside labo- 
ratories—at Woods Hole, Mass., and Beaufort, N. C.— 
where scientific and economic questions connected with the 
ocean are studied by large numbers of experienced investi- 
gators from the leading institutions of learning. 
Among the biological problems having an important prac- 
tical bearing which have been recently under consideration 
are the possibility of fattening oysters by increasing arti- 
ficially the abundance of the minute plants (diatoms) on 
which the oysters feed; the rearing of the lobster; the nat- 
ural history of the Pacific salmons; the feasibility of grow- 
ing sponges from cuttings; the bacterial and other diseases 
of cultivated and wild fishes; the infection of oysters by 
contaminated water, and the possibility of raising the dia- 
mond-back terrapin and the green turtle from the egg on a 
commercial scale. 
One of the most valuable adjuncts of the scientific 
work is the steamer Albatross, a twin-screw iron ves- 
sel of over 1,000 tons displacement, which was especially 
constructed and equipped for exploration of the seas, and 
is the best-known and most efficient vessel of her class. She 
has conducted investigations in all parts of the world; sur- 
veyed the fishing grounds of our east and west coasts, 
Alaska, Hawaii, etc.; made over 10,000 deep-sea soundings, 
more than 4,000 dredgings, and brought up from the bottom 
of the sea hundreds of tons of fishes and other creatures 
never before seen by man. ‘The greatest depth at which the 
Albatross found life was 4,173 fathoms; the deepest sound- 
ing made was 4,813 fathoms. The greatest ocean depth 
known is 5,269 fathoms (6 miles), ascertained by the U. S.S. 
Nero while using apparatus belonging to the Albatross in 
the Pacific Ocean near the island of Guam. 
