XVI.—RESULTS OF THE EXPLORATIONS MADE BY THE STEAMER 
“ ALBATROSS,” OFF THE NORTHERN COAST OF THE UNITED 
STATES, IN 1883. 
By A. E. VERRILL. 

During the summer of 1883, the new United States Fish Commission 
steamer ‘‘Albatross,” Lieut. Z. L. Tanner, commander, continued the 
work of dredging in the region of the Gulf Stream, along our coast, from 
off Cape Hatteras to Nova Scotia.* She is, in construction, well adapted 
to do deep-sea work, and fully equipped with improved apparatus, and 
therefore was able to carry the dredgings much farther out to sea 
than the “ Fish Hawk” had been able to in previous years. The stations 
most distant from the coast were more than a third of the way to the 
Bermudas. The greatest depth successfully dredged was in 2,949 fath- 
oms, at station 2099, N. latitude 37° 12’ 20’, W. longitude 69° 39’, Au- 
gust 2. Besides this, there were four successful hauls in 2,033 to 2,369 
fathoms, and twenty-seven between 1,000 aiid 2,000 fathoms. Between 
500 and 1,000 fathoms there were nineteen hauls, and in less than 500 
fathoms, sixty-three, making a total of one hundred and sixteen stations. 
At nearly all the localities, except on the rocky bottoms off Nova Scotia, 
a large beam-trawl was used, and in most cases large quantities of speci- 
mens were obtained, even at great depths. The bottom temperatures* 
between 1,000 and 2,000 fathoms were usually between 37° F. and 39° 
F., and rarely 40°. 
The minimum ptemiperaiares at the bottom, in this region, are between 
*It is but er ie say that the aha ierbuenteds and remakable success of these 
explorations of the Gulf Stream region have been due to the great skill and untiring 
zeal and energy of Captain Tanner, who has personally superintended all our deep- 
sea dredging operations during the past five years. It is proper to add that his efforts 
have been well supported by the other officers associated with him. 
The naturalists associated with the writer in this work in 1883 were: Prof. 8. 
I. Smith, Mr. Sanderson Smith, Prof. L. A. Lee, Mr. Richard Rathbun, Mr. J. H. 
Emerton (also as artist), Mr. B. F. Koons, Prof. Edwin Linton, Mr. H. L. Bruner, 
Mr. J. KE. Benedict (naturalist attached to the steamer), Mr. R.S. Tarr, W. E. Safford, 
ensign U. S. N., and others, more or less. Mr. Peter Parker, Mr. John A. Ryder, Dr. 
Theodore Gill, and R. H. Miner, ensign U. S. N., worked on the fishes. The parties _ 
who went out dredging on the the steamer varied from time to time. Usually only 
three or four naturalists, besides Mr. Benedict, could be properly accommodated on 
board. I took no part in this portion of the work, in 1-83, not going out on the steamer 
at all. 
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