8 CRUISE OP THE STEAMEK CORWIN. 



On May 22 I returned to Ounalaska, and beinjr in a safe place employed the time to May 29 in 

 taking on board forty-six tons of coal in bags and doing nnu'h work about decks that had become 

 absolutely necessary in order to prepare the vessel for an extended sea cruise to the northward. 



May 22 the services of the Conrin were called into requisition by the bark ]J. W. Almy, 

 Captain Smith, a vessel which had anchored in the outer harbor, and after two unsuccessful 

 attempts to go to sea, had been obliged to anchor in a dangerous position and requested our aid 

 in extrication. 



Jlay 29, having completed the most necessary repairs, we'got under way and aft^r touching 

 at Bogoslov on the 30th, stood for the seal islands. At 9 a. m. of the 31st we anchored off St. 

 George Island. From Mr. George Wadman, United States special agent, stationed at this island, 

 I learned that the schooner Alexander, a vessel ostensibly engaged in sea-otter hnnting, visited the 

 island under pretext of filling watercasks, but Mr. Wadman was quite convinced that the master 

 conten)plated a raid on the seal rookeries. Though no seal had been taken on the island by the 

 schooner, three hundred skins were found on board. No other vessel open to the suspicion of 

 being a marauder had been seen in that vicinity. At 10 a. m. we got under way and proceeded 

 to Otter Island, where we landed twenty live bags of coal for the use of the officer to be stationed 

 there. At 7 p. m. we anchored off St. Paul. 



On June 1 Lieut. J. E. Lutz was landed with a detail of two men to take up his residence on 

 Otter Island during the sealing season. The usual instructions to the officer detailed for this duty 

 were given him. 



At i p. m. of the same day we got under way and resumed our northern course. 



At 9 a. m. of June 2 floating ice was first sighted, and by G p. m. it had become so heavy as to 

 prevent the vessel ai)proaching nearer than ten or twelve miles to St. Mathew's Island, where I 

 had intended visiting. From this time ni) to June 7, when we anchored near St. Michael's, the 

 vessel was being worked through heavy drift and field ice, following up leads where they were 

 presented, or tracking along the pack ice in search of favorable openings, sometimes under sail 

 alone, or steam, or both, as weather and occasion demanded, the object in view being as early an 

 arrival as possible at the Indian villages in order to i)r('vent traffic in illicit goods. 



Willie thus crni.sing among the-ice several banded .seal were .shot, with the intention of pro- 

 curing specimens for the Smithsonian Institution, but they sank as soon as they were killed. 



At St. Michael's the ice was so heavy as to prevent our entering the harbor, and we were 

 obliged to land on the ontside of the island and cross it to the village. Ilere I took on board a 

 native interpreter and a Mr. .Miller, a practical miner, who desired to accompany the proposed boat 

 expedition up the Kowak River. Mr. Miller was to receive no compensation other than his rations. 



I would respectfully state that the sheathing and icebreaker i)laced uiion the vessel last spring 

 stand the severe test to w liich they have been put admirably, and have enabled us to work through 

 ice that otherwise would have been impassable. 



Last year the Golowin Hay Jlining Company, of San Francisco, sent a schooner, the Alalia, 

 with twenty men on board, to Golowin Jiay, a small arm of Norton Sound, for the puri)0se of work- 

 ing a silver mine up the Fish River, a tributary to the bay. No news had been heard from them 

 up to the time of the departure of the Concin on this cruise. Just i>revious to .sailing I received 

 a communication from the secretary of the comi>any, requesting me to ascertain, if jiossible, their 

 fate or condition. Having this important matter in view, at 3 p. ni. of June 8 I left St. :Michaers 

 for Golowin Bay, arriving at that place at 2 a. ni. of June 9. Lieutenant Hall was immediately 

 dispatched to the mining camp for the purpo.se of obtaining all possible information. He found 

 at the camp four men who had wintered there, and from them learned the following facts : The 

 schooner Alaska left (Jolowin IJay for San Vrancisco October 21, 1883, with a cargo of seventy-five 

 tons of galena ore. The following persons were on board : 



Creif. — Ma.ster, AVilliam P.Gallagher; mate, Walter Hoepfner; second mate, W. Marston ; 

 seamen, Arthur Eaton, James Muir, George, Tom— surnames of last two not known. 



Passem/ers.—Johii Lowrie, Andrew Doulson, Charles Thompson, Samuel Marston, Charles 

 liabb, George Eastman, R. B. Hart, James Thompson, W. 11. Cardinell. 



Diligent search during our cruising revealed nothing concerning the schooner's fate. Subse- 

 quent inquiry among the whalemen, however, resulted in the information that a schooner was seen 



