Narrative of Bahama Expedition. 9 



trol. This simple machine was found to be entirely adet^uate 

 to meet all demands which were made upon it during the 

 cruise, and was constructed by the Yale & Tow^ne Manufactur- 

 ing Company of Stamford, Connecticut, at a very reasonable 

 price. One thousand nine hundred and tw^enty feet of 1"',; x 7 

 cast steel rope was purchased of John A. Roebling's Sons & 

 Company, of Newark, New Jersey, the drum of the hoist- 

 ing machine being designed to comfortably accommodate that 

 length of cable. The single purchase only was used in hoist- 

 ing, unless the dredge hung on the bottom, when the double 

 purchase furnished enough power to bend the strongest 

 dredge frames used, or even the heavy iron bar of the 

 tangles. After leaving the bottom, the dredge or tangles 

 came up easily, the single purchase being used. We found 

 that a single haul, including lowering the dredge until all the 

 rope was out, dragging on the bottom for twentj^-iive 

 minutes, and reeling in again, usually took about an hour and 

 a half. Experience proved that four or five hauls of this 

 kind w^as about all that we cared to attend to in a day, and 

 even that amount w^as at tirst no child's play, in tropical heat. 



In order to have something to fall back upon, should the 

 iron rope prove a failure or be lost, 225 fathoms of 2)^ 

 inch Italian hemp rope was purchased of the Sew^ell & Day 

 Cordage Company of Boston, Massachusetts. Although this 

 rope w'as never used for dredging, we found it useful, — indeed 

 indispensable. — in making tangles, our most effective instru- 

 ■ment. and actually used about half of this rope for that and 

 other incidental purposes, such as hanging the trawls, painters 

 for boats, etc. 



The trawls and dredges w^ere all made in the Universitv 

 machine shop, by Mr. William Powell, an engineering stu- 

 dent wdio accompanied the expedition, and proved an exceed- 

 ingly useful member of the party. The trawl frames w^ere 

 made after the '• Blake "^ model, so far as shape is concerned, 

 but gas pipe was used as the easiest material to manage and 

 join securely. Agassiz says, "The trawl is by far the most 



1 Agassiz, " Three Cruises of the Blake," page 26. 



