204 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



send, and upon his reporting the completion of the special work to 

 which he had been assigned on the islands, he was taken on hoard and 

 resumed his duties in charge of the scientific department. 



We were detained about an hour at St. George, then took up the 

 development of line VII, and carried it to its western extremity in lati- 

 tude 5G° 21' N., longitude 170° 45' W., where the depth of water reached 

 2,049 fathoms. The station was occupied at 2.11 a. m. August 20; then, 

 changing direction to the southward, we reached the terminus of 

 radial vm at 4.21 the same day, in latitude 54° 38' N., longitude 

 175° 25' W., with a depth of 2,041 fathoms. We followed line vm to 

 the 100-fathom curve, then took up radial ix, and developed it to lati- 

 tude 53° 48' N., longitude 173° 11' W., in 1,948 fathoms. 



Indications of bad weather were unmistakable on the morning of the 

 22d; a brisk breeze from the southward and eastward sprung up during 

 the afternoon, and at midnight it was blowing a fresh gale from E. by 

 S., with rapidly falling barometer. At 11.50 p. m. stopped the engines, 

 set fore storm staysail, and hove to with wind on port quarter. The 

 gale having moderated to a strong breeze, we started ahead at 7.30 

 a. m. August 23, and reached the outer extreme of line x at 10.25 p. m., 

 in 1,027 fathoms, latitude 53° 09' K, longitude 170° 31' W. The wind 

 backed to the northward during the day, and at 10 p. m. was blowing 

 a moderate gale from northwest, with rough cross sea, yet work was 

 continued under low speed and at the expense of great wear and tear 

 until 6.30 p. in. August 24, when the line was practically completed. 



Radial line xn and a considerable area about the Pribilofs still 

 remained unexplored, and we were anxious to finish it before going 

 into port, but the gale was still blowing, with no immediate prospect of 

 improvement, and as our fuel was nearly exhausted we concluded to 

 return to Unalaska and procure a fresh supply. We passed Bogoslof 

 at 5.45 a. m. and anchored in Dutch Harbor at 11 a. m. The flagship 

 Mohican, Banger, Bush, and H. B. M. S. Champion were found in port. 



At the request of Captain Ludlow I called on the chief engineer of 

 this vessel, A. M. Hunt, passed assistant engineer, U. S. N., for a report 

 on the comparative merits of the best varieties of steaming coal used 

 during the season, and received the following reply: 



On May 31 we coaled ship at Union Bay with coal fresh from the Comox mines. 

 It was washed coal, very clean, and free from slack, and prohably of the finest 

 quality that the mines furnish. It proved very satisfactory in every respect. It is 

 a little slower in igniting than the Wellington or Nanaimo coals, and gives a good 

 body of clear fire, with very light smoke as compared with other coast coals. Such 

 clinker as forms breaks away from the bars readily, and does not form so close a 

 blanket as to deaden the fires by preventing the passage of air through them. The soot 

 formed does not adhere to the tubes, is granular rather than flaky, and is easily 

 blown out with the steam tube sweeper. There was no difficulty in burning as many 

 pounds of it per square foot of grate surface as of any other coal we have used. 



Tbe only coals with which I am able to make a comparison are the Welch Bryrnbo 

 coal we received at the Mare Island Navy-Yard in May, 1893. and Wellington coal 

 received from the North American Commercial Company at Dutch Harbor during 

 July and August, 1893. The Bryrnbo coal was taken from a pile that had been 



