INVESTIGATIONS OF THE STEAMEK ALBATROSS. 211 



schooner Czarina. The latter vessel is liable to seizure for receiving cargo from the 

 schooner CO. IV hite at Caton Harbor. The other two vessels are liable to seizure — the 

 Warlock if found otter hunting, as it is suspected she is, or loitering in our harbors 

 if not in distress, as she cleared for Petropaulovski August 2 from Sand Point, and 

 the Diana (late Sea Lion) for escaping after seizure at Sand Toint September 28, 

 1892. The schooner Emma, with Hansen, the rookery raider, on board, is probably in 

 or about the Sannak otter hunting. She was enrolled at Juneau and licensed for 

 coasting trade only, and if hunting is being run without proper clearance. 



This order is inserted to show that while we were accorded every 

 practicable facility for the prosecution of our special work, it did not 

 relieve us from patrol and other duties required of the vessels compos- 

 ing the Bering Sea fleet. 



The navigation of Bering Sea is complicated during the summer 

 season by almost constant fogs. It is difficult at all times in the vicinity 

 of land, from lack of soundings and accurate surveys, and it has been 

 our custom to do what we could for the improvement of charts by tak- 

 ing soundings, correcting coast lines, and giving reliable astronomical 

 positions when it could be done without materially interfering with our 

 legitimate work. Great difficulty has frequently been experienced in 

 making Unalaska in thick weather in the absence of soundings, and 

 we have from time to time run lines from the 100- fathom curve to Una- 

 laska Bay, which were supplemented after our departure from Unalaska 

 by a line from Priest Rock, off Kalekhta Point, to the north head of 

 Akutan, and thence to Akun, the route usually followed by steamers 

 between Unimak Pass and Unalaska. These soundings, with others we 

 have made in the vicinity of the Fox Islands, will, when plotted on 

 a chart of large scale, greatly assist the navigator, inasmuch as it will 

 make the lead available. 



We anchored in the south arm of Akun Cove at 1.27 p. m. Septem- 

 ber 8, for the double purpose of giving the naturalists an opportunity 

 of exploring the region and to make an early start next morning for 

 the inner passage to the eastward. Akun Cove affords convenient and 

 safe anchorage with all winds except from SE. to N"E. It has three 

 arms, two of which, the middle and southern, have been surveyed. It 

 has no permanent settlement, but during the fishing season temporary 

 camps are formed by natives who resort to the place for the purpose of 

 taking salmon. The fishing was closed during the season of 1893, how- 

 ever, from natural causes. 



At the head of the cove, and separated from it by a narrow shingle 

 beach, lies a beautiful lake of considerable size, which usually finds an 

 outlet to the sea through a small creek ; but the storms of the previous 

 winter threw up stones and gravel until the mouth was completely 

 blocked, thus effectually excluding the fish from their usual spawning 

 grounds. Yet thousands of fine red salmon were seen patrolling the 

 shores, vainly searching for an entrance to the lake, and the beach was 

 lined with the carcasses of the many victims to the vital instinct of 

 reproduction. When the tide was low, fresh water from the lake per- 

 colated through the obstruction at the mouth of the creek, forming a 



