REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XCVII 



SURVEY FOR A CABLE ROUTE BETWEEN CALIFORNIA AND THE 



HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



By an act of Congress approved March 2, 1891, special provision was 

 made "To enable the President to cause careful soundings to be made 

 between San Francisco, Cal., and Honolulu, in the Kingdom of the 

 Hawaiian Islands, for the purpose of determining the practicability of 

 the laying of a telegraphic cable between those points." This survey 

 was placed under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, but a suit- 

 able naval vessel not being available for the worli, the services of the 

 Albatross were requested, and by instruction of the President she was 

 accordingly detailed for that purpose. While it was regarded as 

 unfortunate that this steamer should so soon again be diverted from 

 her legitimate fisliery inquiries, there was cause for congratulation in 

 the fact that so favorable an opportunity was thus presented to demon- 

 strate once more her eminent fitness for this class of hydrographic 

 investigations, similar surveys having previously been executed for the 

 Navy Department by the same ship in the Caribbean Sea and about 

 the Bahama Islands. In the field of work for which the Albatross was 

 specially constructed, means for taking accurate soundings in all depths 

 of water constitute one of the principal requirements in locating and 

 defining the fishing-grounds, and to this end the most approved appli- 

 ances have always been provided. In fact, no other vessel afloat is so 

 perfectly equipped in respect to all inquiries relative to the physical 

 and the natural-history features of the sea, and none has been more 

 effectively employed, thanks to the untiring energy of her accomplished 

 commanding officer. 



Upon arriving at San Francisco from the Strait of Juan de Fuca the 

 only material alteration required in preparation for the cruise was in 

 the direction of increasing the coal capacity, which was readily accom- 

 plished by changing the laboratory storeroom into a temporary bunker. 

 The ship was placed at the disiiosal of the Secretary of the Navy on 

 September 18, but owing to delays, mainly caused by the necessity for 

 awaiting supi)lies, the work was not actually taken up until October 9, 

 1891. Two lines of soundings were run, one toward the Hawaiian 

 Islands, the other on the return trip, which was completed January 15 

 following. The results of the survey have been published in the form 

 of a report to Congress by the Secretary of the Navy,* in which, doubt- 

 less through inadvertence, no credit is given to the Fish Commission 

 for its participation in the work. A more detailed account of the cruise 

 will be found in the report of Lieut. Commander Tanner, printed in 

 the aiii)endix to this volume. 



* Report of the resuUs of the survey for the purpose of determining the practica- 

 bility of laying a telegraphic cable between the United States and the Hawaiian 

 Islands, Fifty-second Congress, first session, Senate Ex. Doc. No. 153, 1892. 28 

 pp., and several charts, diagrams, and photographic reproductions. 

 F C 92 YII 



