TNVKSTKJATIOXS OF THE AI>HATROSS. 21 



from an hour to ;ui lioiir and a, half while taking- the sounding-, then 

 repeating the critical operation of turning her again to lier course. 

 The work was successfully prosecuted at no small risk to life and limb, 

 and at the expense of great and unusual strain and Avear and tear on 

 hull and machinery. 



We were obliged to drop the line at noon of the 27th and go to San 

 Francisco for coal, eucountering- a heavy southwest gale en route. 

 The following extract from a San Francisco paper, describing the trip 

 of the XI. S. S. Chdrlcufon from Honolulu to San Diego during- the last 

 half of December, shows the weather experienced by that vessel: 



San Diego, Jauiiari/ 1. — At 9 o'clock this morning the cruiser Charleston ronnded 

 Point Loma and steamed into tlie bay. ^ * * Her sides were rnsty and dirt- 

 begrimed, and she looks as if she had experienced a hard trip and rough usage. 

 " ■ " During The past week the vessel passed through one of the most terrific 

 stonns ever experienced by anybody on board, it being so bad for the 24 hours 

 ending Thursday morning, that everything had to be strapped down, and it was 

 impossible for a person to maintain footing anywhere on the decks. 



Eeturningto complete the line we found light Avinds, pleasant w^eather, 

 and smooth seas, except a few hours of boisterous coast wind on the 

 1.5th of January. 



Wear and iear. — Deep-sea sounding and dredging are much more 

 destructive to machinery, boilers especially, than ordinary full-speed 

 steaming. The run between stations must be made a^ ([uickly as prac- 

 ticable, and then the engines are slowed, stopped, and backed ; if steam- 

 ing head to the sea, the vessel must be turned stern to it by going- 

 ahead on one engine and backing the other, and to hold her in position 

 first one engine and then the other is slowly backed. If running- before 

 wind and sea, it is not necessary to turn around, the engines being- 

 simply stopped and reversed until the vessel is brought to a stand- 

 still. In calm weather, smooth sea, and no current, soundings are 

 sometimes made without moving the engines after getting into posi- 

 tion, but as wind and sea increase the necessity for working- them is 

 enhanced until, in a gale, one or both are constantly moving, either in 

 the same or opposite directions. Signal follows signal in rapid succes- 

 sion in order to maintain the position of the vessel over the sinker, for 

 it is an invariable rule on board the Albatross that none but vertical 

 soundings will be accepted. 



The destructive effects of this peculiar service on the boilers is not 

 apparent at first sight; but, remembering that constant and marked 

 changes of temperature are taking place in them froiu the frequent 

 opening and closing of the furnace doors, the introduction of cold fuel, 

 and from other measures resorted to in order to control the pressure of 

 steam without destroying the fires, it will be seen that rapid deterio- 

 ration must ensue even were these the only hurtful agencies at work. 

 If we add to this the frequent loss of fresh water by the unavoidable 

 overflow of the hotwell while sounding- or dredging, with the attend- 

 ant evils arising from the introduction of an equal amount of salt feed, 



