INVESTIGATIONS OF THE ALBATROSS. 31 



Pacific. The weather was rainy, misty, and foggy at times, but we 

 experienced little difficulty in running from point to point. We passed 

 Seymour IsTarrows at 4:15 a. m. on the 11th, and reached Alert Bay at 

 2:05 p.m. the same day, wiiere a stop of an hour was made to allow the 

 engineers to effect some slight but necessary adjustments of valve gear, 

 advantage being taken of the delay to send mail on shore. 



Eesuming our course, we stood through Johnstone Straits and Gol- 

 etas Chaniiel, finally taking our departure from Mexicana Point at 

 9:15 p. m. ^Ye had succeeded by energetic work in getting the spars 

 all aloft, rigging set up, and the principal sails bent before we left the 

 protection of the land, and other preparations were completed before 

 we passed Cai^e St. James the following morning. 



Our orders directed us to cross on the parallel of 52° north, and 

 this was done, as nearly as MMnd and weather permitted, without undue 

 delay. A southeast gale was encountered on the 13th and 14th, with 

 rough sea and thick, misty weather, followed on the loth and 17th by a 

 gale from the southward and westward; thence to port light to mod- 

 erate winds i^revailed. 



An accident occurred on the 15th from the use of Seattle coal, in which 

 the vessel narrowly escaped a serious disaster. This coal contains a 

 large percentage of gas, and burns quickly, with a long flame and 

 intense heat, both commendable qualities with specially constructed 

 boilers having large combustion chambers. The boilers of the Alb<(,- 

 tross, however, are designed for the use of anthracite and the slower 

 burning of the bituminous coals, and consequently combustion takes 

 place largely in the steam drum and smokestack when burning the 

 highly inflammable varieties from the Puget Sound region, a red-hot 

 funnel being of too ii"equent occurrence to attract special comment. 

 On the occasion in question, without warning, the simultaneous igni- 

 tion of soot in boiler tubes, steam drum, and smokestack superheated 

 the steam to such an extent that solder on an extension joint of the 

 main steam pipe began to melt, and the lower seams of the steam drum 

 commenced to leak ; the engine packing was burned out and the wooden 

 casing protecting a small steam pipe which passes through a coal bunker 

 was ignited, smouldering until the following day, when it was discov- 

 ered and extinguished after the removal of many tons of coal. Leaks 

 in the boilers increased to an alarming extent after the occurrence 

 above related. 



We reached the Fox Islands Passes on the evening of the 18th, lay 

 to until daylight, and- reached Uualaska at 11 o'clock next morning. 



A constant and vigilant lookout was kept for seals during the trip, 

 but none were seen. They tbllow a fairly well-defined route which, 

 during the northern migration, is confined to the general direction of 

 the shore line and does not depart very far from it. One sealing vessel 

 was seen off the coast of Vancouver Island, within sight of land. 



Application was made to the North American Commercial Company 

 for coal immediately after our arrival, the Government having con- 



