‘a 
WORK OF THE STEAMER ALBATROSS. 311 
At 5.10 a.m. June 7 arrived in St. Paul, Kadiak. The only vessel in 
_ port was a small sloop used as a tender at one of the trading stations. 
Copies of the proclamation of the President of the United States, and 
instructions of the Secretary of the Navy to the senior officer command- 
ing the United States naval force in Bering Sea, were delivered to the 
deputy collector of customs and agents of trading companies with the 
request that they be posted in public places. We took on board 73 
tons of coal, and at 11 a.m. June 8 cast off from the wharf and pro- 
ceeded to sea. Cruising to the westward in the track of sealers, we 
continued to board and warn thei against sealing in Bering Sea, until 
our arrival at Sand Point, Popof Island, Shumagins, on the afternoon 
of June 10. No sealing vessels had yet reached that point; the fleet 
was expected during the latter part of the month. 
Our first fur seal was seen near Kadiak Island on the afternoon of 
June 8, only one being observed that day; but the following morning 
several were sighted off Chirikof Island. The sealers reported very 
poor success since leaving the vicinity of Middleton Island. 
In U.S. Hydographic Notice to Mariners, No. 46, of November 12, 
1892, paragraph 925, is the following: 
Captain Applegate, of the American schooner Matthew Hale, reports a shoal or 
bank, with 7 fathoms of water on it, extending 20 to 35 miles southeastward from 
Simeonof Island, Shumagin group. Cod fishermen anchored on the bank last year. 
The position of this reported bank, remote from land and outside of 
the 100-fathom line as established by the soundings of this vessel, occa- 
sioned no little surprise to the officers engaged in the work; hence, we 
took the earliest opportunity to investigate the matter. Fortunately, 
Captain Gaffney was in Sand Point at the time of our arrival, and as 
he had spent many years in the cod fisheries of the Shumagins he was 
able to give us reliable information. He was shown the notice quoted, 
and in reply said that the only bank he knew of in that vicinity lies 15 
miles ENE. (mag.) from the highest point of Simeonof, and has 27 
fathoms, rough, rocky bottom, on which he has been in the habit of 
fishing. It is of small extent and difficult to find except by bearings 
and ranges; a depth of 23 fathoms has been reported 14 miles east of 
the 27-fathom patch, but he had never been able to find it. He had no 
knowledge of the bank reported by Captain Applegate, but knew pos- 
itively that fishermen did not go so far from land in that region. 
In a subsequent interview with Captain Applegate he said that the 
report to him was vague, and he was not confident as to bearing, «lis- 
tance, or depth of water, but he gave the report as he remembered it. 
In view of these facts I think we may safely conclude that there is no 
bank in the position indicated in Hydrographic Notice No. 46, 1892. 
At 9.25 a.m. Junes11, we left Sand Point for a cruise to the west- 
ward, following the general track of sealers, but saw none between the 
Shumagins and Amukta (or 172d meridian) Pass, through which we 
entered Bering Sea on the morning of the 135th; neither were any met 
with between there and Unalagka. We made Bogoslof Volcano at 
