20 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONEE OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [18] 



finally accepted ami we went on to Kingston, where we anchored at 1.23 

 1>, m. A boat was sent for the United States consul, George E. Hos- 

 kinson, who came on board. A visit was also received from an officer 

 representing the commandant of the naval station at Port Eoyal, with 

 offers of assistance. A large mail was received from the consulate. 

 Immediate inquiries were made for coal, and at 9 a. m., March 3, we went 

 alongside the English steamer Grip Fast lying at the coal wharf and 

 coaled ship across her decks. At I p. m. I left the shij), and, accom- 

 panied by the United States consul, made an official visit to tbe gov- 

 ernor. Sir Henry Norman, and at 2 p. m. lunched at King's House with 

 the governor and his family. At 4 p. m. I called on tlie commandant 

 of the naval station at Port Royal, tlie call being returned the follow- 

 ing day by Lieutenant Swan, K. N., representing the commandant in 

 his absence. We finished coaling at 3.15 j), m. and left the wharf, 

 anchoring in the harbor. The fires were then hauled and repairs 

 commenced on the boilers ; other repairs were already under way, and 

 having expended our sounding-shot, a fresh supply was ordered. At 

 1.50 p. m. March 5 the governor and aid-decamp visited the shij) and 

 made a thorough inspection of the vessel and her apparatus. 



The trades, which had been light since our arrival, increased to their 

 full force on the Gth, and continued during our stay. The breeze would 

 spring up between 8 and a. m., attain its greatest force about 2 p. m. 

 and the least about 7 or 8 p. m. A heavy swell came up with the wind, 

 which made communication in the harbor with small boats rather a 

 difficult matter. Our steam-cutter and gig, however, made us practi- 

 cally independent of wind and sea. 



We usually had one or more showers during the day, and in Santiago 

 de Cuba we had heavy rain. The showers continued in Kingston until 

 the strong trades set in, when they ceased, and we had several dry 

 days in succession, an unusual occurrence since our arrival in the Carib- 

 bean. 



The naturalists were busily engaged collecting during our stay in 

 port and found it excellent ground, the best in many respects that we 

 had found in the West Indies. 



Eepairs on the boilers were finished March 10 ; engineers and pay- 

 master's stores on board, and the sounding-shot, the last articles to 

 complete our outfit, were received on the morning of the 11th, and at 

 11.40 a. m. we got under way and proceeded to sea. Arriving near 

 the edge of the bank, Ave put the tangles over, but unfortunately they 

 fouled on the bottom and were lost. We then ran a line of soundings 

 S. I E. 15' at varying intervals, crossing the center of California Bank 

 in 26 fathoms. At 6.40 p. m. we sounded in 966 fathoms, sand, lati- 

 tude 170 3G' 10" N., longitude 76° 46' 05" AY., and put the trawl over, 

 lauding it on the bottom at 8.20 and on deck at 10 p. m., after a suc- 

 cessi'ul haul. One rather remarkable specimen was a large earthenware 

 jar, with its surfaces pretty well covered with worm-tubes. We steamed 



