[25] WORK OF STEAMER ALBATROSS. 27 



day. While makiug this distance and taking two intermediate sound- 

 ings we were so beset by strong and erratic currents that it was only 

 by locating each position astronomically that we could keep near the 

 desired locality. 



If these currents were encountered by other navigators who were 

 steering a course without taking hourly observations, a very brief 

 period would be required to take them sufficiently out of their reckon- 

 ing to account not only for the vigia mentioned, but the soundings of 

 II. B. M. S. Phoibe and llosario to the eastward of Misterioso Bank, 

 which was itself doubtless reported in a multitude of positions before 

 it was finally located on the charts of to-day. 



Having sounded on the position of the vigia, we stood for Misterioso 

 Bank, which we crossed in from 12 to 14 fathoms, coral. We found 

 708 fathoms about three miles east of the bank, and 891 fathoms 2^ 

 miles to the westward. From this point, a course NNW. J W. (mag.) 

 was laid for Cape San Antonio, 189 miles distant, soundings being 

 taken until we passed the light on the evening of the 13th, when a 

 course was laid for Key West, Fla., where we arrived at .7.15 a. m. on 

 the 15th instant. It was our intention to search for shoals reported off 

 Cape San Antonio, but our coal running short, we were obliged to make 

 the best of our way to port. 



We finished coaling on the evening of April 17, and were detained 

 in port till the 27th repairing boilers. 



There were no boiler-makers to be found in the place, but with the 

 facilities of the Government machine-shop, which the commandant of 

 the station, Lieut.-Commander George F. F. Wilde, U. S. IST., placed at 

 our disposal, we were able to do the work with our own men. 



We reeled on a thousand fathoms of new dredge-rope while in port, 

 all the reel would hold, in fact, and made several tangle-bars and a 

 large supply of swabs preparatory to a search for Pentacrinus on our 

 return to the Cuban coast. The ground is said to be very foul where 

 they are found ; so we went prepared to lose any amount of gear and 

 still be in working order. 



We left Key West at 4.40 p. m., April 27, arriving in Havana at 6.20 

 the following morning, and moored to one of the government buoys. 

 The health officer came alongside and gave us pratique, and officers 

 from the captain of the port and the Spanish flagship Jorge Juan 

 called to offer the usual courtesies. An officer was gent to call on the 

 acting consul-general, Clarence C. Ford, to inform him of our arrival 

 and request him to make an appointment to call on the captain- 

 general. 



During the morning I called on the admiral, Florencio Montajo, and 

 the commander of the flagship; the latter officer returning the call later 

 in the day, and the fleet-captain returning the call on the part of the 

 admiral the following morning. At 11 a. m. the same day I made an 



