XXVI REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
secured by means of the trawl line. Owing, however, to a threatening 
storm the vessel did not remain Jong enough to do much work, its prin- 
cipal capture being a huge sword-fish, weighing some 700 pounds, taken 
on a small hook at a depth of 100 fathoms. 
On the 7th October the Fish Hawk took on board the apparatus and 
collections, and returned to Washington, stopping at New Haven long 
enough to leave the specimens for Professor Verrill, and at Wilming- 
ton, Del., for some repairs and apparatus. Before entering Chesapeake 
Bay a trip was made to the edge of the Gulf Stream, and additional 
collections of much interest were secured. 
My own departure from Newport, en route for Washington, took place 
on the 8th October. 
8.—THE STEAMER FISH HAWK. 
Reference was made in the report of 1879 to the appropriation by 
Congress for the construction of a fish-hatching vessel according to the 
plans prepared by Mr. C. W. Copeland, the naval architect of the Light- 
House Board. This vessel, a full and detailed description of which will 
be given in the report for 1881, was completed in the early part of 1880, 
but too late to be employed at once for her special object—the hatch- 
ing of shad. She was built, as stated, by Messrs. Pusey and Jones, of 
Wilmington, and when completed was registered at 484 tons of displace- 
ment. Her outfit included all the apparatus necessary, not only for the 
hatching of fish, but also for scientific research generally, including a 
hoisting engine of great capacity and a full equipment of dredges, 
trawls, deep-sea thermometers, ete. 
After a successful trial trip, and a subsequent completing of her 
equipment, she reached Newport on the 7th August, and was shortly 
after constantly occupied in the explorations referred to on another 
page. 
Three trips were made to the edge of the Gulf Stream south of New- 
port, as was also a fourth made off Delaware Bay. The vessel arrived 
at Washington on the 20th November, and on the 4th December went 
to St. Jerome’s Creek, at the mouth of the Potomac River, to procure 
some oysters for the ponds of the Oyster Park. In returning to Wash- 
ington she encountered ice in the Potomac River at Quantico, and was 
obliged to retrace her path and proceed to Norfolk for repairs, where 
she remained all winter. 
The experience of the season proved the vessel to be very effective 
and well adapted to her work. It was, however, thought better to 
lengthen her a few feet, so as to obtain a larger fish-hatching surface, 
and an application was accordingly made to Congress for an appropria- 
tion to carry this into effect. 
During the trip of the Fish Hawk to the Gulf Stream the great utility 
of a specially constructed vessel and of her apparatus for dredging was . 
fully tested. Her usefulness for investigation, when not engaged in 
fish-hatching, will doubtless equal expectations. 
