348 ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 



Hon. G. M. Bowers, United States Fish Commissioner, 

 had definitely arranged to place the Albatross at his dis- 

 posal for this expedition. Agassiz was to have the ship 

 under the same conditions as in 1891 : he was to pay for 

 the coal, for fitting her out, and certain of the running 

 expenses. Preparations, already under way, were at once 

 completed for sending coal to various jaoints along the 

 route ; to the Marquesas by the sailing packets that then 

 plied between San Francisco and Tahiti ; and by a spe- 

 cial steamer from Australia to Tahiti, to some point in 

 the Paumotus, to Suva, and to Jaliut in the Marshall 

 Islands. 



Agassiz again took with him the same assistants he 

 had on his two previous expeditions, besides whom Dr. 

 C. H. Townsend, Mr. A. B. Alexander, and Dr. H. F. 

 Moore were detailed from the Fish Commission. 



The Albatross, under Commander J. F. Moser, U.S.N., 

 Lieutenant Hugh Rodman, executive officer, was waiting 

 in San Francisco. Agassiz boarded her there late in Au- 

 gust, 1899, for what was to be the longest of his expe- 

 ditions. A full description of this exploration would 

 require a volume ; a glance at Chart 2 will show the 

 track of the Albatross through the following groups of 

 islands : — Marquesas, Paumotus, Society, Cook, Tonga, 

 Fiji, Ellice, Gilbert, Marshall, and Caroline. On leaving 

 the Carolines, the Albatross touched at Guam and then 

 proceeded north to Yokohama, where she arrived on 

 March 4, 1900 ; here Agassiz left the ship. 



The Albatross, unfortunately, proved to be a very dif- 

 ferent boat from what she was in 1891. Her equipment 

 had been allowed to run down, and her boilers were in 

 such bad condition that she barely crawled against a 

 head wind. So in order to keep the time of the voyage 



