No. 17. [From The Times, September 25, 1902.] 



THE CRUISE OF THE "PRINCESSE ALICE" 



(1902) 



THE steam yacht " Princesse Alice," with her owner, 

 H.S.H. the Prince of Monaco, on board, has just returned from 

 her fourth annual scientific cruise. Although nothing sensa- 

 tional occurred, much useful work was done, and a short 

 account of it may interest the readers of The Times. 



It is to be observed that, though only the fourth cruise of 

 the present yacht, it must be something like the thirtieth 

 cruise of the Prince himself. For many years all his sounding 

 and dredging was done by hand in the " Hirondelle," a schooner 

 of about 200 tons. Later, the first "Princesse Alice," of 550 

 tons, fully fitted with steam appliances, was used, and since 

 1898 the present magnificent ship, built by Messrs Laird, of 

 Birkenhead, has been in use. Every year several fascicules are 

 issued by the Press at Monaco ; and already the reports of the 

 scientific work of the Prince in his various yachts occup 

 large number of volumes, which contain original material of 

 th< greatest value; while for beauty of production, t\pe. 

 paper, and plates they have no rival. 



The yacht left Monaco on the i8th of July of this year, and 



made a -traiuht course to Gibraltar. No work was done on 



the way, and the passage wa- n<t interrupted except by the 



lit and capture of an Orca gladiator, an interesting species 



the whale tribe whieli i- prettv abundant in the Medi 

 terranean as well u in the North Atlantic. It- di-tm 

 feature is th.it it preys on other cetacean-, and being bolder 

 more easily approached, and \\h. n -truck it is apt to give 

 trouble than the Others, I ;tunalrlv. it i- not R9 large 

 as the -perm Of other well-known whales. 



ill.-,! up with COal, the -hip Irft (iibralt.ir on the 

 evening of the 2jrd of Julv. iped a course westw 



