On Deep-sea Dredging in the Gulf of St. Laiorence. 341 



XL VIII. — Notes on a Deep-sea Dr edging-Expedition round 

 the Island of Anticosti, in the Gulf of St. Laiorence. By 

 J. F. Whiteaves, F.G.S. &c. 



Until last summer (1871), so far as I am aware, no dredging- 

 operations have ever been conducted in the deepest parts of 

 the River and Gulf of St. Lawrence. In 1867 and 1869 I 

 dredged in upwards of fifty different localities north of the 

 Bay of Chaleurs, but never in deeper water than 50 fathoms. 

 The researches of Dr. Packard and others on the coast of 

 Labrador, those of Principal Dawson, Prof. Bell, &c. in the 

 Gasp^ district, together with those of Mr. Willis on the Nova- 

 Scotian coast, were all conducted in comparatively shallow 

 water. On several occasions I have called the attention of 

 the Natural-History Society of Montreal to the importance, 

 from a scientific point of view, of a careful investigation into the 

 nature of the animal and vegetable life of the greater depths 

 of the gulf, which seemed to me to promise a rich harvest of 

 new facts. 



A committee was appointed to petition the Dominion Go- 

 vernment to allow qualified observers facilities for deep-sea 

 dredging on board government vessels. Principal Dawson also, 

 as President of the Society, represented to the Honourable the 

 Minister of Marine and Fisheries the practical value of, and 

 the useful results that might accrue from, such inquiries, and 

 met with the most liberal response. The desired facilities on 

 board government cruisers were at once promised, the neces- 

 sary rope was provided, and no efforts were spared to make 

 the cruises successful. I was deputed by the Natural-History 

 Society to undertake the management of the expedition, and 

 left Montreal early in July 1871. My friend Mr. G. T. 

 Kennedy, M.A., of Montreal, an ardent zoologist, started with 

 me, but returned after he had been a few days at sea. 



The first cruise was on board the government schooner ' La 

 Canadienne,' and lasted three weeks. The ground examined 

 on this vessel was from Point des Monts (on the north shore 

 of the St. Lawrence) to the Mingan Islands, then round the 

 west point of Anticosti, and from there, in a diagonal line, to 

 Gasp^ Bay. Next, embarking on board the ' Stella Maris ' 

 at Gasp^ Basin, we made an entire circuit of the island of 

 Anticosti, sailing as far to the north-west as Sawhill Point, 

 on the north shore, and to the south-east as the Magdalen 

 Islands. We were driven to Bryon Island, one of the Mag- 

 dalen group, by a "nor'-wester," which of course prevented 

 our dredging there. As these investigations were entirely 

 subordinate to the special duties upon which the two schooners 



