THE 1800 s -(Cont'd) 



throughout with electric lights, and Edison electric lamps were used at night for attracting and 

 observing marine life. Her long service career (1882 to 1921) included surveying the 

 Newfoundland Banks and the Caribbean and Bering Seas, visiting the scattered archipelagos of the 

 Pacific and serving in two wars. An example of the thoroughness with which the Albatross's 

 operations were conducted is illustrated by the orders issued Commander Tanner on April 10, 

 1883: 



"Sir: As soon as you can be ready for the service (of which you will give me a 

 week's notice), you will go to sea for the purpose of investigating the conditions 

 which govern the movements of the mackeral, menhaden, bluefish, and other 

 migratory species along the coast of the United States in the spring, commencing 

 your investigations off Hatteras, or in the region where these fish usually make 

 their first appearance, and following up the schools in their movements. 



The special work to be performed will be to determine the rate of progress 

 of the fish along the coast, their comparative abundance and condition, the 

 places where they first show themselves, the physical condition of their 

 surroundings as to temperature and currents of the water, its chemical and 

 biological peculiarities, etc. 



You will endeavor to ascertain whether the appearance of the fish at or 

 near the surface depends upon the condition of temperature, wind or sky, and 

 also, by the use of the apparatus at your command, what character of food in 

 the water seems to determine their movements. You will cause examination to 

 be made of the stomachs of such of these fish as you can capture and carefully 

 preserve a portion at least of the contents of the stomach for immediate or 

 future examination. 



Should you deem it expedient you will cruise off the coast a sufficient 

 distance to determine the outward line of the motion of the fish, and you will 

 communicate to such fishing vessels as you may meet any information that may 

 enable them the more successfully to prosecute their labors. The time of this 

 work is left to your discretion. You will whenever you touch at any port of the 

 United States send a telegram to me and await instructions as to further 

 operations, if there be nothing to detain you. 



You will give to the naturalist of the expedition all possible facilities for 

 collecting and preserving such specimens as you may meet during the cruise. 



Very respectfully, 

 Spencer F. Baird, Commissioner 

 P.S. — The operations of dredging arid trawling should be carried on as 

 frequently as opportunity offers, and if no suitable bait can be had, the trawling 

 line should be used for the purpose of determining the currents of desirable 

 fishing grounds." 



While ostensibly intended for fisheries research, her major contribution was in the field of marine 

 biology and in her 40-year career the Albatross probably amassed one of the greatest collections of 

 marine organisms made by a single ship. 



Another ship which distinguished itself was the Enterprise, a 197-foot, wooden-hull, steam 

 corvette with auxiliary sail power. From 1883 to 1886, under the command of Commander Albert 

 S. Barker, she sounded her way around the world taking depth soundings by wire at intervals of 

 one hundred miles and gathered an important collection of ocean bottom sediment samples. 



From 1884 to 1894, attention was also focused upon the Caribbean and North Atlantic. 

 Hydrographic surveys and a wide range of scientific investigations were conducted by such ships as 



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