Umversity of CaUfoniia F'uhlicafioiis in Zoology [Vol. 15 



B. The "Alexander Agassiz" and Methods of Collecting 



1. THE BOAT ITSELF 



As plankton collecting, from the point of view of quantitative re- 

 search, dates hack to June, 1908, when the " Asrassiz" hegau work, a 

 description of the boat (see Ritter, 1912, p. 176) is here quoted: 



The "Agassiz" is 85 feet long over all, is of 26-foot beam, and draws 5 

 feet of water. She is schooner-rigged, and as originally built was a "ketch," 

 that is, a boat with deck area forward of the mainmast large and unencum- 

 bered, the wheel being placed behind the rear mast. Her foremast was at 

 first 65 feet high, carrying a boom and large mainsail, and her mizzenmast 39 

 feet, rigged with a boom. She has a spoon bow and a 15-foot overhang. As 

 launched the deck was without superstructures except the two-foot decking of 

 the cabin and engine house, these being separated by a narrow passage way. 

 Below the main deck the space was apportioned as follows: The forecastle 

 contained the galley, the chain locker, and a 110-gallon water tank. Immedi- 

 ately behind the forecastle came the cabin area, divided in the middle length- 

 wise by the center-board box, into a captain 's cabin forward on the starboard 

 side, and a stateroom aft; and on the port side the mess cabin and lavatory. 

 Separated from the cabins by a bulkhead is the engine room containing the two 

 propelling engines, the main hoisting engine, and the reeling drum for the 

 dredging cable. Behind the engine room is a lazaretto containing two dis- 

 tillate tanks of 460 and 230 gallons capacity and a 100-gallon gasoline tank. 



The tirst season's work made it clear that the "Agassiz" was rigged 



too heavily — 



that the wheel should be forward; that the scientific work should have better 

 accommodations on the after deck; and that the galley was too small. Conse- 

 quently the following year the mainmast was cut down 15 feet and reduced in 

 diameter; both main and mizzeu-sails were made lighter bj' changing them 

 to the leg-of-mutton pattern; the wheel was placed in a pilot house immedi- 

 ately aft the mainmast; a naturalist's house was built on the deck behind 

 the mizzenmast; and the galley was enlarged by partitioning off a portion of 

 the messroom. These changes greatl}- improved the vessel not only in sea- 

 worthiness but in comfort and in facilities for scientific work. As now ar- 

 ranged, the "Agassiz" has sleeping accommodations for nine persons, there 

 being two berths in the forecastle, two "Pullman" berths in the messroom, 

 two berths in the stateroom, one in the captain's room, and two in the engine 

 room. 



The twin driving engines are gasoline, 30 horse-power each, and were built 

 by the Western Standard Engine Company of San Francisco. The main hoist- 

 ing engine is a five horse-power gasoline built by the Union Gas Engine Com- 

 pany of San Francisco. The large reeling drum and its spooling apparatus 

 were designed by Mr. T. W. Ransom of San Francisco, a mechanical engineer, 

 and were built by the Union Gas Engine Company. 



