176 University of California Publications in Zoology \Vou.9 
which we were engaged, it was decided that the boat should be 
wide and shallow in proportion to length, should be fitted for 
sailing as well as for motoring, should have a center-board 
instead of a deep keel, two driving engines instead of one, and 
plenty of stern overhang to insure the safety of the collecting 
lines and nets from the propeller blades. The plans presented 
by L. Jensen, a San Diego boat builder, were accepted and the 
contract let to him. 
The ‘‘Agassiz’’ (pl. 22, figs. 5 and 6) 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 
unencumbered, the wheel being placed behind the rear mast. 
Her foremast was at first 65 feet high, carrying a boom and 
large mainsail, and her mizzen-mast 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. Immediately 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 bulk- 
head 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 twa 
distillate tanks of 460 and 230 gallons capacity and a 100-gallon 
gasoline tank. 
The ‘‘ Agassiz’? began work in June, 1908, and the first 
season made it clear that her rigging was too heavy; 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. Consequently the following year the mainmast 
was cut down 15 feet and reduced in diameter; both main and 
mizzen-sails were made lighter by changing them to the leg-of- 
mutton pattern; the wheel was placed in a pilot house immedi- 
