120 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FTSHERIEg. [4] 



tioii tliat may enable thein the more sucessfully 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 i^ossible facilities 

 for collecting and jpreserving such specimens as you may meet during 

 the cruise. 



Very respectfully, 



SPENCER F. BAIRD, 



Commissioner. 

 Gapt. Z. L. Tanner, 



Commanding Steamer Albatross. 



P. S. — The operations of dredging and 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. 



At 5.45 p. m. we anchored for the night in Cornfield Harbor with the 

 intention of swinging ship the next day for compass observations. At 

 5.45 the following morning we got under way and swung ship, first 

 with starboard helm, then with port, observing azimuths on every point. 

 She was then listed, first 5° to starboard, then 4}o to port, and azimuths 

 taken on every other point for heeling error. 



Lieutenants Wainwright and Diehl, TJ. S. IsT., were sent by the Bu- 

 reau of Navigation, Navy Department, to make magnetic observations. 

 They assisted in swinging ship, and at 11 a. m. went on shore to vibrate 

 the vertical and horizontal needles. After completeing observations 

 for heeling error, the needles were vibrated in the standard binnacle, 

 the compass being unshipped for the purpose. The latter observations 

 were continued after dark, light being furnished by an ordinary IC-can- 

 dle B electric lamp attached to a flexible wire. Experiments were made 

 as to its effect upon the compass a,nd the delicate magnetic needles, but 

 they were not iierceptibly affected. The magnetic observations were 

 comi)leted about 8 p. m., when we started for Fort Monroe to land Lieu- 

 tenants Wainwright and Diehl, who were to return to Washington. 

 The vessel was put under low speed and arrived at 5.45 a. m., April 26, 

 when the officers were landed and the steward sent to market ; and at 

 8 a. m. we got under way and proceeded to sea. After passing Cape 

 Henry we stood to the southward, parallel with the coast, keeping a 

 careful lookout at the mast-head and on deck for schooling fish, but none 

 were seen, although the weather was clear and pleassfnt with light winds 

 and smooth sea. 



We made Hatteras light at 10.20 p. m., and hove to for the night, 

 drifting slowly off shore. The search for mackerel was resumed in the 

 morning and two hauls of the trawl were made during the day, one 

 only being successful; the trawl fouling a wreck or other obstruction 

 on the bottom during the second haul, it was lost with eighty-five 



