[41] FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 553 



is an iron band at the boom end for fore-and-aft guys. The topping- 

 lift band is about 3 feet from the end, and has a strong link on the un- 

 der side, to which is hooked the dredging block. The topping lift is 

 composed of two 14-inch double blocks and a 4-inch manila rope. The 

 upper block is shackled to an iron collar on the foremast, 3 feet below 

 the eyes of the rigging. There is a strong sheave in the boom, inside 

 of the lower topping-lift block, over which is rove the pendant of a 

 a tackle, used for hoisting the bag of the trawl on board, when the 

 weight is too great to be managed by hand. A composition sheave is 

 inserted in the heel of the boom, two revolutions of which are equal to 

 one fathom of dredge rope, and attached to its shaft is a register which 

 accurately records the amount of rope out at all times." The accumula- 

 tor, dredging blocks, safety hooks, wire rope, &c, belonging to the 

 dredging gear of the Fish Hawk, are described further on. 



Preparations for dredging. — "The rope being on the reel, the end is 

 passed between the rollers of the automatic guide, carried aloft and 

 rove through the block on the lower end of the accumulator, brought 

 down again and rove under the registering sheave in the heel of the 

 boom, thence through the dredging block at the boom end, and spliced 

 into the eye of the safety hooks. The boom is then topped up, and 

 secured over the side port by strong fore-and-aft guys, the trawl shackled 

 to the safety hooks and swayed up clear of the rail, a man at each end 

 to steady it, an engineer at the hoisting engine, and an officer in charge, 

 ready at the order to lower away." 



Sounding machines. — The principal sounding machine (Tanner's pat- 

 tern) is supported in the rail on the port side of the forward hurricane 

 deck, and a smaller machine of the same pattern is mounted at the 

 stern. 



The steamer Fish Hawk has been used for dredging purposes during 

 the summer months of the past three years, and has accomplished very 

 important results, notwithstanding the fact that it has been deemed best 

 not to trust her more than twelve hours 7 sailing from land. Her princi- 

 pal field of exploration has been the inner edge of the Gulf Stream slope, 

 off the southern coast of New England, down to depths of over 700 

 fathoms. She has been supplied with all the most improved kinds of 

 dredging and trawling apparatus, and has made continuous series of 

 careful temperature and density observations over the entire area of her 

 operations. 



LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHIC VIEWS, ILLUSTRATING: THE DREDGING AND 

 SOUNDING APPLIANCES OF THE STEAMER FISH HAWK. 



Plate 1. The forward part of the steamer, side view, with the dredg- 

 ing boom in position for use and the beam trawl ready for lowering. 



Plate 2. Forward deck, looking forward from the port side of the pilot 

 house, showing the hoisting engine, and the dredging boom resting 

 in the cradle. 



