INTRODUCTORY 



desk where all records, logs, etc., were kept. 

 Unhappily a large amount of provisions of the less 

 bulk^' order was also stowed in the cabin, along 

 with the hundred and one articles of all descrip- 

 tions which could find no other suitable place. 

 The confusion in the cabin was generally worse 

 confounded by the clothes, shoes, hats, and other 

 personal belongings of the men. A carpenter had 

 constructed a large folding table for meals and to 

 serve also for a work bench. At night or when under 

 way this was folded and stowed forward out of sight. 

 The Tomas Barrera is 65 feet on the water line, 

 20 feet beam, and draws between 9 and 10 feet, the 

 wide beam giving her the appearance of a larger 

 vessel than the dimensions would indicate. She is 

 far more strongly constructed than American ves- 

 sels of similar design, "stiff" and able and carries 

 a press of canvas which seemed to us too great for 

 her depth. There is no auxiliary engine. Besides 

 our own Gurnet launch, already referred to, we 

 had been most generously offered the use of a small 

 auxiliary sloop-rigged vivero, the Tarpon. She is 

 a high-powered little craft and served us well as a 

 tug and for many side excursions into shallower 

 waters. We also carried a tender. 



