THE ALBATROSS SOUTH SEA EXPEDITION. 



By H. F. Moore, Naturalist of the Albatross. 



In advance of the complete reports of the scientific expedition to 

 the South Seas of the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross, which 

 'will be published in the Bulletin of this Commission, the following 

 outline of the cruise is submitted: 



The vessel, under the command of Commander Jefferson F. Moser, 

 U. S. N., sailed from San Francisco on August 23, 1899. The scien- 

 tific work was under the direction of Mr. Alexander Agassiz, assisted 

 by a civilian staff composed of Messrs. A. G. Mayer and W. McM. 

 Woodworth, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology ; Mr. Maximilian 

 Agassiz, of Newport, and Messrs. C. H. Townsend, H. F. Moore, A. B. 

 Alexander, and H. C. Fassett, of the Fish Commission. The naval 

 officers attached to the ship at all times showed great interest in the 

 work of the expedition and furthered it by all means in their power, 

 rhey were Lieuts. Hugh Rodman and B. K. McMorris, Ensigns A. J 

 Hepburn, C. R. Miller, and C. S. Kempff, Surgeon J. C. Pryor, and 

 Paymaster Grey Skip with. 



Between San Francisco and Nukahiva, in the Marquesas Archi- 

 pelago, the first objective point, 26 soundings were made, resulting 

 in the development of a basin from 2,500 to 3,100 fathoms deep, lying 

 between latitudes 24° 30' N. and 6" 25' N., and probably extending at 

 least between longitudes 120° W. and 140° W. For this great oceanic 

 depression Mr. Agassiz has proposed the name of Moser Basin. The 

 floor of the Pacific over this depression, as, indeed, in a larger part 

 of the deep waters explored by the Albatross, appears to be pretty 

 completel}^ covered with a deposit of red clay and manganese. The 

 character of the deposit varies at different stations, being sometimes 

 in the form of slabs, but more often composed of rounded nodules of 

 various sizes up to 6 inches in diameter, sometimes smooth and some- 

 times mammilated, and often inclosing or partially inclosing the teeth 

 of sharks and the hard ear-bones of cetaceans. In the deep waters 

 where the manganese is not found the bottom consists usually of 

 globigerina ooze, gradually changing to pteropod ooze as the depths 

 decrease, then to fine and finally to coarse coral sand as the coral 

 islands are approached, or to volcanic mud and volcanic sand in the 

 vicinity of volcanic groups like the Marquesas and Society islands. 



On the morning of September 14, 22 days out of San Francisco, the 

 high island of Ua-Huka, in the Marquesas Group, was sighted, and 



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