178 ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 



work, and dredging is not a cleanly process ; the quan- 

 tities of material brought up from the bottom often 

 made the bow of the Blake look like a mud scow. 



Leaving New Orleans, the Blake returned to Key 

 West to continue her regular work of sounding. But 

 before sending ashore the dredging apparatus, Captain 

 Sigsbee ran over to Havana in the hope of supplement- 

 ing the exceedingly rich collections with a few speci- 

 mens of Pentacrinus from one of the localities where 

 they had found innumerable fragments of stems. In 

 this he was most successful, for at a point on the coast, 

 about one and a half miles to the eastward of Morro, 

 he succeeded in bringing up no fewer than twenty per- 

 fect specimens. 



In the fall the Blake was again placed at Agassiz's 

 disposal. He joined the ship at Washington on Novem- 

 ber 27, 1878, once more taking Mr. Garman as his 

 assistant. On this voyage the vessel was in command 

 of Commander J. R. Bartlett, U.S.N., though there 

 were still on board a majority of the officers who had 

 been so efficient in the work of the previous season. 

 Proceeding directly to Havana, they made two casts of 

 the dredge on the Pentacrinus ground discovered by 

 Captain Sigsbee, and brought up a few specimens. 

 They then kept along the north shore of Cuba, through 

 the Old Bahama Channel, without stopping to sound or 

 dredge, as this was an old line of Pourtales years ago 

 in the Bibb. Some hauls were made off Jamaica, whence 

 they were obliged to keep on to the eastward without 

 stopping till off Porto Rico, for the trade winds kick up 

 a considerable sea at this time of year, which endangers 

 the apparatus if used in exposed regions from such a 

 small boat, and makes getting to windward an uncom- 



