[5] WORK OF STEAMER ALBATROSS. 375 



Three hundred fathoms 3J-inch Italian hemp dredge rope, two 11- 

 foot beam-trawl frames, one 8-foot beam-trawl frame, two 11-foot trawl 

 nets, two 8-foot trawl nets, twelve trawl weights, three large and two 

 small dredges, one 16-gallon tank, two 8-gallon tanks, twelve 2 quart 

 collecting jars, eighteen 1-quart collecting jars, twenty assorted bottles, 

 seventy- five homeopathic vials, 30 gallons of alcohol, 25 yards of cheese 

 cloth, one tow-net, two pairs forceps, one package of labels, one record 

 book, two dip-nets, two sieves, six sorting dishes, one " Construction 

 and Equipment of Albatross," quarto volume. 



CONSTRUCTION OF NEW BOILERS AND OTHER REPAIRS TO THE 



STEAMER. 



At 1.50 p. m. we got under way and stood up Chesapeake Bay, en 

 route for Washington. We passed the night in Cornfield Harbor and, 

 getting under way at daylight on the morning of the 9th, arrived at 

 Washington at 3.30 p. m. We remained at the yard until 9.55 a. m., 

 May 2, when we left for Baltimore, arriving and making fast to the 

 dock of the Columbian Iron Works and Dry Dock Company at 1.25 p. 

 m. of the 3d. 



We found the contractors much behind in their work, having, in the 

 first place, been delayed in getting material that would stand the test 

 required by the specifications. They also misapprehended the class of 

 work required, and were compelled to do by hand what a first-class 

 establishment would do with machinery. In order to forward the work 

 as much as possible the pipes, etc., were disconnected from the old 

 boilers by the engineer's department on board and other preparations 

 made for removing them. Owing to the failure of an appropriation the 

 Commissioner found himself unable to carry on shad-hatching at Havre 

 de Grace as extensively as he considered desirable, and to assist him in 

 this work we sent, on May 10, a detail of twenty-one men to that place 

 in charge of a commissioned officer. They returned to the ship June 18, 

 after the hatching season was closed, and proper acknowledgment was 

 made for the work done by them during the season. Surgeon J. M. 

 Flint, U. S. Navy, was detached on the same date and ordered for 

 duty under the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries. The contract 

 time for the completion of the new boilers also expired on that day. 



What with labor troubles, and with the difficulty of getting material, 

 the job was but half completed. The new donkey boiler was taken 

 aboard about August 1. One of the new boilers was taken on board 

 August 4 and the other on the 11th. We went into dry-dock August 

 19, to scrape and paint the ship's bottom. She was docked last in 

 Norfolk July 2, 1886, and although she had been in the water thirteen 

 months the bottom was not badly fouled. There was, however, consid- 

 erable rust wherever the dredge-rope and sounding wire had come in 

 contact with the bottom. On August 20 we received intelligence of 

 the death of Prof. Spencer F. Baird, U. S. Commissioner of Fish and 

 Fisheries, this sad event having taken place at Wood's Holl, Mass., on 



