[31] WORK OF STEAMER ALBATROSS. 401 



Shackford, the company's superintendent, pilotetT us to a convenient 

 berth. I went to Panama soon after we anchored, and called on the 

 United States consul-general, Mr. Adamson; Captain Dow, general 

 agent of the Pacific Mail Steam-ship Company; Mr. Henry Schuber, 

 and others, and at 10 a. m. on the 17th, in company with Mr. Adamson, I 

 called on the governor of Panama. The consul visited the ship on the 

 20th. 



We hauled the Albatross out on the beach at the Pacific Mail Steam- 

 ship Company's station on the morning of the 21st, and scraped and 

 painted her bottom, returning to our berth the following morning. The 

 U. S. S. Omaha, Capt. F. V. McNair, arrived trom Yokohama on the 

 23d, and anchored in the outer roads. I paid my respects to the 

 captain during the evening, the call being returned on the 2Gth. 



We were subjected to vexatious delays in getting coal, owing to a 

 scarcity of lighters; the first one came alongside on the 26th, and we 

 finished on the 28th, having taken on board 205 - 2 ^% tons, for which 

 we paid the Panama Railroad Company $17 per ton. The weather was 

 dry during our stay in Panama, with the exception of a few light mist 

 squalls. Northerly winds prevailed, although calms and light variable 

 airs were of frequent occurrence. The temperature ranged from 75° to 

 88° Fahr. It was the last of the dry season, and heavy cumulus clouds 

 could be seen gathering in the mountains daily, but the parched surface 

 of that elevated region robbed them of their moisture before they 

 reached the Pacific. 



We were under many obligations to the officers of the Pacific Mail 

 Steam-ship Company, the Panama Railroad Company, and Mr. Henry 

 Schuber for their efforts to forward our work and to make our stay as 

 pleasant as possible. * 



Panama to the Galapagos Islands. — We got under way at 10 a. m., 

 on March 30, and half an hour later commenced a series of dredgiugs to 

 seaward, making five hauls in from 7 to 51 fathoms, over an exceed- 

 ingly rich bottom, from which we obtained great numbers of specimens. 

 An unexpected depth of 1,927 fathoms was found the following morn- 

 ing in 6° 44' N., 80° 27' W. Porpoises, turtles, Hying fish, and birds 

 were constantly in sight, particularly about the numerous tide-rips 

 through which we passed. For half an hour, between 2.30 and 3 p. m., 

 we steamed through a blood-red sea, the margin of discoloration being 

 well defined and extending in irregular lines as far as the eye could 

 reach. This remarkable phenomenon had its origin in a dense mass of 

 minute forms of alga3, Trichodesmium, in a larval state, floating from 1 

 to 3 feet below the surface. This conferva is usually mistaken for ani- 

 mal life by seamen, and, when seen uuder a microscope, where the 

 minute particles will be observed darting about with great rapidity, it is 

 a difficult matter for the uninitiated to realize that they are of vegetable 

 origin. The surface-net was towed for fifteen minutes in the evening, 

 H. Mis. 133 26 



