5.-REP0RT ON THE CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT OF THE 



SCHOONER GRAMPUS. 



By J. W. Collins. 



A.— INTRODUCTORY NOTES. 



The purposes for which the Grampus was constructed are various, 

 and have an important bearing upon the work of the Commission. For 

 some time previous to her construction it was felt that it was necessary 

 to have a suitable sailing vessel provided with a well in which marine 

 fishes could be kept alive and transported from the fishing grounds to 

 the hatching stations on the coast, where the eggs might be obtained 

 for the purpose of artificial propagation. 



It could also serve a useful purpose by bringing in alive various ma- 

 rine species not, perhaps, in a gravid condition, which can be put into 

 large aquaria, and thus afford to biologists the opportunity to study 

 the habits of our ocean fauna under conditions that can not possibly 

 be otherwise afforded. 



It is also believed that a welled vessel, which is seaworthy and swift, 

 will be able to visit European waters and bring therefrom alive to the 

 United States certain marine species which do not occur in American 

 waters, and which are held in high repute for food. The introduction 

 and propagation of such fish as the sole, turbot, plaice, brill, etc., in 

 our waters will doubtless be of great advantage to the United States, 

 not only in giving to our people additional species of delicate food-fishes, 

 but also in introducing for their capture the method of fishing with a 

 beam-trawl, which is not at present in vogue here, and may, perhaps, 

 profitably employ many vessels and men. 



With the object of testing the practicability of using a beam-trawl 

 in American waters in a commercial way, the Grampus was provided 

 with a trawl such as is used in the fisheries of the North Sea, and cer- 

 tain modifications were made in her construction to fit her for operating 

 it. While we have not the species of flat fishes which constitute the 

 principal objects of the beam-trawl fishery in Europe, there are, never- 

 theless, several varieties in our waters that are nearly as good, and it 

 is probable that in many localities on the sandy and muddy bottoms 

 frequented by these off our coast the beam-trawl may be very effect- 

 ively employed. 



Ll] 437 



