The Bureau of Fisheries 



199 



and 1 900 the Albatross was put under the 

 direction of Professor Alexander Agas- 

 si/., who carried on very extensive inves- 

 tigations off the Pacific coasts of Mexico, 

 Central America, and South America, 

 about the Galapagos Islands, and in the 

 South Pacific. During last summer and 

 fall she was placed in charge of the 

 Alaska Salmon Commission for the 

 study of the Alaska salmon fisheries; 

 and now she is just entering on a com- 

 prehensive and thorough physical and 

 biological survey of San Diego and Mon- 

 terey bays. 



THE GREATEST DEPTHS WHERE LIFE 

 HAS BEEN FOUND 



While carrying on her work the 

 Albatross has made more than 10,000 

 soundings, and more than 4,000 dredg- 

 ings, and has brought up from the bot- 

 tom of the sea hundreds of tons of 

 fishes and other animals and mud. 



The greatest depth from which the 

 Albatross has secured any life was 4, 173 

 fathoms. This was in the South Pacific 

 between Tonga and Ellice Islands. The 

 dredge brought up silicious sponges, 

 radiolarians, and brown volcanic mud. 

 The greatest depth from which she has 

 brought up fishes is 2,949 fathoms, or 

 about 3^3 miles. This was in the edge 

 of the Gulf Stream off the coast of Vir- 

 ginia.. The deepest sounding ever made 

 by the Albatross was at Station 4010, 

 near Guam, where the enormous depth 

 of 4,813 fathoms, or nearly 5^ miles, 

 was found. 



The deepest sounding ever made by 

 any vessel was by the U. S. S. Nero 

 while on the Honolulu-Manila cable sur- 

 vey, with apparatus borrowed from the 

 . Ubatross. When near Guam the Nero 

 got 5,269 fathoms, or 31,614 feet, only 

 66 feet less than 6 miles. If Mount 

 Everest, the highest mountain on earth, 

 were set down in this hole, it would 

 have above its summit a depth of 2,612 

 feet, or nearly half a mile of water. 



The deep-sea collections of the Alba- 



tross from time to time have been 

 assigned to specialists throughout the 

 world for study and report. They have 

 been marvelously rich in new and inter- 

 esting species. About 100 new genera 

 and more than 2,500 new species have 

 been based on the collections of the 

 Albatross. The results of the investi- 

 gations of the Albatross have been pub- 

 lished in more than 275 separate articles 

 and reports which have appeared chiefly 

 in the publications of the United States 

 Fish Commission, the United States 

 National Museum, and the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology. 



The Fish Hawk, another steamer be- 

 longing to the Bureau, was built in 

 1880. This is a vessel of 484 tons, 

 156^2 feet long over all, 27 feet beam, 

 and was constructed expressly for the 

 Fish Commission "to serve as a float- 

 ing hatching-house for the production 

 of shad, herring, striped bass, etc., and 

 capable of being moved to any place 

 where the breeding fish can be found. ' ' 

 The Fish Hawk is also equipped for cod 

 and mackerel hatching and for scientific 

 investigation in the bays and sounds 

 and other coastal waters. Every spring 

 she is engaged in hatching shad and 

 other species on the Atlantic coast at 

 various stations from Florida to Maine. 

 Besides this she has done a vast amount 

 of dredging in connection with the sur- 

 vey and study of the oyster beds and 

 fishing grounds of the Atlantic and 

 Gulf coasts. In the winter of 1898 and 

 '99 the Fish Haivk made an investiga- 

 tion of the aquatic resources of Porto 

 Rico which yielded very important 

 economic and scientific results. 



The Grampus, the third of the larger 

 vessels of the Bureau, was built in 

 1886. This is a two-masted schooner, 

 90 feet long over all, 22 feet 2 inches 

 beam, and 83.3 tons displacement. The 

 Grampus was constructed for a number 

 of purposes. Being built with a live- 

 well, fishes and other marine animals 

 can be brought to the hatching; or the 



