Haddon and Green — Second Report on Irish Marine Fauna. 55 
by Captain Sigsbee's experiences in working the wire rope, I was 
always careful to keep easy way on tlie steamer, until I thought that 
the trawl was on, or close to, the bottom. Then, if the breeze was 
fresh, we set the jib, which kept the ship's head off the wind, and caused 
her to drift to leeward at a rate sufficiently fast for working the trawl. 
When the swell was heavy we worked in the reverse direction, steam- 
ing slowly to windward. The result of our plan of working was, that 
we never had a foul trawl or dredge, and we were not troubled by the 
wire rope kinking while in the water. The kinks which did form, 
after use with Manilla rope, were on deck, between the donkey-engine 
and reel. 
The weather, on the whole, was unfavourable for our work ; on one 
day only (that on which we steamed out to deep water) was the sea 
fairly smooth. A south-westerly gale brought in broken weather and 
a heavy sea. A large amount of coal and of time was, in consequence, 
expended in steaming to and fro to the dredging ground, and a very 
short time comparatively was at our disposal for actual dredging. 
To illustrate some of the difficulties we had to contend with, I 
shall conclude my report with an account of the loss of our curved 
dredge. 
During the south-westerly gale, the sea at the time running very 
high, we risked two hauls — one with the curved dredge and one with 
the Agassiz trawl — in about 80 fathoms, off the Skelligs ; both hauls 
were wonderfully rich in interesting forms of life ; but we had to run 
for the shelter of Valencia Harbour. Kext day the wind had shifted 
to the north-west, and, though still blowing hard, we determined to 
attempt another haul on the same ground. 
The sea was running higher than on the previous day, and topping 
a good deal. On reaching the ground, I determined to use the curved 
dredge; and as the donkey-engine could not be worked if we went 
head on into the sea, I had to shoot the dredge running before the 
sea. When enough rope was veered, I wished to stop the engine; 
but though the jib was set to keep her head off, the captain considered 
that with the sea running nearly as high as the top of our funnels, 
the risk of a broach to was too great. I was therefore compelled to 
vere more rope, and let the engines continue working. This gave us 
too much way ; the dredge tore away over the ground at a great pace, 
and, when we hauled in, the iron arms of the dredge came up, but the 
body of the dredge and net were left behind. Further attempts in 
such weather being useless, we sought the shelter of the Kenmare 
River. 
