AMERICAN DREDGINGS IN THE CARIBBEAN SEA. 
355 
perience of the old officers saved us from the annoyances which 
always accompany the introduction of new methods. The Blalce 
was this year provided with a new double-cylinder reeling-engine, 
built by Copeland and Bacon, placed at right angles to the reel, 
on which our steel rope was wound. A small double engine 
revolved the reel, so that the wire rope was wound independently 
of the main reeling-engine. The wire rope was led to the port 
side directly from the main reeling-engine, then by a large 
wrought-iron sheave along the deck to the mainmast, thence 
across to the starboard side, and then along the deck to the reel, 
upon which it was wound. This worked admirably, relieving 
the reel, which thus became a mere spool, from all strain either 
in winding up or in dredging, the whole strain being taken up 
by the ten turns of the wire rope on the surging drum of the 
main reeling-engine. The arrangements for leading off the 
wire from the bow of the ship, through a large sheave at the 
end of the dredging-boom, were practically the same as last 
year. The steel spring accumulator was, however, replaced 
this year by one of car-rubber springs, suspended along the 
foremast, and to this accumulator was attached the pendant, 
running along the dredging-boom which carried the dredging- 
pulley. As Lieutenant-Commander Sigsbee is soon to publish, 
in one of the Coast Survey Beports, a full account of the dredg- 
ing and sounding apparatus used on board the Blake , I will not 
speak in greater detail of our apparatus. 
No change was made in our dredges. In the trawls several 
new forms were tried, but we found that the most satisfactory 
trawl was of the shape adopted last year, the only important 
change being the greater height of the runners — 30 inches. The 
bar connecting the runners was used as a frame to stretch a sheet 
of netting across the whole beam, so as to divide the trawl 
opening into two halves, each opening into the trap. This 
enabled us to give a longer lead line to the mouth of the double 
trawl, without the danger of fouling from the lead line of the 
other side. The only change I could still suggest would be that 
this lead line should run through rings at the corners of the 
runners ; the strain on the side which fell on the ground would 
take up the slack of the upper side, and thus increase still 
further the sweep of the trawl. Our trawl-nets were made much 
shorter than last year, and for deep work, when so much ooze is 
always likely to choke the trawl, it would be advisable for a 
ten-foot beam to have a net of not more than twelve to fifteen 
feet in length. 
We also tried dragging a heavy tow-net rapidly over the 
ground at great depths, in hopes of catching the more active 
Crustacea and fishes ; but we found that, after all, no deep-sea 
machine worked better than a trawl, which, when moved rapidly 
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