16 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION 
22 inches by 36 inches. This type of engine is, in the opinion of competent authority, 
better adapted for whaling purposes than the compound engine, and more economical. 
The model and rig of these barks do hot differ very materially from those of an 
ordinary merchantman, but they have been built a little bulkier than the average 
whale-ship, for reasons already stated. They were, of course, provided with the 
necessary davits for hoisting boats, and the try- works which are characteristic of all 
vessels engaged in the whale fishery. 
The following particulars respecting the dimensions and the construction of modern 
steam-whalers were supplied by Messrs. Goss, Sawyer & Packard, Bath, Maine, who 
built them : 
Length between perpendiculars feet.. 150 
Length over all do... 160 
Breadth of beam do . . . 31£ 
Depth of hull do . . . 16 
Tonnage, gross 512 
Tonnage, net 343 
The engines are single, direct-acting, with two boilers of the Scotch type. Either 
anthracite or bituminous coal may be used $ 7 tons are consumed in 24 hours’ steaming. 
The rate of speed is about 10 knots an hour. The propeller is non-hoisting, has two 
blades, and is made of yellow metal. In the ice it is protected by the stern and rudder 
posts, the blades being in a line. The planking is of oak and yellow pine. The bow is 
sheathed with three-eighths of an inch of yellow metal and solidly timbered. Pro- 
visions are made for 30 men in the crew, and the quarters are heated by pipes leading 
from the boilers. 
II. -THE FUR-SEAL AND SEA-OTTER VESSELS AND BOATS. 
5. Vessels of Scon Francisco and Puget Sound . — A fleet of considerable size is 
employed in spring and summer in pelagic fur sealing from San Francisco and ports 
on Puget Sound. These are all schooners, some of which have gone to the Pacific from 
New England and are of the type commonly used in the Atlantic sea fisheries, while 
others have been built on the west coast. There is considerable variation in the size 
of the vessels composing this fleet, ranging from 18 tons to more than 100 tons. Some 
of the vessels were engaged in the halibut fishery, as well as in sealing, in 1888 and 
1889. Some vessels which engage in pelagic sealing during the spring and early summer 
find employment for a part of the season in hunting sea otters. Part of these are small 
schooners that are built in Alaska, and which have certain peculiarities. 
6. Alaskan schooners . — The Alaskan coast is high and broken, as a rule, particularly 
in that region where the principal fisheries are carried on, and because of this the winds 
are generally very unsteady near the land. Often a vessel may lie becalmed for several 
minutes under a bold headland and suddenly be struck by a squall sweeping down 
from the hills, and with such force that the best seamanship is required to prevent her 
from capsizing. Again, she may be sailing along with an apparently steady breeze, 
when, without warning, the wind comes swirTng around a point or headland (or the 
vessel runs into an “ eddy breeze”), causing the sails to jibe before it is possible to 
