April 5, 195S 
Bi', A» f?e1anore 
Agsletant Secretary 
0» S, Bttional Museua 
T?aar Br. Wetsioret 
In accordance with your letter of instruction of Horenber 9, 
1984 and litenrfr-e, 1955, I left WaBhington at 11*59 p.a., Hovmber 16 
for hoB Angeles. The expedition sailed aboax-d tha ? elem Jill. Captain 
flaneock coaw»andtng, about 10*80 a*«*, the forenoon of the 2Srd, A 
direct run was made to tha Galepai|g8 Is3.ands, there w© arrlred and 
anchored off Marchena or Blncaoe Island on Decaaber 2. Therg^ws Identi- 
fied the two bodies fomid on this tslend by a fiahtng boat week^ 
before. Shor© collecting was fair, and the tangles which w@ used on the 
rough bottoffl netted ua a number of intores in'/srtabrates, including 
Btarflshee, that «e had not encountered on either of our two former 
trios to the?© Islands. 
On the 4th of Decofflbei' w® mored to Charles Island, soa© ninety 
alias to the south, arriving there st 4.50 p.a, to lesra that Er» Ritter, 
resident there for the past five years, had died on the Slat of iJoveaber* 
The opportunity was taken to laprove o\ir collections fro» this island. 
Traps "were el^ set, but only a cat was caughtj two other traps dis- 
appeared. Cats are rather a pest, and rate appar-rxtly have a hard time 
getting to the baited trap ahead of them. 
Academy Bay, Indefatigable Island, was visited for full 
days, through th© night of Dec^aber 8. During this time we efi^eoted the 
salvage of a small native sail boat that had been carried away with its 
crew of four by the strong currents prevailing In the channels between 
the Islands, They saved th^selves the fate that befell the two men whose 
dead bodies we Identified on the beach at Marchena nearly a week before 
getting over an anchor in shallow water before they were carried heyon| 
the northern end of Indefatigable, They had been attempting to make 
Chatham Island from Academy Bay on the south side of Indefatigable. 
Anchored close to shore, th^ made their m&j back along shore to Academy 
Bay in search of h<^p, nearly a forty mile trip. CapiAin Hancock went 
up to the Gordon rocks where th^ were anchored and towed the boat back 
to its starting point in Academy Bay. 
Dec®aber 9 and 10 were ^ent at Tagus Cove exploring the salt 
crater lakes in this vicinity. From the second and larger lake some 
