, 1888-10-25


All length Gi5 cross al AiLatro--.
Through the fO- II cam;
A-If H. hal Hpen Christian soul.
We hy..ga IL IN GoI'S nam--'
Il tame UT m" At.t.Et u tftH.i.
When I returned in 1888 from. :.
cruise which | had made to Queen
Charlotte Islands, under direction Of
Professor Spencer L. Baird, to col
lect articles of Indian manufacture
for the L. $. Fish Commission and
National museum, [ called Professor
BG attention TO the fact that.
W Congress had made liberal ap-
p: lions for developing the fish,
e. s.. ne Atlantic, by means Of the
steamers Albatross and Fish Hawk,
and Schooner Grampus, not a dol
lar had been expended t. develop
the fisheries of the Northwest coast,
nor was anything known of the deep
sea fisheries except by the reports of
Jordan and Gilbert, Dali aad Bean
and my own undided reports and
collections, and urged him TO send
one Of their vessels 10 explore the
waters of the North Pacific ocean to
discover and locate fishing banks
and furnish information which would
point out ali the varieties of food
fish which might become available to
our fishermen and furnish d new elo-
meGt Of wealth to our Pacific States.
At first Prof. Baird was not in ia
For Of my suggestion, and wrote me,
IL what seems 10 have been Il pro-
phetic intimation, that ne had SO
many cares on his mind that he did
not thiDk he could add another, and
that his successor would probably be
able TO carry out my views.
But l continued to write, setting
forth *he necessity of some action
being taken by the government to
develop the Pacific fisheries, and al
length he wTo @ me that all my let
ters had been referred to Capt. Tan-
ner OF the Steamer Albatross, who
full " cO-inciGed with my views, and
plan OF action having been prepared,
Congress made the requisite appro
pciaJiOns and new boilers having been
furnished to the Albatross and the
steamer thoroughly equipped, Pro
fessor Baird wrote me, lin course OF
time you will see the vessel steering
into Port Townsend harbor" This
was II August, 1856, and the vessel
was expected to have been here in
1887. But Professor Baird's death
delayed her coming till tho. present
year.
On Friday, October 9Th, the Alba
ircss was here, and Capt. Tanner
kindly invited ;ac 10 go on short
cruise to enable see the meth
o6e adopted fc, 'iantItic re-
seal cheJWhic' - sent
here to maie
! Weleft ef
ths 9th, fa- Vie. .a .-.
Saunders, merchants
who had fitted ont l.
Theresa for Queen Charlotte
for black cod.
She had returned, Sept. 18th, with
about $500 OF these fine fish and had
again sailed for black cod with full
crew of Newfoundland fishermen.
Mr.. Saunders was most courteous,
and handed Capt. Tanner the log
book of the Theresa, from which we
ascertained that the black cod had
been caught of the vest side Of
Queen Charlotte Islands, in 2l0 and
go fathoms of water. That the fish
were very plenty, but the crew being
composed of Indians who would on
ly FISH when they liked, and were idle
much of the time, the results were
not so good as he anticipates will be
with the present crew of Newfound-
land fishermen. Mr.. Saunders has
since sent the schooner Mary Ellen
for black cod. He is determined to
go into the business on an extensive
scale and feels sanguine that when
the merits Of the black cod are known
to eastern mackets that there will be
a great demand Tor them, as they are
without exception the latest and
most delicately favored fish in the
North Pacific ocean.
MIR. Saunders has had some black
cod slightly smoked, one Of which he
presented TO US and we had it cooked
on several mornings on the steamer
for breakfast and found it most de-
Ici0us Capt. Tanner and his OIL
GERS pronounced the black cod, either
fresh or salted, to be one OF the most
delicate and nutritious of food fishes
and they fully agree with Mr.. Saun
ders that when the merits shall be
known to eastern markets there will
be a great sale for them.
From Mr.. Saunders store we went
to George Vienna's fish market on
Government Street. Vienna Is the
largest fish dealer in Victoria and he
told Capt. Tanner that he considered
the black cod the bost fish brought
to Victoria market; superior to sal
mon. He showed Us an immense
sturgeon from the Fraser river, which
weighed HOO pounds. It WAS u mon
ster
Sturgeon is plenty in the Fraser
river and the Columbia, but as d food
fish is not much esteetned although
is really one OF the most nutritious
of all food fish But people on the
Pacific coast have such quantities of
salmon, cod, halibut and other varie-
ties that they don't hunt for stur-
geon. 1t is enquired for by eastern
purchasers, and viii, before long,
take its place as an important and
voluable article OF food.
Although saturday Is not 3oou
day for fish III Victoria market, yet
we saw a goodly variety of salmon,
halibut, true cod, cultus cod, whiting,
kelp fish, tom cod, smelts, etc, and
quantities of crabs, shrimps and
prawns. When we left, Mr.. Vienna
presented Capt. Tanner buquet of
most beautiful dahlias, which was
accepted and duly appreciated as a
courteous act indicative of the friend
1y appreciation of the services which
the Albatross is rendering the pee-
pie of British Columbia, as well as
tie citizens of the United States by
her work OF developing the fisheries
of the North Pacific ocean.
George VIenna's boquet graced the
table in the Captains cabin our en-
tire cruise.