The Portland daily press., 1895-05-08
DEEPEST SEA FISHING.
Uncle Sam Sinks Hook and Line Five
Miles Under the Surface.

His Bait is an Electric Light, and His
Game is Curious Specimens of Deep Sea
Life.-Curious Adventures on Board
the Fishing Boat AIbatross, which Cost
$1OO, goo and Was Built Especially for
Deep Sea Work. Flights with Sharks
and SwordGsh.
Few people eat fish at a. depth of 500
feet. There are fewer fishermen at
depth of 4,500 fathoms, or $4,000 feet
This is depth of about five and one
half miles. 1t takes a heavy sinker and
Il strong line to reach this enormous
ocean depth. Uncle Sam is the only an
gler in the world who insists on such
deep sea fishing and measures depths
not by hundreds OF feet, but by actual
miles. He hasa boat built specially for
the purpose. This vessel, the United
States Fish Commission steamer Alba
tross comes into San Diego harbor fre-
uuently, and is an object OF rare interest
to the landsman, writes correspondent
of tbs Chicago Triubne from San Diego.
Cal.
The Albatross is strictly scientific
fishing craft. She cost over 100000, is
2S4 feet long, and of 1,074 tons displace-
ment, with brigantine rig. Her busl-
ness is to follow ocean fish MS they
migrate from their summer to their win
ter habitat, aud observe their manner
of life. This work includes the collection
CHI Of
q, 200 feet to the surface. The tremen-
dous scope of this work is hardly appre-
ciable by minds not couversant with the
details of it. 1t involves not only the
exercise of a rare scientific talent, but
also the exercise of mastery seaman
ship in carrying out the demands of
science in securing fish specimens. For
instance, the ingenuity of the scientist
and navigators has resorted to the en-
pIoyment of the electric light at great
depths in order to attract heretofore un-
known and otherwise unobtainable fish
into the trawl which is let down from
the ships side.
In this way small fish are usually
caught, Sometimes when the electric
light is near the surface OF the ocean,
large fish ale attracted by the illumlna-
tion. The light seems to make the big
fish angry Sharks, for instance, Will
dart at the light as if it were deadly
foe.
LOWERINGAT THE LIGHT.
The light is sometimes lowered 500 feet.
from the surface At depth of seventy
feet the illumination becomes invisible.
When the light is twenty or thirty feet
g hon
their shadows are cast upward on the
surface of the sea, and from the deck OF
the ship the scene is weird indeed. 1t is
a veritable congress of monsters OF the
deep that sometimes gathers about what
to them is a wonderful sight An electric
lighted submarine home is something
novel even to tough old shark. Occas-
ionally man-eater shark is curious
enough to "monkey" with this electric
light and tries to swallow it. II the cleo
trio current supplying the light happens
to be strong the curiosity OF the med
ding shark is soon satisfied. In fact the
fish is shocked by the modem innova-
tion. 1t dies. The bodies of several such
shocked fish have floated to the surface.
1t has been noted that the erect OF
the electric light upon big fish has been
such that as deadly enemies us the shark
and the swordfish will swim up to the
light side by side, and SO amazed are
they by the wonderful shining bulb that
they appear to forget the deadly feud
existing between these piscatorial famil-
les and they do not rush at each other in
mortal combat. Other fish that usually
fight on sight lie down together, as 1t
were, i'll this shining presence, as might
lion and lamb.
The operation of sounding, or of fish
ing, at depth of tens of thousands of
feet, requires much skill in both the
management of the ship aud of the
sounding, apparatus. In ordinary deep
sea sounding three-eig inch steel
wire is used. The tension on this wire
must be constant, else it will kink, thus
reducing the tensile strength so per
cent. Ocean currents complicate deed
sea exploration. A surface current is
quickly detected and guarded against,
but when the rope or sounding line is
swept under the bottom of the ship Ly a
su bmarine current, with perhaps thous-
ands of fathoms of line out, it requires
great skill and patience to clear the line
without kinking, and thereby possibly
losing a portion of it. When a deep sea
sounding is to be taken the sinker is
lowered to the water's edge. A ther-
mometer and water specimen cup are
ciamped On to the line of wire. An
officer takes his station beside the sound
ing machine. Seamen are at hand at
tending to the guide pulleys. A fireman
stands with his hand on the throttle of
the sounding engine, awaiting the
officers command. The record keeper
takes his position beside the register,
where he can read it readily. This regis
ter shows the number of fathoms of line
paid out. At the order "Let go!" the
sinker shoots down into the ocean at
speed of ten or fifteen feet per second.
The record keeper makes note Of every
hundred fathoms of line paid out. The
Off GER of the deck maneuvres the ship in
a way that will keep the wire line verti-
cal. The instant the sinker strikes the
bottom Of the sea, miles below the ship,
the sounding engine is stopped The
record keeper notes the numb Of turns
indicated on the register, and the slack
line is hove in by hand until it clears
the bottom. Then the sounding engine
il reversed and the line is hauled aboard
about as fast as it was paid out.
THE SOUNDING CUP.
The water specimen cup or hottie,