The Hawaiian gazette., 1902-07-29
NEAR EMO
Of CRUISE
AIbatrOss Goes TO
San Francisco
Soon.


Mokapu point and tells a story of a
strange steamer that came within an
ace of going ashore on the point the
other night and got away just i'm tine
To save herself, don't you imagine that
YOU have a big piece of news in sight
for although "a steamer did describe
almost those same antics she was
never in any danger. and we are the
steamer" said Captain Themes of the
United States Fish Commission steam
er Albatroes on Saturday, while the 9TH
er officers on board enjoyed a hearty
laugh.
1t seems that during her sounding
and dredging cruise the Albatross' COR
mander decided one evening to ap-
proach Mokapu Point to make sound
ings and ne approached quite close in
shore TO make his work as complete
as possible. The fishermen in the vi
c.nity saw the strange vessel ana in
few minutes decided tnat sn.: was go
ing to destruction. They prepared
lights in their boats and on shore To
warn her and momentarily expected
the fine steamer to go ashore, but moth
ing OF that nature happened. AS soon
as Captain Thomas had completed his
work he sailed quietly away leaving
the fishermen wondering as 70 the fate
of the craft which had approached 50
near the shore, yet had got off in
safety.
The Albatross returned from a fif-
teen days cruise on Saturday and her
work for the United States Fish Com
mission in Hawaiian waters is now
nearly completed. on leaving Homo
lulu on July she went to the Pen
gum Bank TO take soundings and
dredge. From there she went to Ha
wall and made n sounding and dredg
ing cruise right around thai island ior
distance OF 1000 fathoms out from
shore. Leaving Hawaii she continued
her work along the weather side Of
Maui. where Il very favorable bottom
for dredging work was encountered,
and then worked on through the Nolo
kai channel up the Kalwi channel and
around the northern side of oahu Is
land, coming into Honolulu from the
direction of BARRIERS Point
On July 81 the vessel will go to Bird
Island. an uninhabited speck on the
ocean EGO miles from Honolulu. Here
she win complete work that she was
engaged upon some time ago. She VIII
sound and dredge all around the shore
and make Investigations on the island
itself. On her previous trip there the
surf was beating so heavily that the
Albatross was unable to land anyone
on the island. Captain Thomas found
a bank there over which the water is
very shallow. This bank IL abont eight
miles of the island and he wishes to
complete a survey, of ii. on the way
back from Bird Island the Albatross
will do some work around Nilhau Is
pixyt,, hnr he. ~
DR.. Jordan, chief scientist for the
Commission in the Pacific Islands. IL
now In Samoa doing the same class OF
work as he did in Honolulu about a
year ago. II Is expected that he will
return to Honolulu on the Oceanic liner
Sonoma on August IS, and II he Is sat
isfied that his work is completed in the
Hawaiian waters the Albatross will
sail for Gan Francisco at once. On ar
rival at the Coast she will probably
undergo some repairs, as the class Of
work she Is doing does considerable
damage to a steamers equipment.
DR.. Gilbert, who represents DR.. Jor-
dan in the work in Hawaiian waters,
told a reporter that the dredging done
by the Albatross on this trip was about
the same az that done previously but
that several new kinds of deep sea
life had been secured. He describes
the deep water about these Islands as
simply teeming with forms of life
many of them very novel and beautiful.
The Albatross has carefully preserved
on board an enormous collection Of fish
ana other deep sea life from these
waters.
Between Waianae and BARRIERS Point
the dredges brought up a great many
shrimps of different varieties, eleven
kinds Of shrimps coming up from the
bottom In one haul.
OFF Waialua two sharks were caught
and clinging TO the bodies of the sharks
were found one of the strangest OF all
fish-thc remora suck fish. This suck
fish has its sucker on the back of its
head and when ii once fastens to a
sharks body 1t is impossible for the
shark to get IL off,
Among other sea curiosities secured
were some strange varieties of sea
urchins and peculiar starfish The
latter Is peculiar and new kind ~
starfish and DR.. Gilbert describes IL a.
about six inches across, of a bright
red color, and as thin as the kind OF
pancake that a New Hampshire farm
er's wife would make for the hired
man" DR. Gilbert said that it was sd
thin that IL was "A very hard matter "a
preserve il ana before being placed in
spirits he mad il put between tive
boards which We're bound very closely
together and then placed In the speci-
men jar, There were other forms Of
sea life too numerous 10 mention and
the hold Of the Albatross is simply q
vast aquarium inhabited by denizens OF
the deep sea.
From a geological point Of view this
latest cruise OF the Albatross nigh
also be termed a success for she found
In sounding ana dredging that the sea
bottom and slopes OF the Island of Ha-
wall were very rough, indicating thai
the lava bottom is not OF So great an
age as that on the other Islands anG
that the old view that Hawaii is tbs
island az tbf. tst,.tu L. ,.r