East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1915-05-29
(By c. X. Cranston.)

tlIic investigation OF fish and fish |
cries under the direction of the fed. !
eral bureau OF fisheries but is Off |
cered and manned by the navy de-
partment. Through acquaintances
which l made while officially connect
ed with the oregon Fish and Game
service l received an invitation to Join
an excursion around San Francisco
Bay and out through the Golden
Gate a few miles on the broad ex-
panse of the Pacific ocean, which
has been arranged as a compliment
to the delegates in attendance at the
National Convention OF the American
Ornithologists Union. We boarded
the Albatrosss at her anchorage In
Sausalito Bay, directly across from
the oregon building, and as soon as
all the guests were on board the an.
chor was hove up and we steamed
the length of the bay to the narrows
at Vellejo. near the Mare Island naval
station, where we turned about and
headed for the Golden Gate. We
passed out through this remarkably
narrow and deep harbor entrance and
on westward till we we're clear of the
bar. which extends across between
the outer heads and fairly in sight OF
the Faralon Islands, when We again
turned and retraced our course back
to the original berth in Sausalito bay.
The cruise lasted the whole day and
we covered about rs or so miles OF
distance l had a card of introduce
tion to the master, Lieutenant Por-
terrified, L. S. N, and by virtue OF
that was invited to the bridge" and
privileged to spend as much of the
time on this favored point of van
tage, as | wished The officers and
other pleasant people, whom l met,
were very courteous and altogether,
this, my first and only "day off"
from my duties in the Oregon build
ing was the pleasantest l have had
since leaving home.
The Albatross is employed, for as
much of the time as the funds appro-
priated for the purpose will allow, in
cruising the ocean and making scien-
tific and practical investigation Of
matters relating to marine life and
oceanography.. She was built espe-
cially for this purpose and is equip
ped with the most modern gear for
carrying on this work. This equip
ment includes a trawl, or drag-net,
with which they can fish" away
down in the deepest depths. The line
with which they drag is five-eighths
steel cable 5000 fathoms long and
1t is handled from a boom which
swings out over the side of the ship
and is controlled by a powerful
donkey engine. Captain Porterfield
had this trawl all rigged and ready
and when we got outside the bar he
had 1t lowered and we made a drag
along the bottom of the channel, just
to let us see, you know, how the thing
is done. The depth was not great,
about seven fathoms as l remember
1t, and the results were insignificant,
although interesting and to me some
what remarkable. We caught" a
Job lot of founders, shrimps, jelly
fish and (who would believe IT'D an
old shoe l wonder If the bottom of
the whole Pacific ocean is covered
with garbage. They say, You know,
that there is no wilderness so remote
but that empty tin cans may be
found but to fetch up a shoe from
the oceans bed was surely a sur
prise to me. although the sailors did
not appear to think it at all remark
able.
1 noted that the water of the up
per bay was quite roily and that as
we proceeded up in the direction OF
Vallejo 1t appeared to get thicker
They told me that it was the muddy
water which the Sacramento rivel
was bringing down and it undoubted
~ was the result of the recent un'
usually hard rains that have prevail
ed all along the coast. As We came
back down the bay we suddenl!
found ourselves sailing through beau
tifully clear water and on looking
little way astern could see a perfect
ly straight and sharply defined lin'
where the tide swept the clean watei
of the Pacific in to meet the mudd!
flood from the river
Besides the trawl the ship Is equip
ped with apparatus for sounding t.
the deepest depths and registerin!
the temperatures at various point
and also bringing to the surface sam
pies Of the water from any desired
point below the surface. The ar
rangement for this latter object i
quite ingenious and is effected by th'
use of "messinger" which is sen
down to open and when the SOUNDING
head Is filled, to close a valve. Thi
"messinger" consists of a weigh
which hangs on the wire by whiel
the lead is lowered in a similar man
ner to which boys sometimes sen'
messages up kite line.
My position on the bridge and con
tact with the captain and navigatin
officer gave me fine chance to lear
the details of how a ship is navlgate
and particularly view of the char
of the bay and bar, with the dept
of water marked at close intervals a.
over 1t. This chart was relevatio
in that 4 showed, what I had neve
known before, that the area Of dee
water suitable for anchorage of dee
) draft vessels, in San Francisco Bay,
comparatively small. The ehannt
leading TO Mare Island navy yard
not deep enough to accommodat
ships of the deepest draft, by an