Unalaska, Alaska
Next, temporarily assigned to the Revenue Marine Service under the Secretary of the Treasury, "Albatross" departed San Francisco on 19 March 1892, bound for Unalaska, Alaska, the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands, to conduct fur seal investigations and gather ". . . information on questions at issue between the United States and Great Britain." Among her special passengers on this cruise were a resident naturalist, a fishery expert, a special agent of the United States Treasury, and two seal hunters, one of whom was an "interpreter of Chinook jargon." In July 1892, however, leaky boilers compelled the steamer to transfer the fishery expert and one seal hunter to the revenue cutter "Corwin", and the resident naturalist and the other hunter to the revenue cutter "Rush", to carry out what remained of her assignment as she began her return to San Francisco for repairs. En route, despite being hampered by steaming on one hastily repaired boiler, she brought in a confiscated sailing schooner to Sitka, Alaska, on 11 August and, while there, steamed out to sea and rescued the drifting whaling bark "Lydia".