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Date: April 25th 1885
Diary

April 25 - A fine bright warm day. The same story continued, running on sand bars about every half hour, and only getting off by all hands going ashore and pulling on a long rope, or shifting about from boat to scow or from scow to boat. About twenty times a day the cry was by the officer of the day, "All hands on the flats". Then getting off and on the way again, we would hear the sounding pilot taking soundings with a 12-foot pole, call: "4 ft. scant, 4 ½ ft., 5 ft., 6 ft., no bottom. No bottom!" Then it would be "6 ft., 5 ft., 4 ½ ft., 4 ft. scant, 3 ft., 3 ft. small, 2 ½ ft.", and chuck up on a sand bar to rest for an hour. About noon ran on a sand bar. Worked all the rest of day with the spars and windlasses, one of which got broken towards evening so have to suspend operations until tomorrow. All went to bed feeling more or less out of sorts.