The first French exploration, which was an experimental trip, was made in 1880 by the Travailleur in the Gulf of Gascogne. Its unhoped for results had so great an importance that the following year the government decided to continue its researches, and the Travailleur was again put at the disposal of Mr. Alph. Milne Edwards and the commission over which he presided. Mr. Edwards traversed the Gulf of Gascogne, visited the coast of Portugal, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, and explored a great portion of the Mediterranean. In 1882 the same vessel undertook a third mission to the Atlantic Ocean, and as far as to the Canary Islands. The Travailleur, however, being a side-wheel advice-boat designed for doing service at the port of Rochefort, presented none of those qualities that are requisite for performing voyages that are necessarily of long duration. The quantity of coal that could be stored away in her bunkers was consumed in a week, and, after that, she could not sail far from the points where it was possible for her to coal up again.

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