GULF OF MEXICO 



25 



line explorations by authorizing the President to 

 "cause a survey of the coast of the United States 

 and to employ proper persons in accomplishing 

 the purpose prescribed in the act," for which a 

 sum not exceeding $50,000 was appropriated. 

 From 1816 to 1843 the reports of the Superin- 

 tendent of the United States Coast Survey, 

 made in compliance with this act, contained no 

 references to the work in the Gulf of Mexico. 

 Some explorations in the Gulf were conducted, 

 however, by the United States Navy. In 1839 

 the U. S. S. Vandaiia, under the command of 

 Uriah B. Levy, was engaged, from February 4 

 to August 3, in the hydrographic exploration 

 between Galveston and the southwestern pass of 

 the Mississippi River.^ 



The reconnaissance survey of the Gulf coast 

 was commenced by the United States Coast 

 Survey in January 1845 (Report of the Super- 

 intendent for the year ending November 1846), 

 and since that time the work of the organization, 

 renamed in 1878 United States Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey, is being continued at the present time. 

 A large number of hydrographic and topographic 

 charts issued during this time show the high degree 

 of perfection achieved by this agency during more 

 than a century of continuous work. The years of 

 different surveys made in various sections of the 

 Gulf can be found in the Hydrographic Index 

 Charts, Nos. 80-91, and Topographic Index 

 Charts, Nos. 20-32, issued by the United States 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



The main features of the Gulf — the configura- 

 tion of its bottom and the circulation of water and 

 its emergence as the Gulf Stream — were the ob- 

 jects of many investigations. The exploration of 

 the Gulf Stream was commenced in 1844 by Davis 

 (Report of the Superintendent, U. S. Coast Sur- 

 vey, year ending November 1846) and was 

 continued by Bache in 1846, who inaugurated a 

 series of deep-sea investigations of the physical 

 problems connected with the Gulf Stream (Bache 

 1852, 1859). This work was expanded by his 

 successors in the United States Coast Survey, 

 Benjamin Price, Carlile P. Patterson, and Julius 

 E. Hilgard. The results of the Gulf Stream ex- 

 plorations, including observations of distribution 

 of water temperatures in the Florida Channel 



' Copy of the chart of the cruise of the Vandaiia is in the Library of the 

 American Geographical Society of New York. 



and Straits, were discussed by Bache in several 

 articles (Bache 1854, 1860). 



In 1850, at the recjuest of the United States 

 Coast Survey, Professor Louis Agassiz undertook 

 an extended biological survey of Florida reefs and 

 obtained valuable information concerning the 

 topography of Florida, the mode of formation of 

 reefs by cementation, and the origin of the 

 Florida Keys (L. Agassiz 1880). 



Occasional references to bottom animals of the 

 Gulf are found in French publications of Folin 

 and Perier (1867-72), in which are described 

 several new species of mollusks and ostracods 

 from the bottom deposits collected near Veracruz 

 and in Laguna de Terminos. 



Maury's (1858) classical book on the physical 

 geography of the sea contains no specific reference 

 to the Gulf of Mexico except a brief note con- 

 cerning the corrosive action of Gulf waters, which 

 were observed to be more destructive to copper 

 sheeting of ships than the water from any other 

 part of the world. 



Systematic deep-sea explorations carried out in 

 1867 and 1868 by Pourtales and Mitchel on the 

 United States Coast Survey ships Corwin and 

 Bihh consisted in dredging between Florida and 

 Cuba, at some places at a depth of 850 fathoms. 

 Many new types discovered in these collections 

 and the finding of species of corals and echinoderms 

 which were considered related to an antique fauna 

 of the Cretaceous period, proved that a study of 

 bottom organisms thriving along the course of the 

 Gulf Stream is of great scientific interest (Pour- 

 tales 1867; L. Agassiz 1852; A. Agassiz 1888, 

 V. 1, p. 49; Peirce and Patterson 1881). 



Explorations along the west coast of Florida 

 undertaken in 1872 by Commander Howell were 

 continued in 1875-78 in other parts of the Gulf 

 under the direction of Lieutenant Commander 

 Sigsbee aboard the United States Coast Survey 

 steamer Blake. In the following years the opera- 

 tions were extended, under the command of 

 Commander Bartlett, through the Caribbean Sea 

 and the Straits of Florida. Alexander Agassiz, 

 in charge of dredging operations of the Blake 

 expedition, made a geological study of Florida 

 reefs which had already attracted the attention 

 of his father, Louis Agassiz, Le Conte, and Hunt 

 (A. Agassiz 1888, v. 1, pp. 52-92).* 



< The geology of the Gulf of Mexico is discussed in an article by S. A. 

 Lynch in this book, pp. 67-86. 



