NEW YORK TO SOUTHEFJSr FLORIDA. 51 



Depths, seven to fifteen fathoms ; bottom, saudy aud gravelly, with clams. A cod ground ; visited 

 by Xew York market smacks and sloops from Atlantic City using trawls. 



TowNSEND Geotjnd is a very small clay bank, situated about ten miles east-southeast of 

 Townsend Inlet. It is about ten rods square, with a depth of ten fathoms. This is a good sea- 

 bass ground in the summer; visited by New York market smacks. 



Heeefoed Geound lies about uine miles east of Hereford light. It is about four miles 

 square, with sandy and rocky bottom, and depths of uine to ten fathoms. Seabass grouiKl, of 

 the same character as the last. 



Five-Fathom Bank lies mostly to the north aud east of the buoy, located liortli of the Five- 

 Fathom Bank light-ship. It extends five or six miles east of the buoy, and one or two miles west 

 of it, aud has a width of about three miles. This bank is a series of gullies, the depths ranging 

 from three to ten fathoms, and the bottom consisting of sand, with many mussels. It is a winter 

 cod ground ; visited by the New Y'ork market smacks. 



THE COAST OF DELAWAEE. 



Old Ground. — The cross-bearings to the center of this ground are given as follows : Gape 

 Henlopen, bearing northwest, distant fifteen miles ; Indian Eiver, bearing west, distant ten miles. 

 This ground is about eight miles long, north and south, and three miles broad ; depths of water, 

 nine to fourteen fathoms ; bottom, rocky. It is one of the largest and oldest known grounds of 

 this part of the coast, and the most extensive rocky bottom south of Montauk Point. Cod are 

 taken here in the winter and sea bass in the summer by New York market smacks, and sea bass 

 in the summer by Philadelphia pungies. 



Sand-Ditch Bar bears northeast from Kit's Hammock Beach, from which the center is four 

 miles distant, and is two miles long in an east and west dii'ection by one-half mile wide. This 

 is really an oyster-bed, having a depth of eight feet only at low tide, and is visited by local 

 fishermen in summer, for weakfish and other species which frequent these waters. 



Southeast Bank, which is similar to the last in character and in the varieties of fish taken, 

 bears south-southeast from Kit's Hammock Beach ; distance, five miles. It is eight miles long in 

 a direction corresponding with the trend of the bay, and half a mile wide. The depth of water 

 at low tide is twelve feet, and the bottom consists of blue clay. 



THE coast of MARYLAND FROM ISLE OF WIGHT TO CHINCOTEAGUE INLET. 



Along this stretch of coast no outside fishing-grounds, j)roperly speaking, occur at anj- 

 distance from the land; but menhaden, bluefish, and sea mullet are taken on the outer beaches 

 with seines, and drumflsh are caught in the same localities with hooks and lines. In the inner 

 waters of Assateague, Sinepuxent, and Isle of Wight Bays quite an extensive seine and gill-net 

 fishery is carried on for striped bass, perch, and various other species of fish. 



THE EASTERN COAST OF VIRGINIA FROM CHINCOTEAGUE INLET TO HOG ISLAND. 



This coast is low and sandy, with a very gradual slope out under the water, an average depth 

 of seven to eight fathoms only being reached at a distance of five miles from the land. Over this 

 section, however, within seven or eight miles of the land, there are quite a number of shoals, 

 with depths of three and one-half to six fathoms, on which cod are said to occur in the winter. 

 Hook aud line fishing, in a small way for home supplies, is carried on in the creeks and inlets 

 of this coast, where fish are plentiful enough to supply a much larger demand. This region also 

 furnishes a good ground for seining menhaden in their season. 



