[3] EXPLORATION IN THE CHESAPEAKE. 1037 



a note of the number of the net set, and by referring to the list we can 

 see what it is. 



The officers and men seem disposed to do everything possible to aid 

 me. Captain Tanner detailed four men to help me with the nets and 

 to manage the launch. 



Fortress Monroe, 31arch 3, 1882. 



After leaving Fortress Monroe we ran over to Cherrystone Inlet on 

 the afternoon of the 3d. We set four nets, viz, two whitefish-nets, a 

 trammel net, and a menhaden-net, about one-fourth mile W.SW. from 

 the buoy off the entrance to the inlet, the depth of water being about 

 22 fathoms. The apparatus was put out between 5 and 6 o'clock p. m. 

 Two of the nets (the trammel and menhaden nets) were set close to the 

 bottom, the others nearer the surface, the last end of one of the white- 

 fish-nets being sunk only 5 fathoms. 



The next day after the nets were put out, as I wrote you at the time, 

 the wind blew so strong from the northwest that it made a rough sea 

 and prevented our making any attempt to get the gear. 



When hauled on the morning of the 5th, it was found that the nets 

 had drifted with the tide into 11 fathoms of water, one and a half miles 

 northwest one-half west from where they were set. They were drifted 

 into a pile around the buoy attached to the large boat anchor, which 

 weighs 60 pounds, and were badly snarled. We lost two small anchors. 



One menhaden, 6 inches long, was caught in the trammel-net, and 50 

 dogfish {Squalus acanthias) were taken, most of them being in the two 

 nets nearest the surface. The stomachs of twenty of the dogfish were 

 taken out and preserved in alcohol by Dr. Kite, and six fish were put 

 on ice, three of them being males and three females. The ovaries ap- 

 peared to be undeveloped. 



After the nets were hauled. Captain Tanner ran across to York Eiv^, 

 and that evening, a little after 5 o'clock, we set the shad-net (which in 

 the mean time had been repaired), the trammel and menhaden nets in 

 from 4 to 5 fathoms, Too's Point light-house bearing about east a half- 

 mile distant. The upper edge of the shad-net was at the surface, the 

 lead-line, of course, being near the bottom. The other two nets were 

 placed from near the surface to the bottom. 



When hauled on the morning of the 6th, nothing but sun-jellies were 

 found in the nets, which had drifted slightly with the tide, notwith- 

 standiug they were heavily anchored. 



Although it is probable a limited number of shad would be taken if 

 present, it seems to me as if comparatively poor results can be obtained 

 with anchored nets where there is such a strong tide as we have found 

 in the Chesapeake. But there is apparently no other way of trying the 

 deep holes, since drifting nets, even if set in deep water, would soon 

 be carried into shoaler localities. The difficulty with anchored nets is 

 that though they may be prevented from drifting by the use of very 



