REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XLI 



Blue Light, under command of Captain Beardsley, was made use of; 

 in 1877 the Speedwell, under command of Commander Kellogg; the 

 same vessel again in 1878, under command of Captain Beardsley, and 

 again in 1879, under command of Lieut. Z. L. Tanner. 



The appropriation by Congress for a special steamer — the Fish Uawk — 

 comi^leted in the spring of 1880, enabled the Commission to dispense 

 with the naval steamer, but it gladly embraced the privilege of calling 

 upon the Department for a detail of ofi&cers and crew. 



The first service of this vessel, under command of Lieut. Z. L. Tan- 

 ner, was rendered at Xewport in 1880, the Eeport of which year contains 

 an account of her work on this occasion. The olf-shore exploration, 

 however, was limited to two or three trips, the results of which were so 

 interesting as to induce great expectations from the renewal of these 

 labors in 1881. 



It will be remembered, as stated in the last Eeport, that the water 

 deepens very slowly for a considerable distance off the coast, from Cape 

 Cod southward; so that a depth of 100 fathoms is, for the most part, only 

 attainable at a distance, out, of from 75 to 100 miles. This brings us to 

 the edge of the continental plateau; and beyond that there is usually 

 an abrupt declivity, showing rapidly deepening water. 



On her expeditions in 1880 the Fish Hawk found that the edge of this 

 slope or declivity was occupied by an extremely rich fauna, both as to 

 species and individuals; indeed, far exceeding in this respect any of 

 the regions nearer the land; and the necessary arrangements were 

 made to renew work in that vicinit3* during 1881. 



On her return to Washington in 1880 she was sent to Point Lookout 

 to obtain a supply of oysters for the oyster-hatching station at Saint 

 Jerome; and the ice forming before she could return, obliged her to 

 winter in the jSTorfolk navy-yard. Returning, however, from that point 

 in February, she was fitted out with shad -hatching apparatus, and on 

 the 23d of March was ordered to Avoca, a shad-fishing station at the 

 mouth of the Eoanoke Eiver in Albemarle Sound. Here she remained 

 until the 30th of April, carrying on her work, and obtaining many 

 courtesies from Dr. W. E. Capehart, the owner of the station. The vessel 

 reached Havre de Grace on the 3d of May, and was occupied until the 

 5th of June in hatching shad at the head of Chesapeake Bay. 



On the 13th of June she again proceeded to Saint Jerome to make 

 experiments in connection with the hatching of Spanish mackerel, but 

 started for Washington on the 20th of June, having left her work at 

 that place in charge of Col. M. McDonald. 



Thedetails of her labors in connection with shad and Spanish mackerel 

 will be found in the second division of this Eei)ort. 



After a short stay at the navy-yard in Washington undergoing re- 

 pairs, she took on board the apparatus for the deep-sea research, and left 

 for Wood's IIoU on the 7th ot July, arriving there on the 10th. 



From that time until the 1th of October numerous trips were made 



