612 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



revenue- steamer Thomas Ewing, Capt. Alvan A. Fengar in command, 

 by instructions from the Secretary of the Treasury, took the ileet in tow 

 and carried it as far as Norfolk, Va. One of the barges was left at this 

 port to be fitted up as a second machinery-scow. A large tug was em- 

 ployed to tow the three barges through the canals, and they arrived on 

 March 26 at the headwaters of Albemarle Sound, near the mouth of the 

 Chowan River, and were anchored in a protected position adjacent to 

 Avoca, the plantation of the Capehart family, which occuijies an extent 

 of land lying between the rivers Chowan and Roanoke. 



The services of the steamer Lookout, belonging to the Maryland Fish 

 Commission, had been obtained for the work of the season. She was 

 sent to I^orfolk in December of 1877, to secure a harbor not liable to 

 be obstructed by ice at the time she might be needed, and by permis- 

 sion of the Secretary of the Navy was kept at the navy-yard. She ar- 

 rived in Albemarle Sound on the 3d of April. She there rendered 

 efficient service under the direction of Maj. T. B. Ferguson, whose hearty 

 cooperation and assistance were of great moment to the United States 

 Fish Commission. Several trips of the Lookout from Avoca to Wash- 

 ington demonstrated the practicability of carrying eggs and young fish 

 with perfect safety, so far as the steadiness of the cones before referred 

 to is concerned. Notwithstanding the roughness of the sea, the gim- 

 bals in which the cones are suspended insure the horizontal position of 

 the surface at whatever angle the deck itself may stand. 



Major Ferguson's appointment as one of the United States commis- 

 sioners to the Paris Exhibition made it necessary for him to break up 

 his connection with the United States Fish Commission about the time 

 of closing the work on Albemarle Sound. 



Very important assistance was also rendered in Albemarle Sound by 

 a small open steam-launch furnishe<l to the commission by the Secre- 

 tary of the Navy; indeed, without it, very nuich less would have been 

 accomplished. A»secoud launch, derived from the same source, was in 

 use in addition at Havre de Grace. 



On the morning of the 28th about eight thousand eggs were taken and 

 put into some Brackett boxes which we had in our outfit. The large 

 seines in the vicinity were in full operation, the two nearest us being 

 those of Avoca Beach and Scotch Hall. These seines were each about 

 twenty -three or twenty-four hundred yards in length. Both of these 

 beaches are on the great Capehart plantation. To Dr. W. R. Capehart 

 and to his father we are indebted for continued aid and active coopera- 

 tion, which were essential to the success of our work. The previous year, 

 at an outlay of nearly $650, Dr. Capehart made an experiment with the 

 floating boxes, but because of the lack of current no adequate results 

 were obtained. This year fie had a large tank erected, and using one of 

 our pumps with his steam-engine hatched a large number of shad. 



Up the Chowan, within a distance of twelve miles, were three or four 

 large seines, and along the northern shore of the sound, in the vicinity 



