10 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 



for the Fish Hawk's draft, it was necessary to obtain another vessel 

 for transporting the materials and to serve as quarters for the field 

 party. For several weeks a local schooner was employed ; but she was 

 ill-adapted to house the party during the cold weather, and the 

 three-masted schooner Mathilda was chartered and used until the 

 survey reached Dog Island Reef, after which the work was carried 

 on entirely from the Fish Hawk. 



Until February 26 the party was engaged in erecting and cutting 

 in signals. On that date the work of the survey proper was begun, 

 first from the Mathilda alone, but about a week later with the assist- 

 ance of a party from the Fish Hawk. There were assigned to the 

 Mathilda a mate and five men from the Fish Hawk, and a civilian 

 staff consisting of two observers and a biologist. This party carried 

 on all of the offshore soundings and the shore work throughout the 

 survey, and it is a pleasure to recall the zeal with which they ful- 

 filled their duties and the good nature with which they faced the many 

 discomforts. There was much cold and boisterous weather, northers 

 were frequent, and the work was continued many days when it 

 seemed that the launch could barely live in the seas. The launch 

 party consisted of helmsman, two observers, pole man, recorder, and 

 machinist. The helmsman, besides being responsible for the course of 

 the launch, kept his hand on the sounding chain and reported the 

 presence of oysters. In addition to the sextant work, one of the ob- 

 servers had general charge of the boat and the planting of flags, and 

 the other attended to the density and temperature observations and 

 the collection of water specimens for biological analysis. The re- 

 corder marked the time and recorded all observations except the 

 angles, which were kept by the observer in charge and duly entered 

 in the sounding book each night. The pole man sounded continu- 

 ously, and the results were recorded at 15-second intervals. Owing 

 to the fact that the launch and all its contents were usually drenched 

 with spray, as well as to the lack of room, no boat sheet was carried, 

 but each day the work of the day preceding was platted and brought 

 up to date. The use of flags and ranges insured the rectification of 

 the lines. 



The party from the Fish Hawk was given the task of delimiting the 

 large reefs from Dog Island to Half Moon, inclusive. The results 

 of their work appear on the chart accompanying this report. 



DESCRIPTION OF MATAGORDA BAY. 



LOCATION. 



Matagorda Bay is about midway of the Texas coast, rather nearer 

 the eastern than the western limits of the state. As is characteristic 

 in general of the sounds of this coast, the greatest length of the bay 



