52 SHELL-FISH COMMISSIONERS’ REPORT. [Jan., 
April 30, 1881, a designation of 400 acres in Westport to 
Charles W. Bell. 
April 16, 1881, a designation of 500 acres in Westport to 
H. L. Everett and E. and H. J. Sounds. 
In February, 1881, after the act had received the com- 
mittee’s approval, 5,000 acres were designated off Westport, 
by the town committee. 
From the foregoing it will be seen that if the interests 
of the State in these grounds had been carefully watched, 
from $40,000 to $50,000 might have been saved to the 
treasury. Whether this is lost beyond recovery is not so 
clear. The commissioners consider that they have dis- 
charged their duty to the State in thus calling its attention 
to the facts as they appear of record. 
And right here the commissioners wish to say that 
unless all designations are recorded, the mapping of lots, 
which they are required by law to make, cannot be com- 
pleted. It is therefore recommended that a law be passed 
without delay which shall require all papers, pertaining 
to designations heretofore made by town officers, of 
grounds within State jurisdiction, to be recorded in the 
record books of the Commissioners of Shell-fisheries 
within a reasonable time after the passage of the law; and 
in default thereof shall permit the commissioners to desig- 
nate to others any grounds not designated of record. 
Before any sales could be made the commissioners 
found it indispensably necessary to obtain maps on which 
could be noted all the grounds within the State area, both 
those which had been designated and those which might 
be designated in the future by the commissioners. There 
was no general map of the coast, of proper scale, or of 
sufficient accuracy for their purposes and needs, unless 
such could be found at Washington. Application was con- 
sequently made by the commissioners to the late Capt. 
Carlile P. Patterson, Superintendent of the United States 
Coast and Geodetic Survey, for copies of maps of the Con- 
necticut shore and such publications as might contain in- 
formation upon the subject. This application was most 
