238 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
THE FISCAL YEAR 1890-91. 
BERING SEA, JULY AND AUGUST, 1890. 
Herendeen Bay.—The Albatross was at anchor under Point Divide, 
the entrance to Herendeen Bay, on June 30, 1890. We.had called to 
ascertain if coal could be procured from a recently opened mine, and 
were informed by the superintendent that he could commence delivery 
in about a week, providing a lighter he was building could be com- 
pleted. We sent a carpenter to assist in the work, and rendered all 
practicable aid in order to get a supply of fuel as quickly as possible. 
In the meantime we commenced a survey, which was continued during 
our stay, and resulted in a chart in sufficient detail for purposes of 
navigation. It includes the entrance to Port Méller; the channel from 
Entrance Point to Point Divide, called by us Hague Channel; the 
narrow and intricate channel from the last-mentioned point to Marble 
Point, which we named Johnston Channel, after the officer who surveyed 
it, and a general examination of the bay, including Mine Harbor, the 
shipping-point and headquarters of the company. On the morning of 
July 2 we moved about a mile inside of Point Divide and anchored in 
15 fathoms. The tide ran ebb until 3 p. m., with a velocity of 3 or 4 
knots per hour, with smooth water and nothing to indicate an insecure 
or undesirable anchorage. A few minutes later the flood tide came 
in with a bore between 2 and 3 feet in height, and when it struck 
the ship she picked up her anchor and started up the bay, but a second 
anchor with a long scope of chain brought her up. Heavy tide rips 
continued for hours, making it unsafe for a boat to approach the ship. 
The strength of current measured by the patent log was between 8 
and 9 knots per hour. 
It was evident that we could not remain in our new berth, so at 
slack water we worked our way through the narrow passage before 
mentioned between Point Divide and Marble Point, anchoring an hour 
later in the upper bay, within 3 miles of Mine Harbor. A small quan- 
tity-of coal was procured on the 3d and tested in the steam gig. It 
burned freely, with a long flame and straw-colored smoke, to a white 
ash and cinder, but no clinker. This result was equally gratifying to 
us and the superintendent of the mine. 
The 4th of July was celebrated by dressing ship with flags at the 
mastheads and peak, the first time the national holiday was ever ob- 
served in Herendeen Bay by a United States vessel. 
We moved to Mine Harbor on the 5th, and moored in 17 fathoms, 
where we found good swinging room about a quarter of a mile from the 
coal dump on the beach. The lighter was launched on the evening of 
the 7th and brought alongside on the 9th, with the first load of 43 tons 
