NO. 2 FRASER : SCIENTIFIC WORK, VELERO III, EASTERN PACIFIC ' ' 61 



A small amount of shore collecting has been done around the north 

 end of the island. Dredging stations appear all around the island and out 

 to banks 15 miles to the northward and 6 miles to the southward (Osborn 

 Bank). Beam trawling has been done all along the east side. 



Twenty-four miles southwest of Santa Barbara Island is San Nicolas 

 Island, 8 miles long, with an average width of 3 miles. There is more 

 sandy beach on this island than on any of the others; but even off the 

 beaches a short distance rocky patches appear, close or scattered, to give 

 holdfast to a very abundant supply of kelp. At the west end this extends 

 out from shore for as much as three miles. 



A small amount of shore collecting has been done at Dutch Harbor 

 on the south coast, the only place around the island that offers even a 

 modicum of shelter. Scattered dredging stations appear north and north- 

 west of the eastern end of the island and in a more concentrated area on 

 the south coast, off Dutch Harbor. 



San Clemente Island is the southernmost of the group, directly south 

 of Santa Catalina Island, 19 miles away, and 60 miles from the mainland 

 coast at La Jolla. It is almost as long as Santa Catalina Island, but it has 

 an average width of only 2% miles. The northwest half of the island 

 has much more regular surface than is ordinarily found in these islands, 

 but the remainder of the island is more corrugated. The northeast side is 

 rocky and abrupt, but the southwest side is much less so, the sea slope 

 here being correspondingly more gradual. There is much less kelp around 

 the shores than around San Nicolas or Santa Barbara. There are three 

 harbors near the north end — West Cove, Northwest Harbor, and Wilson 

 Cove — and Pyramid Cove at the south end. 



Shore collecting has been done at Northwest Harbor, Pyramid Cove, 

 and Horse Cove (adjacent to Pyramid Cove). Dredging has been done 

 west, north, and east of the north end of the island, in and near Wilson 

 Cove, and in and off Pyramid Cove. 



Lying southwest of San Clemente Island, the nearest one 30 miles 

 away, are three large banks and other smaller ones, the surface of which 

 comes much nearer to sea level than that of the surrounding areas. They 

 all have their long axes in a southeast-northwest direction and are much 

 longer than they are broad. They may be considered as South Channel 

 Islands that do not quite reach the surface. 



The largest of these banks is Cortes Bank, which, measured within 

 the 100-fathom line, is 25 miles long and 8 miles broad. Within the 50- 

 fathom line it is 19 miles long, with a greatest width of 5 miles, and 



