comer inlets is enhanced by the flows driven toward them by the strong winter winds out 

 of the north and northeast. 



Figure 2. Pass Cavallo, January 1995 



Pass Cavallo was one of the largest inlets on the Gulf Coast of the United States and 

 was approximately 1.8 miles wide when first visited by European explorers. The inlet 

 was navigable to small ships, although the deepest channels shifted frequently and were 

 interrupted by shoals. In 1686, the French explorer La SaUe lost one of three ships, his 

 supply ship, in Pass Cavallo. Another of his ships, the Belle, was subsequently lost inside 

 Matagorda Bay after it sUpped mooring and was driven into the shallows of Matagorda 

 Peninsula by strong wind and high waves. The Belle was recently discovered in 12 ft of 

 water (LaRoe 1997). Pass Cavallo remains treacherous to navigate. A commercial 

 shrimp boat sunk along the southwestern margin of Pass Cavallo, off Matagorda Island 

 (shown in Figure 3) is evidence of this. 



The stabUity, geomorphology, and the flood delta of Pass Cavallo were the subject of 

 the M.A. thesis of Harwood (1973). She concluded that the massive flood delta of Pass 

 Cavallo has received sediments through the pass during times of high surge and strong 

 currents accompanying hurricanes, tropical storms, and the turning winds of northers. 

 The flood delta extends approximately 3 miles from the pass to Port O' Conner and 

 includes the islands and marshes that separate Matagorda Bay and Espiritu Santo Bay. 



Chapter 1 Background and Problem Statement 



