178 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
out about halfway up the bay. As the water enters Oakland Bay the current is 
confined to the surface by flowing over a shallow stretch of bottom in the upper end 
of Hammersley Inlet. (Table 12.) After the surface water has attained a velocity 
of about 2 feet per second, the lower strata slowly begins to move, but the velocity 
never exceeds 0.6 foot per second at the entrance of Oakland Bay. Farther along 
the channel the current of moving water becomes deeper and in front of the Union 
Oil Co. in over 35 feet of water the flood tide current has an equal velocity from 
surface to bottom. The flood current continues much longer on the bottom than 
on the top, and there is little or no reverse in the direction of the current with the 
ebb tide. (Fig. 49, Table 11.) In other words, the currents caused by the ebb tide 
Figure 48.— Principal stations for current observations and tide recording station in Oakland Bay 
are more closely confined to the surface than flood tide currents. The surface cur- 
rent of the flood tide crosses the bay on a diagonal line near the head, and continues 
through the “Narrows.” The bottom current reaches the end of the channel and 
spreads out on the bottom, but continues directly up the bay to the oyster beds at 
the head of Oakland Bay. 
