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BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
BERING SEA. 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
Itinerary of the investigations. — The general survey of Bering Sea by the Albatross 
was conducted during the summer of 1890, but in 1888, while engaged in a study of 
the fishing-grounds south of the Alaska Peninsula, a few observations were made in 
Iliuliuk Harbor and in the passes between TJnalaska Island and Unimak Island, and 
during the summers of 1891 and 1892 some additional inquiries were also prosecuted 
in connection with the sealing investigations. 
The principal object of the cruise of 1890 was to determine the positions and 
characteristics of the more important cod-fishing grounds, but the examinations were 
extended over the entire southeastern part of Bering Sea to a line some distance 
beyond the submerged continental border. The Albatross entered Bering Sea by way 
of Unimak Pass in the latter part of May, and carried a line of soundings in a north- 
erly and easterly direction, a distance of about 80 miles, when stormy weather made it 
necessary to proceed to Unalaska, the soundings and dredgings being continued on 
the way. Leaving the latter place on May 28, the ship began a reconnoissance of the 
shore line of Bristol Bay, which was extended first along the north side of the Alaska 
Peninsula to Kvichak Biver, and thence to Kuskokwim River. From Cape Newenham 
a line of stations was run in the direction of the Northwest Cape of Unimak. 
On June 23 investigations were commenced on Slime Bank, and were carried 
thence over Baird Bank to the head of Bristol Bay and the Kulukak ground. Two 
visits were paid to Port Moller and Herendeen Bay, where a coal mine had recently 
been opened, and partial surveys of both of those inlets were made, which define 
their entrance and the channel leading to Coal Harbor. During the first part of 
August a line of soundings was run from off Cape Cheerful, Unalaska, to Bogosloff 
Island, from the latter place in a westerly and northerly direction, and subsequently 
in a southerly direction, for the purpose of developing the 100-fathom curve along the 
western edge of the broad plateau occupying the eastern part of Bering Sea. The 
remainder of the season was spent in the vicinity of Unalaska, mainly in determining 
the resources of the fishing-grounds lying off the northern side of that island. The 
Albatross left Bering Sea for the south on August 25. 
General features of the region examined. — The entire eastern and northern part of 
Bering Sea is occupied by a broad extension of the continental platform, which, for 
convenience of definition, may be said to terminate abruptly at a depth of about 100 
fathoms. On the Siberian side the position of the 100-fathom curve is still undeter- 
mined, and previous to 1890 no observations had been made respecting the topography 
of the intervening deeper area, except in the immediate vicinity of the Aleutian 
chain of islands, where an important line of soundings was run by the U. S. S. Tus- 
carora in 1874. 
On the eastern side of Bering Sea the 100-fathom curve extends from off the 
northern entrance to Unimak Pass in the direction of Cape Navarin, Siberia, form- 
ing a sinuous line approximately parallel with the coast line of the Alaskan mainland 
to the east, from which it is distant from 260 to 325 miles. The location of this curve, 
and therefore of the western border of the platform (as yet only approximately defined 
in most places), was largely established through the investigations of the Albatross in 
Note. — All bearings are true unless otherwise stated. 
