APPENDIX No. 32. Extracts from the report of Lieutenant Commanding John Rodgers, United States navy, assistant in the coast survey, to the Superintendent, of a reconnaissance of Mosquito inlet. SIR: UNITED STATES COAST SURvey Office, Washington, July 19, 1851. This inlet is made by the Halifax and Hillsborough runs, which, at their meeting, force an outlet to the sea. Mosquito inlet has, for a number of years, been moving to the southward. The light-house formerly erected at Mosquito was built upon a high sand-hill on the southern peninsula, about an eighth of a mile from the water. In two years it fell down, undermined by the southward movement of the inlet. The place of the light-house is now said to be about high-water mark on the north beach. The south beach is still rapidly washing away, and the north beach extends to the southward as fast. Mr. Sheldon, collector at Mosquito, says that the barrier about half a mile to the northward of the present position of the inlet is rapidly washing away. He infers that the water will soon cut a passage there, when this new opening will become the entrance to the harbor, and the present inlet close. His opinion is the result of long observation. I have no means of forming any opinion of my own as to its correctness. As many as thirteen small vessels have, I understand, been lying in the harbor at once, waiting for cargoes of live-oak, but none very lately. A few plantations make sugar, which is here exported. I did not learn of any other trade worth mentioning. I do not deem the commerce of Mosquito sufficient to demand the erection of a light-house. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, A. D. BACHE, LL. D., JOHN RODGERS, Lieut. Com., Assistant U. S. Coast Survey. Superintendent Coast Survey. APPENDIX No. 33. Report of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey to the Secretary of the Treasury, in regard to the expediency of placing buoys in Mosquito inlet, Florida, and transmitting the report of Lieutenant Commanding John Rodgers, United States navy, assistant in the coast survey. COAST SURVEY STATION, Near Alfred, Maine, October 1, 1851. SIR: In pursuance of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1851, and of the instructions of the department, I have the honor to report in regard to the expediency of placing buoys in Mosquito inlet, on the eastern coast of Florida, and to transmit for details a report of Lieutenant Commanding John Rodgers, United States navy, assistant in the coast survey, by whom an examination of the inlet was made. I send herewith a copy of the sketch of the reconnaissance. I concur in recommending the placing of these buoys as stated by Lieutenant Commanding Rodgers, with the precautions which he suggests for their maintenance in the right positions, and for the change of place of the bar buoys according to the change of the bar itself. I would further recommend that Lieutenant Commanding Rodgers be intrusted with the placing of these buoys in the first instance-a duty which can be performed as he returns to Section VI, the coast of Florida. Important suggestions of local signals for pilotage of barred harbors are given in Lieutenant Commanding Rodgers's report, and are hereto appended for the examination of the department. Very respectfully, yours, Hon. THOMAS CORWIN, Secretary of the Treasury. A. D. BACHE, UNITED STATES COAST SURVEY OFFICE, Washington, August 29, 1851. DEAR SIR: The position of the proposed buoys at Mosquito inlet, Florida, cannot be usefully marked on the sketch. As the bar shifts with every gale, the best water is not now, in all probability, where it was when the examination was made. I think three buoys would be ample. I venture to propose a secondclass buoy outside of the bar; a third-class buoy inside; and a thirdclass buoy at the bar. To be useful, or rather that it may not become a nuisance, the bar buoy must be carefully attended, and its place changed with every alteration in the position of the channel. For this buoy spare moorings should be furnished, as it is probable that after every change of bar the shifting sand will so have covered the anchor that every attempt to weigh it will be fruitless; in which case, to 'unshackle the buoy and expend new moorings will be the only resource. The collector is allowed boat hands. These men might be required to keep the buoy in the best water, and the collector be held responsi ble in his office for the faithful discharge of this duty. To this end a log or frame house should be erected on the beach for the men to live in. The beach washes away so fast that it is scarcely desirable to use more durable materials. There is now no regular pilot for Mosquito, because there is not enough commerce to support one. The boat hands employed to keep the buoy in the best water would necessarily know the state of the bar, and be competent to point out the channel. Living on the spot, they would always be ready to pilot vessels. Mount Pleasant is the nearest habitation to the inlet; and at present, since no look-out is kept, it is only by chance a vessel is seen. On account of the breakers it is often impossible for a row-boat to cross the bar; the pilot must then wave the vessel in by means of a flag. In such harbors conventional telegraphs are established, as at St. Augustine, Florida, and Rio Grande de San Pedro, in Brazil, by which the vessel indicates her draught of water, and the pilot gives directions to her for keeping in the channel. It is desirable that this telegraph should be general to all the barred harbors of the United States, and not varied in different localities, and at the pilot's discretion. I have ventured to propose the annexed table as perhaps sufficient. It is simpler than the Brazilian telegraph, and fuller than the St. Augustine one. Such modifications as may be deemed necessary can easily be made on it. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Lieut. Commanding, and Asst. Coast Survey. To A. D. BACHE, LL. D., Table of signals for piloting vessels into barred harbors. The pilot's flag to be seven feet by six in size, and to consist of two triangular red pieces of red muslin, or bunting, enclosing a white triangle of the same materials, fastened to a staff twelve feet long and one inch in diameter. The end of the staff to have a barrel hoop firmly lashed to it, and to have stretched over the hoop a piece of muslin, the upper half white and the lower half black. The pilot boat to approach the bar as nearly as she safely can. The pilot lays on his oars, or anchors his boat. The boat should be fitted with an awning stanchion aft, and a strap around it, for the pilot to make himself fast to, that he may stand steadily while signalizing. *The bar is not always the best place for beaching a vessel while the breakers are very heavy on it; there may be a comparatively smooth place on the sea-beach. 6. The vessel may get under way and stand Pilot holds the flag erect over his head, and for the bar. 7. Steer the vessel to starboard, or port the helm. 8. Steer the vessel to port, or starboard your helm. 9. Steady, or steer as you go.... 10. Steer for the pilot boat.. Il. Anchor.... keeps it so until the vessel weighs; he may incline it the way he wishes her to cast. Incline the flag to ] In both these signals the starboard. Incline the flag to port. flag points out the side to which the vessel must steer. Dip the flag out of sight. Flag overhead; staff upright. Ball overhead; flag in pilot's hand. APPENDIX No. 34. Report of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey to the Secretary of the Treasury, upon the necessity for a light-house, or permanent beacon, on the Rebecca shoal, between the Tortugas and Marquesas, Coast of Florida. COAST SURVEY OFFICE, SIR: I would respectfully call the attention of the department to the necessity for a light-house, or at least for a permanent beacon, on the Rebecca shoal, between the Tortugas and Marquesas, in the Gulf of Mexico. The position of the shoal is shown in the annexed sketch. It lies in an important thoroughfare for vessels bound into the Gulf, and is not now marked. My attention has been called to this subject by Assistant F. H. Gerdes, of the Coast Survey, who made the reconnaissance of the Florida keys and reefs, and who has presented two drawings-one for a beacon to serve as a light-house, and the other for a simple beacon-which are at the disposal of the department, if their communication is desired. I send herewith a letter of Lieutenant Commanding John Rodgers, United States navy, assistant in the Coast Survey, in charge of the hydrographic party on the coast of Florida, to Mr. Gerdes, in reply to his inquiries relative to the necessity for a light on the Rebecca shoal, and to the plan for a structure to contain it. Very respectfully, yours, A. D. BACHE, Superintendent United States Coast Survey. Hon. THOMAS CORWIN, Secretary of the Treasury. COAST SURVEY OFFICE, Washington October 21, 1851. DEAR SIR: In reply to your letter of this morning, I beg leave to say that I think no doubt can exist in the mind of any person acquainted with the facts of the case, as to the great necessity to commerce of a beacon on the Rebecca shoals. The passage between the Marquesas keys and the Tortugas is a great thoroughfare for vessels bound into the Gulf of Mexico. By taking this passage the time to ports in the gulf is shortened more than the mere distance cut off, since the current is thereby avoided sooner. To sail vessels this is, in light or head winds, of the greatest impor tance. The shoals which lie in this passage are very dangerous, and there is now no mark for them. For want of some such mark, scarcely a day passes without many vessels running a great risk of injury or loss. The beacon of which I saw a draught in your room would undoubtedly stand; the plan combining great strength with little surface. Any beacon put on the Rebecca shoals should be built, as the one you propose, with reference to its ultimate conversion into a light-house. I would prefer, however, that the whole structure should be of iron, rather than part wood. With a given strength, iron offers so much less surface to the wind. or sea, and it is of so much greater durability, that the increased cost of iron is by no means commensurate with its advantages. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOHN RODGERS, Lieutenant U. S. N., and Assistant Coast Survey. F. H. GERDES, Esq., United States Coast Survey. APPENDIX No. 35. Report of Lieutenant Commanding C. P. Patterson, United States navy, to the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, on buoys and beacons for entrance to Mobile bay. COAST SURVEY OFFICE, SIR: The following report upon the location, &c., for buoys and beacons for the entrance to Mobile bay is respectfully submitted: |